The GAME School

08/20/2026

08/19/2026

Let's make some noise in AME 294: Circuit Bending! 🎛️🎶

Build glitched drum generators, lo-fi effects and stochastic synthesizers from dirt-cheap digital parts that have been around since the 1970s. Get hands-on with circuit bending, hardware hacking and microsound as you transform the hardware building blocks of early digital computers into generative musical machines. Learn foundational electrical engineering techniques while building something with your hands (without AI) that costs just a few dollars!

No prerequisites. No additional course fees. Just bring your creativity and curiosity.⚡

👉Explore the course and enroll: https://ow.ly/9BR050ZBA5j

08/18/2026

🏆 Achievement unlocked: Gamers turn skills into scholarship dollars

In spring 2026, four Sun Devils turned their top scores in the ASU Combine into money they could use to support their education.

But the esports competition’s benefits extend beyond the screen in additional ways. “Each genre of video game taps into many soft skills including critical thinking, leadership and communication,” said Connor Rawls, who leads operation of the ASU Esports Lounge. “Successful students in the ASU Combine are displaying more than a mastery of games; they are future leaders and innovators.”

Now, the ASU Combine is returning for fall 2026 with new opportunities for students to earn $$$ through online gaming! 🎮

Read more at https://news.asu.edu/b/20260810-achievement-unlocked-gamers-turn-skills-scholarship-dollars

Ultimate Endgamers League, ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts

08/13/2026

Have you ever wanted to launch your own video game? 🎮 💻Now is your chance! Find out how this fall in AME 494: Indie Game Studio. The course runs Wednesdays from noon–2:45 p.m. starting Aug. 20 at the ASU MIX Center.

👾 As part of the class, you’ll operate as an indie game studio, taking a game from concept through production to public release. Leave with a shipped game and a portfolio-ready postmortem!

🔗 Learn more and register at the link in our bio.

08/12/2026

ASU's The GAME School is hosting a Showdown Series with Gen.G Esports for Riftbound — a League of Legends trading card game — this Saturday, Aug. 15, at the ASU in California Broadway building! The LA community will be competing to win cash prizes, elite cards, regional championship invites and more! 🏆

While competition spots are full, the venue is open to spectators to catch all the action and even pick up some exclusive Gen.G merchandise! Learn more at: https://locator.riftbound.uvsgames.com/events/791304

08/11/2026

Join THP 494: Interactive Participatory Performance this fall for a fun and interactive exploration of LARP (Live Action Role Play) as an immersive, embodied art form!

You’ll play games written by premiere designers working in the field today. You'll also learn world-building, character creation, meta-techniques and live game mechanics to develop and playtest your own short-form LARPs!

Register today at: https://catalog.apps.asu.edu/catalog/classes/classlist?keywords=88103&searchType=all&term=2267 =88103-110269

08/07/2026

The GAME School is excited to be a microcredential partner with The Code Hatch for Code Arizona - Arizona’s largest high school hackathon, happening August 15 from 9 a.m.–7 p.m. at BASIS Chandler.

Code Arizona is a 10-hour event where high schoolers from across Arizona come together to build apps, games and much more with the power of code and AI.

No experience? That ’s fine! There will be mentors to help + a dedicated beginner category.
There are also workshops to help you get started, industry networking, food, free swag and more to help you build awesome things at Code Arizona!

👉 Learn more and register at codeaz.codehatch.org.

🏅 See details about the microcredential at https://credid.asu.edu/public/badges/e88287da-ba82-45d3-85a0-f4465d181c35.

08/06/2026

Join us this fall for AME 330: Digital Physical Systems, where you’ll merge physical and virtual spaces to create immersive experiences!

This class will focus on the integration of physical computing and game engine technologies. You’ll learn:
** Refresher lessons on essential physical-computing skills.
** Basic skills for Unity game engine development.
** Agentic AI coding techniques to accelerate and amplify technical work.

You’ll also use a mix of 3D modeling, laser cutting, 3D printing and hand fabrication techniques to prototype physical interfaces for these mixed reality systems. Core topics include haptics (tactile/touch feedback), sensor driven game engine parameters and physical object-based interactions.

What does that look like? Projects from prior courses include:
** An immersive multi-display driving simulator (a rover on another planet, including a functioning periscope!)
** A physical-virtual escape room (with physical locks that open through virtual interactions)
** A physical telescope that allows users to navigate views of virtual astronomic scenes.

Register at https://ow.ly/25bK50ZxfcJ

07/31/2026

**In the news** Associate Professor Ariane Middel’s area of expertise has been a hot topic this month, literally. Middel, whose research focuses on how urban design influences heat exposure, was interviewed for a Stocktonia piece on how triple digits are affecting residents of Stockton California whose livelihoods depend on being outdoors, even when temperatures become a health risk. 🥵

She was also interviewed alongside colleagues Jennifer Vanos and David Sailor in ASU’s ASU School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, where Middel holds a joint appointment, for an ASU News feature offering advice on weathering Arizona summers. Stay cool out there!

👉 Read more at https://stocktonia.org/news/environment/2026/07/18/when-a-mini-heat-wave-hit-stockton-these-residents-couldnt-escape-it/

and

👉 https://news.asu.edu/20260720-environment-and-sustainability-how-experts-weather-arizona-summers

07/29/2026

Congratulations to the researchers who recently published exciting new research for the field of AI-generated 3D models in the journal Transactions on Machine Learning, or TMLR! The team includes three faculty from The GAME School, a current ASU computer science PhD student and two ASU computer science alumni in partnership with two private sector collaborators.

Their paper, titled “DecompDreamer: A Composition-Aware Curriculum for Structured 3D Asset Generation,” presents a new AI technique that helps computers create more realistic 3D scenes from text descriptions by prioritizing optimization schedules.

While existing AI tools can generate individual objects well, they often struggle with more complex prompts involving multiple objects and their relationships. The new method, called DecompDreamer, solves this by first arranging the overall scene and then refining each object one at a time. The result is more accurate, detailed, and believable 3D content, with potential applications in game development, virtual reality, digital design and animation.

Their research was also awarded the selective J2C Certification, which designates the paper as being on the joint NeurIPS/ICLR/ICML journal-to-conference track. Receiving this certification gives the researchers the opportunity to present their findings at one of these three prestigious conferences.

Read more! 👉 https://news.asu.edu/b/20260728-asu-researchers-privatesector-collaborators-publish-research-aigenerated-3d-models

Authors: Utkarsh Nath, Rajeev Goel, Rahul Khurana, Kyle Min, Mark Ollila, Pavan K. Turaga, Varun Jampani, Tejaswi Gowda

You can read the full paper here: https://openreview.net/pdf?id=3qy4J6QFbn