On Thursday, December 12, 2024, UT Game Development and Design (GDAD) opened its doors to the public to showcase the animations, games, and immersive experiences of the future. Works exhibited represented a variety of UT disciplines, including UT’s Arts and Entertainment Technologies (AET), Computer Science (CS), and Radio-Television-Film (RTF) programs.
Across seven hours and two buildings, UT GDAD welcomed hundreds of attendees to its presentations on various aspects of game technology. Courses represented throughout Digital Demo Day included Dr. Abraham’s Game Programming Paradigms course (CS 354P), Professor Chetty’s VFX for Storytelling course (RTF 344M), Professor Bay’s Exploring Digital Art & Media course under the Bridging Disciplines Program (BDP 101), and Dr. Toprac’s 2D Game Development Capstone course (AET 376/CS 354S/RTF 344T), in addition to others.
Student works showcased a myriad of talents cultivated throughout the GDAD Program, and offered a variety of projects for attendees to enjoy. For example, in Dr. Toprac’s 2D Game Development Capstone demo, students from AET, CS, and RTF presented the games they worked on throughout the fall semester. Games included rogue-like action game Golfin’ Slayer, “beat ‘em up” game Hit Me, rhythm platformer Tempo Tails, spirit-cleansing, time management game Spirit Free Guarantee, and high-intensity, battle platformer V-Shift. This experience assisted students in developing techniques desirable to the game industry while working in a collaborative environment, assisting with both hard and soft skill development.
“We’re extremely proud of our students, and are excited by all they accomplished this semester,” Dr. Toprac, head of the GDAD Program, commented. “As we turn towards the new year, we’re looking forward to celebrating even more of their accomplishments!”
Next semester’s Digital Demo Day will be hosted at the same time on Thursday, May 1, 2025. If you have any questions or are interested in attending, please contact Dr. Toprac at topcat@cs.utexas.edu.
The Game Development and Design (GDAD) Program at The University of Texas at Austin is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program between the departments of Arts and Entertainment Technologies, Computer Science, and Radio-Television-Film. The program produces graduates ready to design, develop, and provide leadership for the exploding growth in game, metaverse applications, and creative media agencies and studios in Texas and around the world.
