MEDIA ADVISORY: USC Presents New Video Games From Its Top-Ranked Game Design Program
Demo Day presents student projects from award-winning USC Games program
Contact and Media RSVP: Tanya Abrams at tanyaabr@usc.edu or (213) 740-6973
The University of Southern California, ranked the No. 1 game design school in North America in 2015 for the sixth consecutive year by The Princeton Review, will present its final showcase for the year from USC Games‘ joint advanced games class, a yearlong capstone project. Student teams will present mobile, networked, computer, and immersive games that they’ve developed throughout the year.
USC Games’ Demo Day, just weeks before the Electronic Entertainment Expo comes to Los Angeles, is led by Tracy Fullerton, who was honored as Game Changer of the Year at the 12th annual Games for Change Awards this year. USC also captured two of the top awards this year at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the largest gathering of the indie video game industry. The Independent Games Festival handed out its grand prize for best independent game and its best student game award to two video games from USC.
WHAT: Demo Day, a bi-annual exhibition in which USC students premiere the program’s most innovative games of the semester. The Spring 2015 lineup showcases final versions of games presented in the fall, including a virtual reality world-building game in which the user, fully immersed, must restore life on a small planet; a stealth-adventure game that follows a neurologically ill patient around a hospital as she searches for a missing friend; and a humorous iPad strategy game about a king’s quest to get a final hole punched on his stamp card, a feat that will earn him free tater nuggets for life. (Click here to watch game trailers and learn more about the projects.)
In addition, graduate students will present their advanced games in showcases throughout the week. The USC School of Cinematic Arts Interactive Media and Games Division (IMGD) will present “Pathways and Playgrounds” — a showcase of its graduate thesis projects from its three-year M.F.A. program — from May 9 — 14. On May 13, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering will present its GamePipe Laboratory Spring 2015 Showcase; Click here for a lineup of games and technologies to be displayed.
WHO: USC students leading the next wave of game development. The joint USC Games program is a collaboration between the USC School of Cinematic Arts’ Interactive Media & Games Division, and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science.
WHEN & WHERE:
• USC Games Demo Day: 2 — 6 p.m., Tuesday, May 12. Team presentations begin at 2 p.m. at the Norris Cinema Theatre Complex, followed by live demonstrations and a reception at the SCA Gallery. USC School of Cinematic Arts Campus, 900 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007 (Map)
• GamePipe Laboratory Showcase: 11 a.m. — 2 p.m., Wednesday, May 13. 746 W. Adams Blvd., EGG Building, Los Angeles, CA 90007 (Map)
• IMGD Pathways and Playgrounds: 8 a.m. — 5 p.m., May 9 — 14. Sumner Redstone Stages 1 & 2, USC School of Cinematic Arts Campus, 900 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007 (Map)
RSVP for parking information.
About USC Games
Recognized as the #1 game design program in North America by the Princeton Review, USC Games represents an exciting collaboration between the School of Cinematic Arts’ Interactive Media & Games Division and the Viterbi School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science. Incorporating elements of design, artistry and engineering, USC Games offers an utterly unique educational experience for students, and serves as the launching pad for them to play significant roles in the game design field. With rigorous, hands-on instruction from master designers, engineers and working professionals in the industry, students have an unprecedented level of opportunity to delve into every aspect of creating games for a global audience.
About the USC School of Cinematic Arts
Founded in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over 80 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The school offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, critical studies, animation and digital arts, production, and interactive media and games, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each field. USC was voted the No. 1 game design school in North America for its graduate degree program by the Princeton Review four consecutive years.
About the USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Engineering Studies began at the University of Southern California in 1905. Nearly a century later, the Viterbi School of Engineering received a naming gift in 2004 from alumnus Andrew J. Viterbi and his wife Erna. Viterbi is the inventor of the Viterbi algorithm, now key to cell phone technology and numerous data applications. Consistently ranked among the top graduate programs in the world, the school enrolls more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, taught by more than 174 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with 60 endowed chairs and professorships.