UI / UX @
SMU GUILDHALL
Recognized as the # 1 game design graduate program in the world, SMU Guildhall works collaboratively across academic disciplines and industries to translate discovery into meaningful new knowledge to solve social, medical, educational, and community problems for the betterment of society and the enrichment of humanity.
SMU Guildhall: # 1 for Game Design
SMU Guildhall teaches cutting edge practices by a faculty of video game industry experts and veterans. Faculty consult and advise on first-to-market applications in AR / VR, and these applications of user research have resulted in comfortability in Virtual Reality. Student theses have contributed to esports fan user experiences in live competitions.
“ SMU Guildhall bridges the gap between serious academic research and commercial video games. This environment has allowed our team to yield products that bring together the creative, entertaining nature of games with impactful lessons.”— Gary Brubaker, Director of SMU Guildhall
The Avatar Project
A Dating Violence Prevention Virtual Reality Project
Mouse Playhouse
A Student-Developed Virtual Reality Game
SMU Guildhall supports research efforts of Dr. Ernie Jouriles of the SMU Department of Psychology, in collaboration with the Family Research Center, to raise awareness of dating violence and teach teens to practice assertiveness skills. SMU Guildhall created a secluded car scenario VR simulation using Half-Life 2, for which a research article was published, Reducing Sexual Victimization Among Adolescent Girls: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial of My Voice, My Choice. It was then recreated for Unity with Oculus VR support and further developed for The Avatar Project, an expansion of the Oculus Rift VR simulations. The project simulates the experience of a high school or college student at a party, helping students learn how to navigate high-stress social situations.
A team of 18 students developed SMU Guildhall’ s first VR game in 2016, Mouse Playhouse. This project was so successful that it led to the full team being hired by Gearbox Software to research and develop a new avant-garde Virtual Reality game title.
Mouse Playhouse is a light-hearted VR puzzle game in which you manipulate objects to solve puzzles and guide your pet mice towards the cheese. Players must use the blue objects provided to guide the mice away from trouble and towards the cheese. You can also throw objects around and play basketball, darts, and even the xylophone. There are a total of 15 levels, and each one presents a unique challenge.
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