2019 Games

The 2019 UCSC Games Showcase exhibit halls will feature 61 brand new games developed at UCSC this academic year, by undergraduate and graduate student designers, artists, and programmers. Experiences range from traditional computer games to room-scale VR, and from tabletop boardgames to Augmented Reality mobile games

Some of these games were created in the setting of official game design programs and courses, others were created as a part of graduate student or lab research, and still others were created by an entirely student-organized game-making studio on campus, the Game Design Art Collaboration (GDA)

If your game is listed below and you would like to make an edit, email Melanie Dickinson: mldickin at ucsc.edu. 

Games from Prior Years: 2018 | 20172016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011


{ wish u were queer } key art

A drag n' drop collage game about symmetry, identity, and the fluidity of gender and sexual orientation

Credits: Zoe Sandoval
Website: instagram.com/wishuwere_queer
Context: DANM graduate student work
Location: DARC 206

Experimental gay dinosaur game where you can hug other dinos, place flowers and stickers, and celebrate life

Credits: Joyce Lin, Fen Swanson
Website: jellolin.itch.io/dinosaurily
Twitter: @DinosaurilyGame
Instagram: @dinosaurily_game
Context: ARTG 129: Speculative Futures
Location: DARC 206
Yokai Nights key art

VR horror game about a security guard that must escape a haunted museum infested with Yokai

Credits: Toby Kwan, Noelle Correa, Janelynn Camingue, Octavian Bancescu, Cristian Rodriguez, Dennis "Vin" Tin Nguyen, Zachary Lu, Jeff Peterson, Josh Susic, Francisco Barajas, Larosina Benadam, Bruce Balestier, Jeffrey Yao
Website: yokai-nights.com
Twitter: @YokaiNights
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

A 2D side scrolling platformer where you must use light and darkness to stay out of danger

Credits: Kan Wen, Jordan Lee
Context: CMPM 80K
Location: DARC 230

Post-Apocalyptic exploration game that teaches recycling concepts to players

Credits: Ali Babaei, Amir Babaei, Calum Chan, Maia Dupuis, Peter Huang, Trieveon Cooper
Website: withoutatracegame.com/Trace
Context: CMPS 117
Location: DARC 230
Window Pane key art

Play as the victim of a government conspiracy (Project MKUltra) in a surrealistic psychedelic experience

Credits: Evita Lobo, Thomas Ruiz, Kaio Barbosa, Jared Penner, Garrick Liou, Octavian Banescu, Joel Hernandez, Alex Bradkte, Christian Miley, Liam Dugard, Scott Thomas
Website: windowpanegame.com
Twitter: @WindowPaneGame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 306
Wacktory key art

A fusion of VR and local multiplayer where players work together to beat the clock as they break, combine, box, stamp, and deliver different colored cubes as the orders roll in

Credits: Talon Baker, Dustin Halsey, Salvador Galindo, Josh Clouse, Jeremy Lafond, Zack Lawrence, Reed Scriven, Sandra Tiu Latt, Nichole Wilkinson, Terence So, Herman Wu, Taylor Reyland
Website: wacktory.com
Twitter: @wacktory
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108
Awards: Grand Prize Award
V.I.T.R.I.O.L. key art

A 3-4 player turn-based strategy card game where players take on the role of alchemists to achieve a singular goal: to procure Gold using only the most basic materials of the world

Credits: Htoo Paing
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308

Tabletop game involving building physical card towers

Credits: Terence So
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308
Throw to Survive key art

Goofy zombie survival game where you throw random objects at zombies

Credits: Roberto Ortiz
Website: roberto-ortiz.itch.io/throw-to-survive
Context: CMPM 121
Location: DARC 108
Thread key art

Walking Simulator about PTSD

Credits: Ashfeather Wilson, Andi Guyette, Jonathan Morales, Spencer Smoot, Victoria Lima, Nau Castillo, Emma Yates, Buzz Tilford, Jesús Hernández, Herman Wu
Website: lucidthreadgames.com
Twitter: @LucidThreadGame
Facebook: @LucidThreadGames
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230 (annex)

Playful board game where players vote on new rules to add to the game

Credits: Jake Burdick
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308
Super Cosmic Clash key art

Arcade fighter where planets hurl asteroids at each other using their gravity

Credits: Caetano Hyams, Erk Acar, Maia Dupuis
Website: ostrichman.itch.io/supercosmicclash
Context: CMPM/ARTG 120
Location: DARC 206
Squish key art

A fierce competitive platformer where you squish your friends and avoid falling debris in a crumbling underground grave rave

Credits: Ian Rapoport, Liam Dugard, Austin Kellar, Alfredo Cuevas, James Coulter Petnic, Reed Scriven, Wesley Wu, Athene Yip, Fernando Zamora, Emma Gomish
Website: play-squish.com
Twitter: @playsquish
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

A hybrid mobile/tabletop game where players cooperatively collect spells to protect the realm against evil

Credits: Grace Ko, Moises Martinez, Jeffrey Liu, Dina Rosenberg, John Park, Jan Yu, Sydney Birakos, Malcolm Riley
Website: spellbookgame.github.io/Spellbook
Instagram: @spellbook_game
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 308

A hypertext fiction about a day in people's lives

Credits: Cyril Focht, Amy Zhu
Context: CMPM graduate student work
Location: DARC 206

Snail-themed dungeon crawler

Credits: Ardent Eliot Reinhard, Cecil Choi, Cam Miller
Website: camsh.itch.io/snungeon
Context: CMPM 80K
Location: DARC 206
Skyward Odyssey key art

A relatively simple, easy-to-play endless sidescroller where a player accompanies the endless journey of a ninja through the skies to explore his story

Credits: Htoo Paing, Erwang Li, Brian Chu
Context: CMPM/ARTG 120
Location: DARC 108
Seeds of Love key art

Visual novel/rhythm game about lesbian farming escapism

Credits: Gigi Bachtel, Holly Cheng, Parker Soto, Paige R., Eric Long, Rachel Haub, Hana Cho, Nox Ngo, Fernando Zamora, Herald Hamor, Emily Hoang, Griffin "grifbot" Conway, Thomas Applewhite, Kenny Doan, Jason Yang, Kiyomi, Madeleine Glenn, Parmpreet Gill, Milo Kim, Dennis (Vin) T Nguyen, Kendra Shu, Allison Pham, Summer Gadsby, Rexford Jew, Benjamin Roisen, Ben Schwartz, yan Lee, Abel Ting, artsy_vii, Angel Martinez-Portillo, David Nguyen, Dallas Truong, Cathy Tram
Website: seedsoflove.itch.io
Twitter: @SeedsofLoveGame
Context: GDA
Location: DARC 230
Savor Saber key art

An action adventure RPG about feeding cute critters to befriend and protect them from invasive harvesting machines

Credits: Hughe Vang, Tina Peng, Allyson Campos, Jacinda Ni, Liam Dugard, Philip Stanley, Kindon Smith, Jonah Uyyek, Valentino Abate, Gigi Bachtel, Madeleine Glenn
Website: savorsaber.com
Twitter: @SavorSaber
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230

Puzzle based programming game where you build and code robots to fight through rooms

Credits: Damen Birtola, Luke Mason, Alexai Zachow, Abdul Banglee, John Khaw, Zack Lawrence, Tristan Burnside, David Kirkpatrick, Kennan Billimoria, Matthew Reed, Terence So
Website: RobitsGame.com
Twitter: @RobitsGame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230
Rise key art

A cooperative platforming game that explores the symbiotic relationship between a handicapped squirrel and a sick tree

Credits: Barbara Haggerty, Nicolae Christoffersen, Aadam Mohammad, Christopher Kong, Eric Malmgren, Raquel Ramirez, Alex Hartford, Aaron Garber, Amiel Cox, Malcolm Riley, Artin Zargarian, Gabriel McNeill, Karen Lee, Lisa Moua, Adesh Kumar
Website: sites.google.com/view/risethegame
Facebook: @RiseTheVideoGame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

A multi-sensory, immersive, interactive, vibrational/cymatic experience

Credits: Richard Grillotti, Andy DiLallo
Website: rg.org
Twitter: @pixel2600
Instagram: @rgrillotti
Facebook: @rich.grillotti
Context: DANM MFA Thesis Project
Location: DARC 135

Animal arena fighting game where you push opponents out of the ring

Credits: Nicolas Ming, Briant Licup, Daniel Liao, Dominique Dejarnatt, Jake Burdick, John Thomson, Lisa Moua, Makayla James, Michael Ettinger, Miriam Perez, Muhammad Al-Suwaidi, Nichole Boothroyd, Nichole Wilkinson, Tristan Clark
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

Boss rush game where you explore a forest while playing pretend

Credits: Josh Husting, Tayla Rund, Patrick Lauderdale, Theo Erickson, Ryan Melton, Alex Stanke, Nick McCrink, Noelle Correa, Janel Catajoy, Giancarlo Tomasello, Brandon Zwier
Website: playgroundheroes.webflow.io
Twitter: @pgheroesgame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230
Part-Time Alchemist key art

A Medieval fantasy VR experience about mixing and selling potions in an alchemist's shop

Credits: Mark Rahal, Summer Gadsby, Nick Olds, Jeremy Green, Roy Cramer, Gavin Thompson, Darius Rudominer, Skylar Liu
Website: parttimealchemist.wordpress.com
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

First-person puzzle game where you solve the puzzles using time travel

Credits: Hutson Hall, Bangsheng Zhai, Lynne Okada, Jesus Hernandez, Enzo Schlatter, Amiel Cox, Jacob Levine, Macie Cooper, Morgan Smith, Joe Stableford, Emilio Angeles, Naylan Adre
Website: paraducksgame.com
Twitter: @ParaducksGame
Instagram: @paraducksgame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230
Origin Trail key art

Sidescrolling pixel art narrative game about grief, impermanence, and traveling to see the sunset at the end of the world

Credits: Reno Rivera, Wesley Wu, Hughe Vang, Caleb Valdez, Alex Smirnov, Timofey Peshin, Freeman Tao, Paula Ulriksen, Benjamin Trotter, Yani Fauzi, Reshma Zachariah, Joyce Lin, Brandon Leung, Simón Benichou
Website: origintrailgame.com
Twitter: @OriginTrailGame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230

Cooperative horror-theme card game where players work together to fight or flee a terror

Credits: Daniel Liao
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308
Occultus Ocularus key art

Puzzle-platformer about opening your third (and fourth, and fifth and..) eye

Credits: Angel Martinez-Portillo (Music), Darius Rudominer (Sound Design, Music), Fernando Zamora (Music, Sound Design), Clemence Briat (Art), Erica Li (Art), Santiago Ponce (Concept Art), Herman Wu (Animation), Tristian Morales (Programming, Tile Set Art), Seiji Emery (Programming), Matic Likar (Programming), Kyle Worcester-Moore (Programming), Ray Nelson (Programming), Eric Sandoval Ruezga (Programming), Geoff Smith (Programming, Organization), Theo Erickson (Programing, Game Design), Collyn Noda (Programming, Level Design), Derek Jean (Level Design), Hendrik Moeller (Level Design, Level Testing), Evan Li (Design), Molly Thompson (Creative Director), Georgio Klironomos (Producer, Programming), Jeven McCoy (Game Design), Kai Ma, Joshua Fleck
Website: occocgame.itch.io/occultus-ocularus
Twitter: @OccOcGame
Context: GDA
Location: DARC 230
No Phones in Class key art

Text based and horror survival game where you must escape class by killing time on your phone, while not getting caught by the teacher

Credits: Gideon Fox, Sean Fronteras, Andrew Vien
Context: CMPM/ARTG 120
Location: DARC 306

Haunted house labyrinth of dimensional doors where you use your intuition to find out who among you trapped you and your companions in this space in the first place

Credits: Cathy Tram
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308

Card game about finding who murdeered Remi the deer

Credits: Hanette Le
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308
Mr. Xtraordinary key art

BE XTRAORDINARY.

A third person action game where you become the superhero. Save the people and save the city. No matter what the cost.

Credits: Sung Baek, Shreyarth Bhatt, Chengyu Jiang, Haneul Jung, Pengze Zheng, Nagie Khant, Anthony Medina, Karen Lee, Bob Liu, Angela Moy
Website: mrxtraordinary.com
Twitter: @xtraordinary_mr
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

A 2-player couch-competitive game where one player tries to reach the top of a tower constantly being rigged with obstacles—traps and spells—conjured by the opposing player

Credits: Alex Covert, Shishir Bharadwaj, Trevor Jordy, Edward Li, Andy Long, Aaron Miranda, Greg Ocampo, Roberto G. Ortiz-Cisneros, Peter Tieu, Marco Wence, Amy Zhu
Website: magispiregame.com
Twitter: @magispiregame
Instagram: @magispiregame
Facebook: @magispiregame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108
Lunacueva Legado key art

Exploration game where one must sacrifice their own comrades to escape a dark cave

Credits: Gigi Bachtel
Website: gigsabyte.itch.io/lcl
Context: CMPM 121
Location: DARC 306

Customizable fashion fighting beat 'em up

Credits: Geoff Smith, David Nguyen, Evan Blank, Eric Mitchell, Austin Wiley, Gabriel McNiell, Tristian Morales, Morgan Storrs, Kevin Ly, Athene Yip, Holly Cheng, Vivian Pham, Erica Li, Jeff Yao, Marcos Quezada, Damien Machado, Reshma Zachariah, Jake Burdick, Tony Lufrano, Dani Kim
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

Card game about kids left without regular parental supervision and the poor babysitter that has to manage them

Credits: Paula Navarro Ulriksen
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308

Ultimate janitor simulator where you clean up after people in a busy hotel lobby

Credits: Ali Zeynalov
Website: home.zeynalov.com/janitor/index.html
Context: CMPM 80K
Location: DARC 108
It Gets Easier key art

A typing game about being sad

Credits: Evie Chang, Beth Oliver
Website: evchang.itch.io/it-gets-easier
Context: DANM graduate student work
Location: DARC 306

Twinstick horror shooter with a theme of mental anguish

Credits: Maxwell Taylor, Jordan Timm, Tristian Morales, Jordan Kinard, Trenten Kaufeldt-Lira, Courtney Hunt, Grant Muhlestein, Angela Moy, Bryan Arvizu, Evelyn Lee, Sophia Vermeulen, Colin Snyder
Website: inwardsgame.com
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

An educational game about privilege where players get to explore real life scenarios in the shoes of characters with randomized identities

Credits: Attie Sit
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308
Imber key art

A 5-player card-based roguelike board game with dungeon exploring and dungeon building elements

Credits: Jihong Min, Connor Donovan
Website: falseworldgames.com
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308

Short interactive dystopia

Credits: Cam Miller
Website: camsh.itch.io/iwbyeah
Context: CMPM 80K
Location: DARC 206

Violence in a dark-surrealist subconscious world

Credits: Joseph Boudeman, Jacob Burnworth, Steven Cameron, Lucas Hackman, Nick Uhlig, Selena Zain, Terence So, Simone Von Kugelgen, Alex Zauner, Stefani Himes, Brandon Lang, Samuel Shin, Zuola Guoerluoti
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

Musical sandbox game about bringing life back to a fantastical world

Credits: Kiefer Nemeth, Jennifer Fullerton, Jacob Wynd, Angelica Galindo, Thomas Ruiz, Fen Swanson, Matthew Nutt, Daniel Martin, Kaylie Cetera, Simon Benichou, Miriam Perez
Website: hiddenharmonygame.com
Twitter: @HiddennHamony
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230
Heartbeat key art

Explore empathy by embodying the world around Charlie on his first day at school

Credits: Nathaniel Maasch, Gian Paolo Paredes, Justin Pimentel, Shuo-En Li, Vienna Chan, Emily Rodriguez, Brody Richards
Website: playheartbeat.weebly.com
Twitter: @HeartBeatGame
Instagram: @heartbeatgame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230

Tower defense game with roguelike elements and level modifications

Credits: Yuming Li, Yanwen Xu, Christopher Kong, Chewei Wu, Jiacheng Zhang, Jianan Han, Robbie Dooley, Filmanauts Studio
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108
Funeral Parlor key art

A simultaneously collaborative and competitive card game with a Victorian aesthetic that puts players in the position of managing the estate of a deceased relative

Credits: Janey Holm
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308

Randomly generated, party based, narrative dungeon crawler

Credits: Matthew Reed
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308
Disaster Trail key art

Natural disaster preparedness game to teach players preventive actions in a flood

Credits: Kyle Soo Hoo, Rahil Bhatnagar, Nick Forester, Samuel Barish, Kevin Wu, Amiel Cox, YunZhi Lin, Gian Paolo Paredes, Yaoshun Yu, Thomas Cannon, Sandra Latt, Kennan Billimoria, Professor Edward Melcer, Erica Li
Website: thedagames.com
Twitter: @DisasterStudio3
Facebook: @DisasterStudios2
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230
Datura's Curse key art

A puzzle platform game where you use the transition between 2D and 3D to solve the puzzle and move forward

Credits: Xintong Liu (Producer), Jacob Daniels-Flechtner (Co-Producer), Jason Chen (Lead Programmer), Taylor Infuso (Lead Designer), Reece Sagun (Tech Artist), Oskar Alfaro (Lead Artist), Steve Zheng (Character Art Artist/External Helper), Daniel Qi (Music Maker/ External Helper), Angelica Galindo (Audio Production Lead), Juhao Su (Puzzle Designer), Changzhao Chen (Puzzle Designer), Chun Kai Wilson Lau (Puzzle Designer)
Website: daturascurse.weebly.com
Instagram: @daturascursegame
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 108

A social interactive game where you pitch yourself for points

Credits: Sally Nguy
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308

An interactive film and game space that uses elements of personal narrative and historical symbolism to illustrate the dynamics of how racism communicates: through our actions and language, our systemic and institutional complicity with racism, and how one might negotiate with racism for survival

Credits: Keegan Farrell (Project Lead), Chris Cain (Unity Programming Consultant and Support), Kristen Erickson (Overall Project Support), Matthew Erickson (Video and Animation Support), Shimul Chowdury (Texturing Support), Greg Sullo (Audio Mixing Support)
Context: DANM graduate student work
Location: DARC 306

Mermaid Arena style Collect-a-Thon where players work to collect the most clams and pearls

Credits: Casey Fields, Kelly Lallemand, Jesse Martin
Context: CMPM 151
Location: DARC 206
Chrysalis key art

Self-explorative occult divination art game where you use cards and sculpture to reflect on personal questions

Credits: Morgan Tomfohr
Instagram: @chrysalisoracle
Context: ARTG 80G and 129-03
Location: DARC 308
Cat's Cradle key art

Two cats in a long distance relationship are separated by two different planes of gravity and must reunite with the single thread of yarn connecting them

Credits: Herman Wu, Georgio Klironomos, Erica Li
Website: recyclist.itch.io/cats-cradle
Context: CMPM/ARTG 120
Location: DARC 108
Bashful Baker key art

Play as a delivery boy for the local bakery who's too shy to say no to the hungry town watch

Credits: Philip Stanley, Kaylie Cetera, Joshua Navarro, Brendan Smith-Fagan, Michael Lagapa, Brody Richards, Kent Preston, Courtney Chavez
Website: bashfulbakergame.weebly.com
Twitter: @BashfulBakerGME
Context: Senior Capstone Sequence (CMPM/ARTG 170-172)
Location: DARC 230
BPM key art

Play as a particle bouncing between sound-waves to the beat of funky fast paced tunes

Credits: Brady Moore, Merita Lundstrom, Terrence DuBois
Website: kittynugget.itch.io/bpm-bouncing-particle-madness
Context: CMPM/ARTG 120
Location: DARC 108
A Relative Shift In Time key art

A 2D planetary strategy game where sending your workers between differing timestreams threatens to upset the delicate balance of their lives, but sacrifices are sometimes necessary for the greater cause

Credits: Janey Holm, Ian Horning, Gram Nitschke
Website: rockets-and-logarithms.itch.io/a-relative-shift-in-time
Context: CMPM/ARTG 120
Location: DARC 230

2D walking simulator where you explore the beach from the eyes of a dog.

Credits: Terry DuBois, Georgio Klironomos, Milo Lynch
Website: terrydubois.itch.io/a-dog-at-the-beach
Context: CMPM 80K
Location: DARC 206