Playtest early. Playtest often. Build together.

NERDLab Arcade

A semesterly arcade where students share games-in-progress, gather feedback, and build community through play.

Explore featured games See the event gallery

Fall 2025

The inaugural NERDLab Arcade took place in Fall 2025 and brought together students showing games-in-progress for informal playtesting and conversation. The event included work from game design courses, independent student projects, and experimental prototypes developed within NERDLab. Players moved freely between games, offering feedback, asking questions, and getting an early look at how ideas change once they’re in players’ hands.

Featured Games

Each entry represents a work-in-progress shared for feedback. Replace placeholders with your real game metadata.

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Door of the Mind

Door of Mind tells us a story of the protagonist who is deeply trapped in a depressing urban life, thereby falling into confusion of self-awareness and bewilderment about life, and imagining a fictional world in his mind in search of relief. In this world, the protagonist attempts to break through three doors that symbolize predicaments, and eventually manages to confront and overcome his own inner demons.

By: Lejie Lin

2D Platformer In Progress Playable Demo

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Answer Campus: First Semester

Answer Campus: First Semester is an interactive narrative game that follows a student through their first weeks of college, navigating friendships, classes, and uncomfortable social situations. The game focuses on how everyday conversations shape relationships, confidence, and a sense of belonging, often without clear “right” answers.

By: Barbara Griffin, Daniele Montefiori, Charlotte Yates, Meredith de la Torre, Justin Jacobson, Ella Hartsell

Visual Novel In Progress Playable Demo

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Screenshot / Trailer Placeholder

Answer Campus: Episode 2

Answer Campus: Episode 2 continues the series with a deeper focus on mental health, stress, and self-reflection during the college experience. The game experiments with more internalized decision-making, asking players to navigate moments of uncertainty, anxiety, and support rather than overt conflict.

By: Barbara Griffin, Emily Solis, Faith Jimenez, Daniele Montefiori, Charlotte Steffian, Elli Steinbrecher, Lauren Tedesco, Charlotte Yates

Visual Novel In Progress Playable Demo

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Black Friday

A top-down 2D escape room adventure. The player explores a maze-like map, avoids enemies and collects keys in order to find the hidden exit. You are a customer in a furniture store, like IKEA, on Black Friday. Your goal is to avoid the other customers, collect all the required items, and3 escape the store in the given time limit.

By: Elijah Corpuz, Orel Stein, James Agger, Josh Rocha, Jiqing Sun

In Progress Playable Demo

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LexiLearn

Lexi Learn explores how immersive virtual environments and artificial intelligence can be integrated into early literacy education through multisensory and adaptive design. Lexi Learn transforms reading and spelling into an interactive and exploratory experience within a calm, nature-inspired virtual environment.

By: Anna Queiroz, Neon Cao (Developer), Lucas Yeykelis (Developer), Nasir Grant (UI/UX Designer), Dan Zahal (Audio Engineer), Chris Edgar (Project Manager), Bryson Rudolph (Lab Manager, VESL) and Marie Holm (Visiting Research Scholar, Haptics)

Prototype Research Build

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Wide Receiving

Short description of the game and what players were asked to playtest.

By: Ella Hartsell

Prototype In Progress

Play

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Swampocalypse

An immersive VR airboat experience for environmental awareness.

By: Jared De Monteiro (Developer), Paulina Fiore (XR Consultant + 3D Artist + UX/UI Designer), Yuri Palacios (Engineer), Eva Ellis (Developer Intern), Josh Fenner (Audio Engineer), Sidney Cocimano (UX/UI Designer), Raquel Henao (UX/UI Designer), Mia Uy (Project Manager), Rachel Farinas (Project Manager), João Ribeiro (XR Consultant), Bryson Rudolph (Technical Lead)

Prototype In Progress

Play

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AR for Heal

Description needed

By: Xinyu (Jane) Yao, Camilo Rodriguez

Prototype In Progress

Play

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Hair Metal Co-Op Game

This is a top-down, couch co-op action-adventure game for up to three players, where each player chooses one of three classes: Tank, DPS, or Support. The game draws inspiration from classic Zelda titles, MMOs like World of Warcraft, and retro beat-’em-ups such as Golden Axe. Players take on the role of an aspiring 80s rock band who are transported to a fantasy world, where they must fight to survive, find their way home, and grow as musicians along the journey.

By: Matt Liff

Prototype In Progress

Play

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Raindrop and Ripple

Description needed

By: Justin Jacobson

Prototype In Progress

Play

Astral Planes

Astral Planes is a cooperative, music-driven game where players pilot small ships through abstract space, shaping a shared musical composition through movement and timing. Rather than scoring points or competing, players learn to listen, coordinate, and find rhythm together as the environment responds to their actions. This playtest focuses on how players understand the relationship between movement, sound, and collaboration, and how musical systems communicate without explicit instruction.

By: Clay Ewing

Prototype Co-op In Progress

Play

The Arcade in Action

The NERDLab Arcade is a semesterly event focused on building a shared culture of playtesting. By inviting students to show unfinished work in a supportive, public setting, the Arcade helps normalize feedback as part of the creative process and not something saved for the end.

The emphasis is not on polish, but on practice: learning how to talk about games, listen to players, and see playtesting as something that happens early and often. The Arcade also serves as a point of connection that brings together students from classes, independent projects, and the NERDLab studio to play, observe, and learn from one another.

Participants playtesting games at the NERDLab Arcade

Students gathered around a game station at the NERDLab Arcade

Player interacting with a game during the NERDLab Arcade

Small group observing gameplay at the NERDLab Arcade

Students discussing a game after playtesting

Player focused on a game screen at the arcade

Multiple players engaging with different games at the NERDLab Arcade

Students gathered closely around a game station

Players trying an unfinished game prototype

Students talking while a game runs in the background

Playtester interacting with a controller

Crowded playtesting area at the NERDLab Arcade

Small group discussing a prototype after playing

Playtester engaging with an experimental game

Developers watching players interact with their game

Playtesting session with multiple participants

Students reacting to a moment in gameplay

Players giving feedback to a game creator

Students gathered in discussion near a game setup

Players focused on a shared game experience

Developers talking through design decisions

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About the Arcade

The NERDLab Arcade happens once per semester as a shared moment for playtesting, conversation, and connection. It exists to normalize playtesting as part of the creative process—something that happens early and often, not just at the end.

Each Arcade brings together students showing unfinished work, peers offering feedback, and collaborators interested in how games change when they’re played by others. By sharing work in a supportive, public setting, participants learn how to talk about their games, listen to players, and make sense of feedback as part of making.

Over time, the Arcade is meant to grow into a shared record of experiments, questions, and in-progress ideas—shaped by the people who show up to play, observe, and contribute.

“I was preparing the project for my portfolio and didn’t have time for much playtesting, so this session gave me insights I would have otherwise missed.”

The Arcade is open by design. While many projects originate in game design courses or within NERDLab, participation extends to students working independently and collaborators curious about playtesting as a shared practice.

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