Students from the GPM MS were the focus of the latest episode of Waypoint Presents, a documentary series about games and culture currently airing on Disney XD.  The episode offers a unique insight into our program and the lives of our students as they showcase the games they’ve spent the past academic year building.  The video is […]

Many videogames are designed to draw the player ever deeper into the world of the game. At Katherine Isbister’s Social Emotional Technology Lab at UC Santa Cruz, however, researchers are interested in games that draw players’ attention to the world around them and create different ways of engaging with other people. “My lab is interested in how […]

We are pleased to announce that student game CtrlShift was named “sleeper hit” of last week’s E3 conference by the editors of Ars Technica.  You can watch the announcement on Ars Technica’s website.  CtrlShift, as well as undergraduate game Phantom Jump, were also featured in an Ars Technica article highlighting indie games at E3. A local […]

Ulama:  Arena of the Gods, a thesis game developed by Pedro Cori, Alexander Formoso, and Cong Liu, is now available to purchase on Steam Early Access.  The game was greenlit by the Steam community in just 15 days through Valve’s Steam Greenlight service. The gameplay is based on an ancient ballgame played by the Aztec and […]

Trainwreck Games, consisting of grad students Pedro Cori, Alexander Formoso, and Cong Liu, recently won $10,000 as the winner of the Social Connection GameJam, a game design competition sponsored by the AARP and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). The competition, held in conjunction with the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), the world’s largest computer and video game event, challenged […]

Student game AURA, a musical shooter made by GPM alumni Patrick Trinh and Lun Cao, was featured as part of the Intel University Games Showcase during the 2016 Game Developers Conference.  The event celebrated the innovation and achievements of games developed by college students and teams, with awards given to the games who excelled in both […]

The Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz has hired acclaimed independent game developer Erin Robinson Swink to be the creative director of the master’s degree program in games and playable media offered at UCSC’s Silicon Valley Center. The Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz has hired acclaimed independent game developer Erin […]

Recent GPM graduate Akira Thompson is an award finalist at this year’s Indiecade Festival for his game &maybethewontkillyou.  The annual event showcases and recognizes independent developers for their innovations in interactive artistry.  Akira’s game, which was also featured at IndieCade’s Showcase @E3 2015, is a live-action experience that examines the nature of police violence and what it […]

The Games and Playable Media MS will be hosting an open house for incoming and prospective students on August 28th, from 1pm-5pm.  Attendees will get the opportunity to meet students and faculty and ask questions about the program. If you would like to attend the open house, please contact our program administrator Colin Wheelock at cwheeloc@ucsc.edu

Natives in Game Dev Gathering Friday, May 22, 9:00am-5:00pmUniversity of California Santa Cruz Extension2505 Augustine Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054 RSVP on Eventbrite With the recent overwhelming reception of Never Alone developed by the Cook Inlet Tribal Council with E-Line Media, it’s clear that Indigenous games are on the rise. The Natives in Game Dev […]

The game design programs at UC Santa Cruz were named among the top programs in the country by the Princeton Review, an education services company. The undergraduate and graduate programs at UCSC both made the company’s new “top 25” lists for 2014 of the best undergraduate and graduate schools for students to study game design. […]

Brenda Romero, UCSC’s Game Designer in Residence, has been named on of the top 10 game designers this year by Gamasutra! There are a few high-profile individuals in game development we may point to as public speakers and advocates for the medium. Of those,Wizardry and Train developer Brenda Romero is almost certainly the most eloquent, and undeniably the […]