Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · 20h

Explore a dreamlike world and the imagination of SMU Guildhall alumna Anona Yang in The Falling Star—a short, narrative-driven walking simulator adventure. To celebrate 2,000 downloads, DLC content drops tomorrow (Oct 9). Learn more about the game and DLC: www.smu.edu/guildhall/ne...

The Falling Star DLC Release

Explore a dreamlike world and the magical imagination and talent of SMU Guildhall alumna Anona Yang in 2025 Steam release, The Falling Star—a short, narrative-driven walking simulator adventure.

www.smu.edu

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · 20d

Ropes Course Day: Every new Guildhall cohort participates in a team building day to learn more about each other early in the semester and to build their teamwork and communication skills through a variety of fun and challenging activities. This year, the Cohort 35 event took place at Group Dynamix.

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · 21d

Alumni Highlight: ✨ Cohort 32’s Emily Zhang, Systems Designer at @gearboxofficial.bsky.social, was interviewed by @aapiingaming.bsky.social on breaking into and navigating the industry, with perspectives and insights as an Asian woman in Games. Listen in: youtu.be/1HFok8aCXgg?...

AAPI in Gaming with Emily Zhang from Gearbox Software

YouTube video by AAPI In Gaming

youtu.be

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · 23d

A few more snaps from Inauguration 🌟
• Faculty at Inauguration: Dr. Aleshia Hayes, Joowon MacDowell, Dr. Emily Choi, Dr. Elizabeth Stringer
• Photos in Inauguration Ceremony feature Guildhall Faulty Myque Ouellette & Dr. Corey Clark
• Guests play Guildhall games at Ford Hall Open House Tour

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · 25d

A huge congrats to our friends and alumni at @gearboxofficial.bsky.social on the launch of Borderlands 4 🤩 Everyone featured in this photo are Guildhall alumni that contributed on the title. Incredible! So very proud of you all. 👏

#gamedev

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · 26d

Happy National Video Game Day from SMU Guildhall! Here’s to all our students, alumni, faculty, and industry friends around the world who work to bring video games to life everyday. You rock!
#gamedev

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · 26d

We are excited for the Inauguration of SMU President Jay Hartzell today! We welcome all Inauguration guests to join us in Ford Hall until noon today to tour SMU Guildhall and learn about our game development program.

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 28

Pick your player in HardDriverz, a student-made racer now on Steam!
• Bellina: a timeless classic
• Echo: for a funky beat
• Tami: + virtual companions
• Troller: for the thrill-seeker
Customize your kart and get ready to battle 🏎️ So… Who do you pick? 💬🥇

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 27

SMU Guildhall student research investigates LLMs to create more realistic NPCs. Learn more below! #ganedev

epratherstafford.bsky.social @epratherstafford.bsky.social · Aug 26

SMU PhD student Jake Klinkert is testing LLMs to create non-playable characters that act and respond more like real people. Klinkert and colleagues found GPT-4 achieved 73.98% accuracy in maintaining consistent personality traits.
www.smu.edu/news/researc...

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 26

Burn rubber across futuristic gravity-defying tracks in this competitive arcade racer! HardDriverz is FREE on #Steam 🏎️🏁🎮 store.steampowered.com/app/3533890/... 💬 Already played? Tell us in comments: what’s your fave terrain?🥇 Neon Circuit City, hilly Android Arena, or iridescent Disc Drive? #gamedev

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 25

This past Fri-Sat we kicked off Fall semester with Orientation & GameJam for our new Master’s #gamedev students. It’s fun to see what students come up with at GameJam as they create games in just one day of creative collaboration.

#gamedeveducation #gamedesign #gamedesignschool #gamedesignstudent

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 25

Listen in: SMU Guildhall alum @lizardengland.bsky.social (C7, ‘08) revisits her 2014 blog on “The Door Problem of Game Design” which poses a simple, practical response to the question “What does a game designer do?” We love her perspective, and getting to celebrate our alums!

#gamedev #smu

Game Developer @gamedeveloper.bsky.social · Aug 25

This week @lizaardengland.bsky.social joins us to explain why she organizes books by color, not author name. Oh and we talk about game design. Eventually.

Revisiting The Door Problem With Liz England

This week on the Game Developer Podcast, game designer Liz England joins us to look back on her famous 2014 blog post 'The Door Problem.'

www.gamedeveloper.com

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 25

Love it! Way to go, Liz!

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 23

Play & celebrate with us as we launch HardDriverz on #steam today (8/23) at 12pm CT! bit.ly/3Vd4h52 Compete against AI racers through six twisty, futuristic and gravity-defying tracks down iridescent roads, wasteland dunes & a neon-lit cyberscape. #gamedev

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 22

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 22

Welcome to SMU Guildhall, Cohort 35! Take a peek around your new home in Ford Hall. We are so happy you’re here with us at @smudallas. 🎮🎉

#smuorientation2025 #ponyup #mustangmomentum #smu

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 19

Wishlist now to be notified when it drops! bit.ly/3Vd4h52

bit.ly

SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 19

Coming to #steam 8/23: HardDriverz—a twisty, futuristic, gravity-defying arcade racing game. Design your kart and compete against friends down iridescent roads, wasteland dunes, and a neon-lit cyberscape.
youtu.be/zH9_BnfFSh8?...

HardDriverz Gameplay Trailer

YouTube video by SMU Guildhall

youtu.be

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · Aug 15

Coming Soon! HardDriverz, by Cohort 34. Burn rubber across futuristic cityscapes on twisting gravity defying tracks with customizable karts in this competitive arcade racer!
Wishlist to be alerted when it's released: store.steampowered.com/app/3533890/...

HardDriverz on Steam

Burn rubber across futuristic cityscapes on twisting gravity defying tracks with customizable karts in this competitive arcade racer!

store.steampowered.com

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · May 24

Congrats to the development team at id Software on their recent launch of "Doom: The Dark Ages", including SMU Guildhall alumni Evan Eubanks, Matt Grabowski, Ryan Moncrief, Eliana Gargiulo, Robert Hicks, Tim Herrmann, Weylan Wang, and Danni Liang.

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · May 19

A few snaps from the 2025 Diploma Ceremony and Reception for the SMU Guildhall graduate program for game development. More photos to come!

#gamedev #careersingames #gaming #gamedeveducation #ponyup #smu #classof2025

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · May 17

Congratulations, 2025 graduates 🎉🎓 You did it! Your SMU Guildhall faculty and staff are so proud of all you accomplished in your time here. Onward and upward! Keep in touch, we’d love to learn about all you do from here. 🎮

#smu #ponyup #classof2025 #gamedev

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Reposted by SMU Guildhall

Daniel Albu 🕹️ (Tech Talk with Daniel Albu) @danielalbu.bsky.social · May 12

🎙️ My conversation with The Dig lead dev and @smuguildhall.bsky.social director Gary Brubaker is now available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
creators.spotify.com...

🎥 You can also watch it on YouTube!
youtu.be/2ySEgMwL-EM

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SMU Guildhall @smuguildhall.bsky.social · May 9

Congrats to our 2025 Master’s graduating candidates who presented their Thesis work today at our annual Thesis Exhibition, and thank you to all of our guests who attended! Check out our 2025 Catalog to learn more about these projects and more: joom.ag/1Ysd