Fall 2025 ETC Community Achievements
Each semester, we make a point of celebrating the creative, technical, and collaborative milestones of Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center’s (ETC) students, alumni, and faculty. From published research and public premieres to game launches and international recognition, Fall 2025 has been full of ETC moments worth spotlighting:
Game Launches
“Uh Oh, Dino!” – Now on Kickstarter
Assistant Teaching Professor Dave Culyba and his wife, fellow alum and friend of the program Sabrina Culyba (ETC ‘05) just launched a board game they designed together: “Uh Oh, Dino!” In the game, players are transformed into a team of adorable dinosaurs who have to clean up a museum before it opens to the public. The couple presented the project as part of PAX Rising at PAX Unplugged in November.
“Frogmageddon” – Available on Steam
ETC first-year Austin Szema (ETC ‘27) started working on “Frogmageddon” before he even arrived at the ETC as part of the 2024 Game Maker’s Tool Kit game jam. Now, the completed game is available on Steam, where it’s sold over 200 copies since its November 6 launch. Szema developed the game alongside Manny Mallea, Eugenio Lopez, Lan Kung, Ben Zakharenko, and Byung-Hun Lee.
“The Tale of Oath” – Available on Steam
What started as Spring 2025 project Quessant is now a fully-realized game. The team — Yiran Zhang, Ashling Tu, Xixi Huang, Yuhuai Huang, Henry Lin, Wuji Cao, and Albert Guo — devised the project with the goal of practicing level design. They ended up continuing to work on it after the end of the semester, resulting in “The Tale of Oath”: a 3rd person action-adventure game that combines magic combat with puzzle solving and platform jumping.
“Gravitrix” – Available on Steam
Created as a Spring 2025 project with client XPogo, “Gravitrix” is now available to play on Steam. Team members Rushil Sojitra, Bella Liu, Ryan Wu, Feng-Yi Lin, Jesse Sae Xu, and Henry Lin worked closely with their client to develop a platformer that captured the visceral, high-octane thrills of extreme pogo. The team continued working on the project after the end of the semester, and were able to show off the finished product at this year’s Pogopalooza event in Downtown Pittsburgh.
Faculty Achievements
Jonathan Walton’s “Tacklebox” Featured on Quinn’s Quest
A new edition of Assistant Teaching Professor Jonathan Walton’s boxed RPG “Tacklebox” was featured on Quinn’s Quest, a popular games podcast and video series hosted by a co-founder of Shut Up & Sit Down. Known for its sharp wit and deep industry insights, the show placed Tacklebox alongside other standout boxed RPGs — including by designers who have collaborated with the ETC like Fiasco’s Jason Morningstar.
Ralph Vituccio Premieres New Film, “In Exile”
Teaching Professor Ralph Vituccio premiered his feature documentary “In Exile” at the Harris Theater in downtown Pittsburgh on November 7th. The film brings together powerful stories of artists, writers, and activists who’ve been forced to flee their countries, exploring themes of resilience, cultural memory, and creative resistance.
Heather Kelley Receives STUDIO Travel Grant
Associate Teaching Professor Heather Kelley received a travel grant from the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry to continue development on “The Sounds of Girl Island,” a documentary about audio pioneer Sandy Stone — the first trans woman inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame. Kelley will travel to California to co-create immersive soundscapes with Stone, exploring utopian futures through experimental audio and animation.
Mo Mahler Speaks at NJIT
Assistant Teaching Professor Mo Mahler was invited to present as part of the Conversations in Practice speaker series at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. His talk highlighted his process around storytelling, design, and interactive creativity.
Vivian Shen Presents At International Conferences, Defends Thesis
Assistant Teaching Professor Vivian Shen presented two research papers at major conferences this fall:
- “Kinethreads: Soft Full-Body Haptic Exosuit using Low-Cost Motor-Pulley Mechanisms” was presented at UIST 2025 in Busan, Korea
- “Hapt-Aids: Self-Powered, On-Body Haptics for Activity Monitoring,” was shared at UbiComp 2025 in Helsinki, Finland
Vivian also successfully defended her thesis, “Sensorimotor-Aligned Design for Pareto-Efficient Haptic Immersion in Extended Reality,” this semester. You can watch the recording at this link.
Project Successes
Team Mic Check Wins at AIIDE 2025
The student team behind “Mic Check” — Samantha Trimboli, Kesha Bagadia, Candice Li, Hazel Yu, Emily Zhang, and Isabella Chen —- presented their project at 2025’s Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) Conference. The team won Best Artifact at AIIDE for their creative integration of AI in gameplay.
Team StepUp Wins at 2025 International Serious Play Awards
Team StepUp and their game, “Hygiene Hero Cup,” won a Gold Medal in the Serious Games Created By Students category at this year’s International Serious Play Awards. The students behind team Step Up — Eva Chang, Anna Kim, Lawrence Luo, Regina Xia, Yawen Xiao, and Tyler Yang — worked closely with their client, the World Shoe Fund, on a tablet game that taught proper hygiene practices.
Team Expression Wins at Serious Games Showcase & Challenge
On December 4th, 2025, Team Expression won Best Student-Developed Game at this year’s Serious Games Showcase & Challenge in Orlando, Florida. The students on the Spring 2025 project — Moe Aguilar, Jack Chou, Kailun Deng, Lutong He, Jiwon Park, and Enn Ruan — developed “Speak Your Heart”: a dating sim game intended to teach players about freedom of speech on college campuses.
As always, these achievements reflect the spirit of innovation, experimentation, and collaboration that defines the ETC. We’re proud of what our community has accomplished, and excited for what’s next!