UT team reaches finals at Intel University Games Showcase

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March 27, 2018
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A team of students in the 2D capstone class of the Game and Mobile Media Applications (GAMMA) Program reached the finals last week at the Intel University Games Showcase at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.

The UT team included AET senior Christopher Philip, Studio Art senior Mikki Pasasadaba, Studio Art student Jasmine Kay Uy, as well as Stephanie Smith, Jaemin Go, Scott Huang and Luben Popov.

The students worked as Team Gatorp Corp. to create the game To the Core Again as part of their 2D gaming capstone class in the fall semester. At the Intel University Games Showcase, a panel of judges from the game industry reviewed competition entries by game development students from leading universities.

The team describes their work as “a thrilling, side-scrolling adventure game where you play a young adult experiencing states of disassociation, constantly shifting into a realm that isolates and keeps them safe from the harms of the physical world. However, this alternative world houses repressed memories and fears that manifest into aggressive creatures. The main character must find ways to overcome these obstacles by "shifting" between dimensions. We hope that in this journey of healing and self-discovery, we can bring more awareness to the challenges of mental health, helping others reconcile and acknowledge that their past is a part of them, but it does not define them.”

Paul Toprac, Associate Director of the GAMMA Program, expressed pride in the students’ accomplishment.

“These students came from multiple majors across campus to work on an interdisciplinary team to design and build a great game,” said Toprac. “We were competing against graduate student programs with larger development teams that developed their games over a longer time period, and this team reflects the best of our students’ talent and hard work. I am proud of their accomplishments and proud that they were competitive with the best graduate programs in the country.”

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