Game Design, Development, and Arts News

In a new game created by an RIT student, players must navigate paranoia and loneliness in order to make it off an isolated ship alive. Sean Arnold ’20 (game design and development) was inspired by his experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic to create an interactive narrative game called The Peresmeshnik.

Matthieu Mouthon '20 (3D Digital Design) is spending the summer as an environment artist for Sony Interactive Entertainment, producing assets for video games.

RIT’s Class of 2020 is getting a bonus opportunity after last week’s virtual conferral of degrees — a ceremony in the video game Minecraft that will allow them to virtually walk across the graduation stage, receive a diploma from “Minecraft Munson” and take a photo with the Tiger statue.

Friday’s celebration of the Class of 2020 certainly cannot replace the atmosphere of a traditional commencement, which RIT plans to host on campus when it’s deemed safe. But many of graduates say they won’t let the pandemic, or the circumstances surrounding the virtual celebration, define them or their feelings about their time at RIT. (Pictured: Bradley Speck, who will finish his classes online this summer, has a job waiting for him at GE Aviation in Cincinnati, where he completed four co-ops.)

Eight years ago, as a high school junior, Peter Yeung participated in NTID's Explore Your Future, a program that introduces deaf and hard-of-hearing high schoolers to career opportunities. Today, Yeung is an RIT/NTID graduate who has completed three degrees and has started his career as a user experience architect with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Springfield, Va.

Juho Choi '20 (Illustration) was commissioned to paint a mural and was accepted into the Society of Illustrators' annual Student Scholarship Competition. 

Four of the best games created at RIT this year were recently honored in the IGM Games Showcase. More than 20 analog, digital, augmented reality and virtual reality games were submitted to the judging panel. Prizes were awarded to games in four categories.

Adam Richlin '09 is helping to distribute fresh groceries to freelancers during the pandemic — a selfless act that is mirrored in the business model of Brooklyn lighting equipment rental house.

WROC-TV talks to Alexa Amoriello, second-year game design and development major, about the digital RIT campus that students are building in the video game Minecraft.

Associate Professor Brian Tomaszewski is working to create interactive coronavirus maps that provide deeper insight into the spread of COVID-19 in the hope that the public can use these mapping tools to help fight the pandemic.

One brick at a time — that’s how members of RIT’s Electronic Gaming Society are building a digital version of the RIT campus in the video game Minecraft. As universities across the country closed their campuses due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students went to Minecraft as a way to stay connected with their schools. The game allows multiple players to collaborate on building structures and designing landscapes, including recreating physical places.

Mark Reisch, assistant professor in the School of Film and Animation, and Dan Gabber, digital fabrication specialist, are using their expertise in 3D printing to make a difference during the coronavirus pandemic.