Armontae Harris - Applied Computer Science – Portfolio

• CSMA 402 Thesis 2 - Echo Theohar - Spring 2024

  In this class, we focused on technological explorations and functional prototyping for our Senior Thesis project. I completed my thesis proposals, including documentation, and defended the core concepts synthesized as part of my research and development process. This demonstrated technical proficiency, conceptual originality, practical methodology, creative problem solving, and critical thinking in the implementation of my project MazeVoid.

  • MazeVoid

    PSX-style survival horror developed in Unreal Engine with the aim to explore the integration of adaptive AI systems, procedural generation and dynamic difficulty mechanisms in horror game design. For thesis purposes this is a study in player engagement and experience enhancement. Utilizing dungeon architect and difficulty scaling plugins along with Unreal AI behavior trees and hide-and-seek stealth gameplay, no two runs will be exactly the same.

• CSMA 400 Research Seminar - Mark Ericson - Fall 2023

  In this class, we explored and analyzed the theoretical, historical, and cultural contexts of digital media within a range of creative disciplines, including narrative visual media and games. We developed strong visual communication skills and design aesthetics, projects from concept to fruition, including execution, implementation, and exhibition, and created a substantial body of original work that showcases a unique creative voice.

  • Dynamic Difficulty Graph

• Dynamic Difficulty Timeline

• CSMA 401 Thesis 1 - Echo Theohar - Fall 2023

  In this class, we began the development of our student-led Senior Thesis projects with a focus on technological explorations and functional prototyping of individually-developed software, hardware and/or mixed media prototypes. The project I created is called “MazeVoid”, a PSX-style PC game exploring the integration of adaptive AI systems and dynamic difficulty mechanisms in horror game design. This was intended to be a study in player engagement and experience enhancement.

  • Thesis Concept Board

• MazeVoid Concept Demo

• Test Environment

• GAME 140 Environment Design and Modeling - Cory Sayles - Fall 2023

  In this class, we worked on Mapping Burbank. Mapping Burbankis a story-based, self-guided digitalapplication tour and gallery presentation of the community of Burbank. Mapping Burbank showcases stories that have been eclipsed by the world-wide acclaim of film and television industry, along with monuments about Burbank. Using a combination of augmented reality, sound, and photography, Mapping Burbank will present visions of a multi-layered community that is rich in history, ecology, and culture. The gallery section will present visions for monuments that are intended to spark the viewers’ imagination about rethinking collective memory.

  • Arcade Machine

• Skeeball Machine

• Mallow Weed (Foliage)

• Candy Machine

• Modular Walls

• Level Flythrough

• GDES 315 Interaction Design 2 - Artyom Koburyan - Spring 2023

  In this class, we explored the design of web-based user interface applications across multiple devices. Emphasis was placed on the design of navigational structures and systems, audience, organization of information and access to web applications. These applications and structures were evaluated for their responsiveness and usability across multiple devices. I created a hub to showcase all of my projects, design work, and music.

• Product Mock-Ups

• Moodboard

• Web Store Interface

• GAME 114 Game Engine Fundamentals - Cory Sayles - Spring 2023

  In this class, we explorated and analyzed visual development tools and reusable software components for game asset creation and management, giving attention to 2D and 3D rendering performance, collision detection, simple scripting, animation, play mechanics, sound and music. For my final I designed and implemented an original game concept and tested for playability and design integrity.

  • Desolate Echo - Survival Horror RPG

• CSMA 311 Design Technology Exploration - Echo Theohar - Spring 2023

  In this class, we worked on Mapping Burbank. Mapping Burbankis a story-based, self-guided digitalapplication tour and gallery presentation of the community of Burbank. Mapping Burbank showcases stories that have been eclipsed by the world-wide acclaim of film and television industry, along with monuments about Burbank. Using a combination of augmented reality, sound, and photography, Mapping Burbank will present visions of a multi-layered community that is rich in history, ecology, and culture. The gallery section will present visions for monuments that are intended to spark the viewers’ imagination about rethinking collective memory.

  • Mapping Burbank

• MDST 306 Radio in the Age of the Internet - Mark McNeill - Fall 2022

  Taking this course exposed me to theory and technique of radio, as both a terrestrial and internet medium, with a focus on the role of radio in positively transforming communities. The course began with a hands-on introduc on to industry-standard broadcast production tools. My final was a fully formed radio episode that led to the creation of my ongoing college radio show “Cyber Revolution Network”.

  • Field Recording Experiment

    For this assignment I found 3 sounds to express soft, hard, and surprise emotions.

  • Vox Pop

    For this assignment I interviewed some of my peers to get their opinions on dance music.

  • Cyber Revolution Network

    One of the latest iterations of my show. It now includes a live video component broadcasted through Twitch.

• CSMA 302 Media Programming 2 - Arash Soleimani - Fall 2022

  Taking this course introduced me to computational thinking and the fundamental concepts of computation through explorations with advanced generative scripting and parametric tools. The goal was to understand the potential of computation and the role it can play as part of one’s design process; not as a collection of specific tools, but as a way of thinking about design. My final project was a study of Form Optimization Using Evolutionary Computation in Rhino 3D.

  • Form Optimization Using Evolutionary Computation

• CSMA 214 Applied Mathematics - Michael Peguero - Spring 2022

  Taking this course exposed me to algorithmic thinking and mathematical logic in the context of computation. We explored the applications of flocking/swarming simulations, factorials and nChooseK, Game of Life, and the Mandelbrot algorithm. The core concept of this class is to derive an issue and solve it algorithmically. For my final assignment I created a Shopping Simulation in Unity that combined various algorithms and methods to create an abstracted shopping mall experience.

  • Flocking Simulation

• Evolution Algorithm

• Shopping Simulation

• CSMA 213 Artificial Intelligence - Nikita Pashenkov - Spring 2022

  This class exposed me to the principles and algorithms that govern machine and deep learning. We explored search algorithms, evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, and model training. We ended the semester exploring generative neural network models using Google Colab and Hugging Face public notebooks. Our final project was to creating our own Generative Adversarial Network, training it with our own models to generate an output. My assignment was fed models of Ukiyo-E style portraits and generates an output that resembles that art style with any input image.

  • Hugging Face GAN Exploration

• Ukiyo-E GAN

• CSMA 212 Media Environments - Ivaylo Getov - Spring 2022

  In this class I explored the concept of media environments and exploring experience design in TouchDesigner. This meant projection mapping, room-scaled installations, depth tracking, and other forms of experienced based media that interacts with both the user and the space.

  • Texture and Channels Assignment

    For this assignment I created an abstracted game show in the vain of shows like Squid Game, where the virtual user answers yes or no questions by crossing the halfway point of the marked experience borders.

• Deep Space Experience Midterm Assignment

  In this midterm assignment, we developed a spacial installation that uses color, light, and space. The assigment required that we have a clear idea of where this installation would take place and who it is for. We were also tasked with using something other than flat or 2D screens for the bulk of the visual content. My assignment was called the Deep Space Experience and is a full-room installation meant to take place at the California Science Center, specifically, the Stars and Telescopes Exhibit. The format of the visual content is floor projection lights, clear plastic strips suspended from the ceiling, and mirror walls. Free use visuals of space travel simulations are used to immerse user in what should feel like a vaccum in space.

• Projection Mapping Practice

• Gestural Grafitti

  Gestural Graffiti is an interactive art installation where users physically engage with a virtual graffiti canvas using hand gestures. Developed using Kinect camera technology and TouchDesigner to display the interactive space on a physical wall.

• CSMA 113 Mixed Reality - Michael Peguero - Spring 2021

  This class facilitated expermienting with the virtual reality and augmented reality in a computational and design framework. We developed VR and AR interactions using SparkAR, Glitch.io, A-Frame, and finally Unity. We put into practiced the concepets of computational design and learned the skills required to produce media using video processing, motion, and conceptual aesthetics. My final project was a conceptual program called “The Bureau of Cyber Discovery.” This is a simulated onboarding experience for a fictitious government entity that inflitrates video game party chats and online gaming forums to spy on gamers. Based in satire, their onboarding experience is imagined to be mundane and inadequate, providing the agents with seemingly useless facts the average gamer wouldn’t know. Immersion being the first step to infiltration for this fictitious organization, the interaction consisted of an augmented reality Menu HUD activated by scanning a video game cover art. This experience provided gamer-related button interactions as well as initiating the main experience: the virtual reality Video Game Facts simulation. This placed the “Agent” in a simulated back alley environment where they are tasked with learning useless facts about gaming while immersed in an the night time enviroment.

  • A-Frame + Glitch.io + SparkAR Demos

• The Bureau of Cyber Discovery

• CSMA 112 Interactive Prototyping - Gottfried Haider - Spring 2021

  In this course I learned got a hands-on introduction into prototype creation and design. We learned practical electronics knowledge along with programming in Python to develop working prototypes. We got to use microcomputers, sensors, fabrication software, LEDs. and more to establish interactions between users and these objects.

  • Analog Input Project

• Wearable Assignment

• CSMA 111 Introduction to Three-Dimensional Worlds - Mark Ericson - Spring 2021

  The objective of this course was to explore 3-dimensional space using computation. In practice, we used manipulated sphere algorithms to create unique 3D objects. We explored methods of 3-D rendering first in processing, then in Rhino. For my final project I developed a plugin in Rhino that developed unique objects based on mood that can be named, animated, and saved.

  • Round Drawings

    We learned about graphics programming and the fundamentals of computational drawing in Processing.

• Round Objects

  We built on the drawing techniques we learned earlier to draw our circles as spheres. We learned how to manipulate color and line attributes. Around this time we migrated to Rhino with the Python editor and began making complex shapes.

• Round Worlds

  In this final project, we developed a conceptual algorithm that created a shape based on a set of questions. I made my shapes change their forms and color based on questions relating to the user’s mood. The shape could also be named, have an animation applied to it, and save itself to a folder as an image and small .mp4. Some of the shapes made by classmates who ran the program are here:

• CSMA 101 Introduction to Programming - Echo Theohar - Fall 2019

  In this course we developed computer generated media using the coding language “P5.js”. We coverered essential programming concepts like: variables, inputs, looping, functions, arrays, object based programming, data visualisation, and an introduction into Python and APIs. We ended the semester developing a github site that hosted all of our projects. Mine is still functional. The link is here!

  • Variable Exercise

• Input Exercise (Pong)

• Looping (Curtains)

• Operation Jukebox

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• GitHub Web Design (Major Project)