Building Virtual Worlds is a rapid prototyping course at Carnegie Mellon University. Relying on the strength and agility of small, motivated teams, students take on the near future of games. In 12 weeks, 81 students made 79 games, for such platforms as Occulus Rift, Microsoft Kinect, and Playstation Move.

Two-Headed Orge is a unique VR experience giving two players cooperative control of conjoined ogres. One has a wand and magical prowess, the other a club and brute strength. With Occulus Rifts for their heads, PS Moves for their arms, and pressure plates for their feet, players coordinate to find a magic wishing well that will separate them for good. Using their unique points of view and the aid of their talking wand, players defeat goblins, solve puzzles, and ultimately realize that they're better together.

My Role: Environment Art, First-Person Characters // The Team: Edwin Aw (Programming) Bo Hsuan Chang (Art), Mingxun Chong (Programming), Janet Lin (Sound), Dome Pongmongkol (Animation), Justin Yong (Design) // Project Cycle: 3 Weeks

Curiosity is the story of NASA's nuclear rover after it loses contact with ground control. The forlorn robot wanders the uncharted planet alone until it discovers its predecessor Spirit, whose solar panels are covered in dust. After reviving the downed rover, Curiosity follows its newfound companion to an earthshaking discover. A CAVE automatic virtual environment represents the Martian landscape, with a pneumatic floor to simulate the rover's rocker-bogie suspension system.

My Role: Character & Environment Art, Animatics // The Team: Etaba Assigana (Sound), Lisa Elkin (Art, Production), Kuang-Hsin Liu (Programming), Prajwal Manjuath (Programming) // Project Cycle: 3 Weeks

Defend downtown Pittsburgh from interdimensional invaders by throwing whatever you can find. Players use a custom controller built with Makey Makey. My Role: 3D Art // The Team: Rachina Ahuja (Animation), Shashank Kairamkonda (Engineering, Sound), Chunxue Luo (Programming), Alex Moser (Programming) // Project Cycle: 1 Week

A first-person combat game for Occulus Rift, Full Moon pits players against tribe of werewolves conducting a dark ritual. Using PS Move, players wield a sword and a torch to fend off the darkness. Designed to be completed by inexperienced players, we developed a natural movement system allowing them to navigate freely by stepping forward, backward, left, or right. The level featured a variety of visual cues to orient them and guide their progress, such as a downhill path flanked by extinguishing totems.

My Role: Character Art & Animation // The Team: Yeqing Deng (Art), Dave Tianwei Liu (Programming), Xinghu Lu (Programming), Justin Yong (Sound, Design) // Project Cycle: 2 Weeks

This space-based side-scroller has a twist - no shooting! Via Microsoft Kinect, players assume the role of the creator, caretaker of the universe and its life-giving amoeboids, the Bwoops. Using both hands to place portals and black holes, players clear a path for the innocent creature and protect it from a hostile alien captor. These enable the player to navigate a wide variety of extraterrestrial threats, like splintering asteroids and devious capture devices. The only of 79 prototypes to feature 3D animated cutscenes.

My Role: 3D Art, Cinematics // The Team: Chong Hu (2D Art), Xuyan Ke (Programming), Tim Rosko (Sound), Yan Zhang (Programming) // Project Cycle: 2 Weeks