Research & Projects
The research interests of IMGD faculty members are just as diverse as the games and apps they create. Whether they're working on the newest virtual reality game, testing an app to prevent drunk driving, designing and animating new characters, or creating a cutting-edge learning technology, they're always testing the limits of what's possible in games. For more information on the specific research interests of our faculty, visit IMGD’s Faculty & Staff.
Fermentophone
At the intersection of living art, computational music, and interactive media is the Fermentophone developed by our own Joshua Rosenstock! This unique instrument—made up of jars filled with foods and drinks—is played by microbes, which release carbon dioxide gas bubbles when they eat away at the fermenting ingredients. The burps of these bubbles are picked up by underwater microphones and translated into musical tones by computer algorithms.
Audio Design for Games
Specializing in interactive soundscape creation, Keith Zizza’s primary research interest is in achieving the sonic vision of a game through the balance of its aesthetic and technical implementation. Specific interests include audio engine integration, 2D and 3D audio propagation, and performance optimization, as well as style continuity and audio pipeline management.
Code Crafters
Improved literacy in computational thinking is crucial for successfully navigating our increasingly computer-driven society. Code Crafters is a computational craft research project that investigates connections between quilting and computational thinking, via design-based research to develop generative design software and accompanying instructional workshops for an adult population of quilters. Through leveraging pre-existing social structures, skill sets, and engagement in quilting, we aim to build a scaffold for improving adult engagement in computer science.
3D Character Sculpting
For the past 15 years, I have been focusing on digitally sculpting characters for games, film and 3D printed media. I had always dreamed about becoming a practical effect creature artist, and digital sculpting allowed me to do so without the messiness of real clay and without the need of a studio environment for mold making, paintwork, etc. My current focus heavily revolves around creating realistic and compelling characters for real-time rendering environments.