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LTU game design education gives real-world experience with Unreal Incubator

Architecture and Design
January 5, 2024

SOUTHFIELD – Lawrence Technological University’s relationship with Epic Games and its training in Epic’s Unreal Engine game design software have leveled up with the creation of an Unreal Incubator.

Under this new eight-month, full-immersion incubator program, a recent LTU graduate and an LTU senior are receiving stipends from Unreal to develop a new video game in an atmosphere much like a working game design business.

The students are Maggie Hartman of Oxford, a 2023 graduate in LTU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design program, and Anthony Schooley of Allen Park, who will graduate in May 2024 with that degree.

The effort is part of a 2020 grant to LTU from Unreal’s developer, Potomac, Md.-based Epic Games Inc., and supervised by Lawrence Tech Assistant Professor Stephen Mallory, who joined the LTU faculty in 2021 after more than a decade in the game industry. Mallory, who earned a Ph.D. in arts and technology from the University of Texas-Dallas, teaches a freshman introduction to design class, a sophomore history of digital games class, and a senior game development studio in LTU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Game Design program.

Mallory called Unreal Engine “a fantastic tool in terms of its complexity and flexibility” and noted that “there’s a huge, tremendous community around Unreal, hundreds of local community groups and internet groups worldwide.”

Both Hartman and Schooley said they chose the LTU program because it combined game design with the kind of STEM education only a comprehensive technological university can provide. “I was looking around at programs in game design, but when I toured here I learned they also teach coding and overall development,” Hartman said. “It’s much more in-depth than I thought it would be.”

Hartman and Schooley said Mallory offered them the Unreal Incubator opportunity as they were working on their senior projects. The game they’re working on is called Alembic. The name refers to a type of still once used by alchemists in their futile attempts to turn lead into gold. In Alembic, players collect objects and develop skills in order to open new and more complex levels.

They students have a May deadline to complete a working version of the game. Along the way, they have weekly check-ins with LTU adjunct design faculty member Anthony Fox, who has spent the past decade using game design skills in projects for Epic Games, the TV network Showtime, and automakers Ford, Volkswagen, and Kia.

That’s an important point about LTU’s game design curriculum, Mallory said. The skills it teaches aren’t just used in the gaming industry. Unreal Engine has superb rendering technology–rendering so good it’s used in TV and motion picture production, including recent movies in the Star Wars and Matrix franchises. And it’s used in advertising and marketing for a wide variety of products, and in corporate and government training programs.

Lilian Crum, associate dean of the LTU College of Architecture and Design, said the university plans to continue the program in the years ahead for seniors and recent graduates.

Schooley said of the Unreal Incubator project: “We have a lot of freedom with this, which is very nice. This program has given me more hands-on experience. Whether Maggie and I want to start our own studio, or I want to get hired by another studio, or whether I want to to go work doing renderings for a car company, this is a really good program to make that transition.”

Hartman said both she and Schooley are planning on earning the Unreal Authorized Instructor certification by the end of their program in May–which, among other things, would allow them to become adjunct instructors in game design at LTU after gaining more industry experience.

Both Hartman and Schooley said they’ve enjoyed working together on the project, and as Schooley said, may wind up founding their own game design business. “If this turns into a jumping-off point for us to start our own studio, I’m for it,” Hartman said. “I think we make a pretty good team.”

Lawrence Technological University is one of only 13 private, technological, comprehensive doctoral universities in the United States. Located in Southfield, Mich., LTU was founded in 1932 and offers more than 100 programs through its Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Business and Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences, as well as Specs@LTU as part of its growing Center for Professional Development. PayScale lists Lawrence Tech among the nation’s top 11 percent of universities for alumni salaries. Forbes and The Wall Street Journal rank LTU among the nation’s top 10 percent. U.S. News and World Report list it in the top tier of the best Midwest colleges. Students benefit from small class sizes and a real-world, hands-on, “theory and practice” education with an emphasis on leadership. Activities on Lawrence Tech’s 107-acre campus include more than 60 student organizations and NAIA varsity sports.

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Use Your Cell Phone as a Document Camera in Zoom

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  • Have your phone plugged in
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From Computer

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From Phone

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To use your cell phone as a makeshift document camera

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