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.
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 Harvard
Fermentophone presented at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
Joshua Rosenstock
Fermentophone
Sound Design for Shoot Many Robots
Keith Zizza on the sound design process for Demiurge Studio's Shoot Many Robots game.
Keith Zizza
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
Code Crafters research project overview.
Gillian Smith
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.
Shigeru Miyamoto, part of the Influential Game Designers series.
Jennifer deWinter
Shigeru Miyamoto Book
“As Influential Video Game Designers: Shigeru Miyamoto stands, the book is a must-read for young game designers and those who may be considering entering the field. The book provides the greatest insight I've ever read on the history, philosophy and creative process of perhaps the most beloved game creator in industry history.” – Patrick Scott Patterson, SyFy Games
“deWinter expertly sifted through a varied assemblage of critical essays, interviews, biographies, and articles on Miyamoto to deliver one of the most definitive examinations to date of his astonishing career.” – Robert Marrujo, Nintendojo
Ralph Sutter 3D Character Sculpting
3D character model demo created by Ralph Sutter.
Ralph Sutter
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.
IMGD faculty members and students enjoy access to state-of-the-art facilities that support research in all aspects of building games and creating art for them, from delving into artificial intelligence to studying sound from the user’s experience. Explore IMGD's Studio Facilities & Resources.