Game Labs

DePaul Originals Game Studio and the XR Creative Lab

Both DePaul Originals and the XR Lab are housed inside the Jarvis Student Center for Innovation and Collaboration, located on the concourse level of the DePaul Center. DePaul Originals simulates a professional video game studio, where CDM students across disciplines collaborate on the development of a single game across academic quarters until it’s polished enough for public release. The studio focuses on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine as its main development tool. Students develop a specialty while at the same time maintaining a broad skill base. They take on varying responsibilities over the lifetime of the game, and receive development credit on the final shipped product.

The XR Lab is a space for the DePaul community to both create and enjoy XR experiences. Currently the lab has Vive Cosmos systems and will soon have a virtual production prototyping space and MR recording capabilities. The XR Lab is adjacent to the game studio, allowing for student collaborations.

Development and Research Labs

The Game Dev and Game Research labs are open to students registered for selected courses to work on classroom and research-related projects. Combined, they house 24 development stations with high-end gaming PCs, dual monitors, consoles, and the appropriate software for mixed game development.

Additional research labs that may be of interest to game students include the Design Research and Games (DRAG) Lab, which focuses on designing and studying games through human centered design approaches and histories, and Matters at Play, which partners in the creation of interactive advocacy solutions for positive social transformations, especially regarding social justice, health, and environmental issues.

The Software Observation and Usability Lab (SOUL) is a player-user research space available for reservation by faculty and students with two rooms (an observation room and a player-participant room) separated by a one-way mirror. It is capable of supporting multiple types of studies that include (but are not limited to): usability using Morae, eyetracking (Tobii), games user research (usability and playtesting), and focus groups or interviews.

Virtual and Augmented Design Lab

The Virtual and Augmented Design Lab (VAD) hosts classes and projects to research and develop experimental games on emerging platforms. VAD is equipped with the latest hardware including AR headsets/visors, VR headsets with hand and foot trackers, iPhones for augmented reality development, Oculus Quests, Microsoft HoloLenses, HTC Vives, and 24” Cintiq Pros. Students interested in working in VAD should contact Brian Schrank.