ISSUE 44 | May 2026Exploring the intersection of creativity and technology...
Issue 44 of The Nouspace Student Research Gallery showcases student work in game design, interactive storytelling, digital cinema, motion graphics, and experimental web media. Across collaborative productions, browser-based experiences, video essays, and multimedia projects, students combine coding, design, cinematic language, and storytelling to explore new forms of creative expression and digital communication.
A major highlight of the issue is Fireflies, a large-scale senior seminar collaboration developed for Noctua Interactive in which students worked across production pipelines to create a polished gameplay slice with refined mechanics, visual identity, and immersive worldbuilding. The issue also highlights the strategic and thoughtful use of AI within student creative practices, including generative AI workflows used to iterate visual concepts and promotional media such as the Fireflies trailer, which was created with generative AI tools trained on student-designed assets and environments.
Interactive digital stories, educational games, animated weather applications, title sequences, animated posters, and motion graphics projects further demonstrate how CMDC students are engaging critically and creatively with contemporary media tools. Together, the projects in Issue 44 reflect a collaborative culture of experimentation, technical innovation, and imaginative storytelling across digital platforms.
Fireflies
Quid Melton, Sasha Sabic, Quincy Harris, Kaden Callaham, Callum Robinson, Samuel Barclay, Martha Rodriguez, Pamela Castro Jauregui, Brent Ocampo, Gianella Singhose, Lika Tanaka, Tristan Mattole, Cassandra Hoeft, Joel Waite, Maddy Gilchrist, Lika Tanaka, Quinn Carrick, Quinn Carrick, Gianella Singhose, Joseph Reyes-Hernandez, Kendall Novak, Manuel Sanches, Hailey Betts, Olivia Haskett
Fireflies is a collaborative, fully-playable polished gameplay slice developed for Noctua Interactive. Centered on crafting a small but meaningful glimpse into a larger world. Over 16 weeks, through close coordination across development and design teams, the Senior Seminar students built and refined the game's core mechanics, visual tone, and interactive systems to deliver a polished, production-ready experience that reflects the heart of the project.
The Adventures of Lewis and Clark
Marilyn Gable, Dalila Drugovic, Sophia Deason
DTC 477 Advanced Web Design & Development / Prof. Will Luers
The Adventures of Lewis & Clark is an interactive educational game that puts you in the boots of the Corps of Discovery on their historic 1804–1806 expedition across the American West.
An Animated Weather App
Von Miller
DTC 477 Advanced Web Design & Development / Prof. Will Luers
This interactive digital story unfolds as a fragmented archive of retro late-1990s and early-2000s personal homepages belonging to members of a troubled online family/community within the fictional platform “SilkCities.” As viewers navigate between the interconnected pages, the story becomes less about a linear narrative and more about reconstructing a haunted social world from the remnants of abandoned internet spaces.
"Welcome to the Eidolon Synapse Terminal. This program will allow you to access and reintegrate fragments of your memory."" The project, made with JavaScript, puts the user on a command-line quest to find out has happened their memory.
The course explored the technologies and technical cultures that gave rise to the global information infrastructure supporting contemporary communication platforms. The student final projects are collected on the Tapestries platform.
Bus Stop
Manuel Sanchez, Sasha Gonzales, Olivia Haskett, Muniroth Ly
DTC 491 Advanced Digital Cinema / Will Luers
A bus stop and the inner monologues of those waiting. A group video project.
Machine Worship
Cassey Hoeft
DTC 491 Advanced Digital Cinema / Will Luers
"God created man. But didn't man create God?" A desktop video essay in which the author engages in an AI chat about humanity's creation of a machine god.
My Love Games & Building Them
Tobias Pacheco
DTC 491 Advanced Digital Cinema / Will Luers
A video essay about the Tobia's evolution of playing, reviewing and now making video games.
Any Moment in Time
Sasha Gonzalez
DTC 491 Advanced Digital Cinema / Will Luers
A video essay that uses an amusement park to reflect on death and dying.
Magic Flames
Prabhjeev Singh
DTC 336 Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Students were tasked to plan for and create a TV or movie quality realistic digital visual effect (VFX) of their choosing, composited on footage they shot.
Butterfly
Cherish Ann Krebs
DTC 336 Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
A Terry Gilliam style 2D animation, created digitally instead of with a stop-motion paper cutout approach.
Light Attack
Mckenna Horner
DTC 336 Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Students were tasked to plan for and create a TV or movie quality realistic digital visual effect (VFX) of their choosing, composited on footage they shot.
Campy Flog Gnaw Carnival
Prabhjeev Singh
DTC 336 Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Assignment was to create a poster for a multi-act, multi-day event, and then to animate that static poster for a compelling digital animated poster to promote that event.
Lake Chelan Wine and Jazz Festival
Von Miller
DTC 336 Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Assignment was to create a poster for a multi-act, multi-day event, and then to animate that static poster for a compelling digital animated poster to promote that event.
Subconscious Files
Cassandre Hoeft
DTC 436 - Advanced Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Informational TV Title Sequence. Students were tasked with creating a TV show title sequence that evokes each character's personality and role in the show using motion graphic elements composited with footage.
The Driver
Marilyn Gable
DTC 436 - Advanced Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Informational TV Title Sequence. Students were tasked with creating a TV show title sequence that evokes each character's personality and role in the show using motion graphic elements composited with footage.
A Curious Mind
Marnie Cooper
DTC 436 - Advanced Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Informational TV Title Sequence. Students were tasked with creating a TV show title sequence that evokes each character's personality and role in the show using motion graphic elements composited with footage.
Rouge Division
Martha Rodriguez
DTC 436 - Advanced Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Informational TV Title Sequence. Students were tasked with creating a TV show title sequence that evokes each character's personality and role in the show using motion graphic elements composited with footage.
Runway Lab
Pamela CastroJauregui
DTC 436 - Advanced Multimedia Design / Prof Chris Dreger
Informational TV Title Sequence. Students were tasked with creating a TV show title sequence that evokes each character's personality and role in the show using motion graphic elements composited with footage.
