A Simulated Game Studio Environment
At SMU Guildhall, you don’t just get an education—you get the edge you need to lead the industry
SMU Guildhall brings the functionality and flair of a video game studio to the academic landscape. Over the past two decades, we have meticulously designed our programs, courses, technology, and facilities to mirror that of the industry.
SMU Guildhall’s home, the Gerald J. Ford Hall for Research and Innovation, features 30 game labs and student game studios dedicated solely to Guildhall, including a usability lab, simulated living room, and extensive shared libraries of games and developer tools. Our students work in the style and pace of the video game industry, and Ford Hall’s game labs, studios and classroom spaces—many of which boast bespoke custom-designed features—were specially designed as a studio environment, modeled after the best game studios around the country to mirror the look, feel, and functionality of real game studio spaces in order to optimize game development processes and technologies, simulate industry conditions, enable students to work at the pace and style of professional game studios, and foster team-based project learning.
With a tech package that puts SMU Guildhall at the head of the pack, uninterrupted access to state-of-the-art resources, and the guidance of expert faculty, there’s no limit to what you can achieve. This is where your future begins.
Premium, bespoke resources await in Ford Hall
Robust Top-of-the-Line Technology Package, Yours In-Hand to Keep!
At SMU Guildhall, we set the standard for what students should expect from a game development program. Every student receives a cutting-edge technology package that surpasses what most schools offer. This isn’t a shared lab or limited-access resource—it’s a top-of-the-line laptop that functions as both a high-powered development workstation and a premium gaming machine. You’ll have your tools in hand 24/7, ready to create wherever inspiration strikes.
Our tech package includes an extensive suite of professional software tailored to your discipline, supported by unmatched hardware accessories. We are proud to provide a package that is not only more robust than the competition but also becomes your personal property. These laptops aren’t just for your time at SMU Guildhall—they’re yours to keep as you launch into your career.
What truly sets SMU Guildhall apart is how our technology and curriculum go hand in hand. We are one of the few programs to teach and run both Unity and Unreal Engine in depth, a feat made possible by the unparalleled knowledge and industry experience of our one-of-a-kind faculty and by the robust performance of our technology. Combined with access to an extensive game library, numerous gaming consoles from throughout the history of video games, a vast library of sound assets, and numerous other specialized tools, students have everything they need to master their craft.
State-of-the-Art, Studio-Modeled Labs, Classrooms, and Studios
Inside Ford Hall, you'll find 33 research game labs and game studios dedicated to SMU Guildhall. As the Guildhall's team-based approach mirrors the structure of a real game studio, so do our project studios and classroom spaces. Our labs and studios are architected to be flexible and enhance team-based project learning. This includes no fixed furniture, movable walls to expand or reduce room size, numerous HDR digital display devices with low-latency, and plentiful power and data. All of the monitors and projectors are part of SMU’s new video over IP project which allows tablets, phones and laptops to cast their screen (with appropriate security restriction) to any or all of the monitors in building.
Online and remote learning is part of the fundamental design of Ford Hall, and spaces are equipped with smart cameras that track who is speaking and multiple AI-powered microphones that triangulate sound for remote viewers to clarify voices from both students and faculty. Ford Hall also contains a game streaming booth for students to build and interact with an online community around their game.
During their team game projects, students are given access to breakout studios as well as a team game studio that they "own" during their 6-month development cycle of their final Capstone project. These creative spaces provide collaboration and development space to take student games from initial conceptual formation to completion, and all include mobile project planning and tracking space, large workstations, and professional grade seating. Our capstone lab studios have exclusive access to numerous 4K TVs and theater-quality projectors, and Ford Hall incorporates advanced A/V and online capabilities.
Expansive Arcades & Libraries
SMU Guildhall houses MAME arcade machines with 165 arcade games, including games with historical significance (Space Invaders and Lunar Lander) to fan favorites (Street Fighter II, Puzzle Bubble, and Golden Tee). We also house more than 450 student team games in our faculty-maintained game library, as well as a number of board games that our faculty use to teach introductory game design concepts. We also maintain a library of sound effects and music scores, including a sound library that was gifted to us by Gearbox Software, that is available for use in our team game projects.
A robust portfolio of equipment is available to students to check out. This includes smart watches, SonyPlaystation VR, Sony PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 development kits, Microsoft Hololens, SteamVR Knuckles EV2 Controllers, Dynamixyz Head-Mounted Camera for real-time facial motion capture, Tobii Eye Experience EyeX eye tracking device, Sony Vita, Samsung Gear, Oculus, Oculus Quest & RiftS, LeapMotion, Valve HTC Vive, nVidia Shield, Makerbot Replicator Z18 3D Printer, Intel, Prism 3D, Measurand Shape Wrap motion capture suit, Nintendo development kits, XBOX, Kinect, iPad, Nexus, PC and Mac systems with software and applications for development, testing, and student work, and an audio station with high definition editing equipment.
Immersive Touch-Screen Visualization Lab
A stunning visual experience, our Visualization Lab is an immersive, multi-purpose, flexible cave constructed with studio-quality speakers creating a 3D sound field and 24 perfectly aligned touch screen video panels covering over 50 square feet. The “VizLab” also includes built-in smart board technology, whereby a window can be opened as touchscreen for a phone or table, laptops can cast their screens, and multiple simultaneous video streams are supported. We share this space with other researchers in the building including AT&T Center for Virtualization, High Performance Computing (super computer), and the Data Science Institute. The encompassing large format touch display allows multiple people to interact with the visual environment. In the simple case, it is a large screen that can display massive amounts of data due to the size and high resolution. In a more advanced mode, multiple people can work with touch controls on individual projects on the wall. To collaborate, they can easily slide data back forth. Faculty and students are already exploring the design space of creating custom game content for this this space. Additionally, the backwall of the VizLab can be opened up to convert the space into a theatre for presentations and events.
GameLab, Usability Lab & Simulated Living Room
Ford Hall's third floor is home to SMU Guildhall GameLab, which best personifies working in a commercial game studio. This space is home to SMU Guildhall’s publishing arm, and allows for a host of functional needs including professional meeting spaces for pitching games to publishers and on-site visits by local partners such as Gearbox and Playful, a simulated living room for testing games from the couch, and a professional Usability Lab for game testing and user research. Our Usability Lab is a key resource for student game testing, as it supplies our students with resources that are normally available only from a major publisher. In fact, this state-of-the-art playtesting lab has also been used by over half a dozen AAA studios for their own user research. It houses 10 testing stations and real-time high definition recording and broadcasting equipment, and even includes a simulated living room lab for real-world evaluations testing games from the couch.
Student Lounges & Study Spaces
There are several areas within our building where students can hang out between classes to relax and study. These spaces range from comfortable living room-like spaces to private cubes with dry erase boards and large workstations.
Recording and Broadcast Booths
SMU Guildhall and GameLab supports real-time high definition recording and broadcasting equipment for recording game trailers, as well as a dedicated streaming booth on the first floor that gives students the ability to build and interact with a community around their game while outwardly piping their game stream content onto monitors above the booth.
Shared Resources at SMU
In addition to being able to enjoy the many luxuries of a major university at their fingertips like the student library and dining spaces, our location in Ford Hall affords us close proximity to unique SMU campus labs and resources, including:
- Maneframe II – One of the nation’s fastest academic supercomputers, housed in the SMU Data Center. ManeFrame II is a cluster of 350+ nodes, 275,000+ cores, 120 terabytes of memory, more than 2.8 petabytes of storage and peak processing of 870 Teraflops.
- Deason Innovation Gym (DIG) – A maker space equipped with 3D printers, CNC carving machines, laser and vinyl cutters, power tools, and electronic testing devices like oscilloscopes, multimeters, function generators, and power supplies. The TDS includes three additional labs with over 3,000 square feet of space focused on creation of instructional software and materials. The design lab contains writable walls and tables for collaboration and four high-end computer workstations, mobile devices, interactive projectors, 3D printer, Glowforge 3D laser printer, scanners and software for design and creation of instructional resources.
- SMU Teacher Development Studio (TDS) – Three labs totaling over 3,000 square feet, dedicated to instructional software and materials, and equipped with high-end computers, interactive projectors, VR stations, 3D printers, and other design tools. The teaching simulation lab includes virtual reality stations for implementation and testing of software and instructional systems locally and at a distance, including an Oculus Rift VR station and aMursion simulation station that is licensed by SMU for customized use in education. The assessment lab includes equipment and software for evaluation and assessment of the software and instructional materials developed in the design lab.
- Research and Data Science Hub – Located on Ford Hall’s first floor, this hub provides expert support in AI, data visualization, and IoT development
- Hughes-Trigg Student Center, Fondren Library café, and the Doolin Gallery which host regular game user research testing
- Student library and dining centers
