{"id":22,"date":"2026-09-08T01:50:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T01:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/our-team\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T17:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:43:17","slug":"our-team","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/our-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Team Members<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Chufan Chen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Programmer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chufan studied Computer Science (Games) at the University of Southern California. During his senior year, he worked as a programmer on the AGP project Lake Minnewaska, a narrative fishing game now available on Steam. He is currently self-developing games with a focus on Technical Design, exploring more systematic and modular approaches to designing and implementing game mechanics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Erin Hao<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Game Designer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Erin is a game designer passionate about creating unique interactive experiences through designing level and combat. She holds a degree in Bachelors of Fine Arts at Rhode Island School of Design where she focused on Concept Art. Her strong understanding of visual arts helps her achieve design goals in shaping player experiences. She is currently studying game design at Carnegie Mellon University\u2019s Entertainment Technology Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Freida (Jingyan) Hong<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

3D Artist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Freida is a 3D artist with a background in 3D animation. She focuses on environment art, lighting, and visual storytelling, with a particular interest in creating immersive and visually cohesive 3D spaces. She enjoys exploring how lighting, composition, and stylized environments can work together to support the mood and experience of a project. For this project, she works primarily on character art, level art, and visual development, helping shape the overall visual style and bring the game world to life.
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Haru (Zixu) Zhu<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Programmer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Haru earned his degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Zhejiang University. Haru works as a game programmer and technical designer in this project. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kelin Zhu<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

UIUX Designer \/ Producer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kelin comes from an interdisciplinary background in Computer Sciences and Media Art. She graduated from Stony Brook University and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Entertainment Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. With experience in game design, visual storytelling, and digital art, she enjoys combining creativity and technology to craft engaging interactive experiences and bringing ideas to life through collaboration with people from different disciplines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Faculty Advisors<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Ruth Comley<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ruth Comley is an Associate Teaching Professor, an Experience Designer, an Artist and a Programmer. An alumnus of the Entertainment Technology Center, she returned to the ETC in 2006 to take up a position as a member of the faculty and continue her career as an educator now spanning 28 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before re-joining the ETC, she had taught 3D Computer Graphics classes in both the Media Arts and Animation department and the Game Art and Design department at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Ruth is a \u2018jack-of-all-trades\u2019 in modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging, animation, and compositing; her focus is in teaching these skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her MET was completed at the Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University. She received her BS in Computer Science at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. Also, she completed an Associate in Specialized Technology degree in Industrial Design Technology from The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For ten years Ruth was CEO of Dart Frog Studios LLC, a multimedia entertainment company located in Pittsburgh PA. The company created interactive multimedia software for entertainment and education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Ruth\u2019s favorite forms of entertainment is live entertainment specifically theater and haunted houses. A second interest in medieval reenactment led to the study of stage combat, with emphasis on the broadsword, and has led her to unite her interests. She is the Creative Director of Stage and Steel Productions LLC and Khymira Entertainment LLC. Here in the realm of darkness and shadow, she uses all of her skills in art and technology to weave together characters and story-lines that prey upon a person\u2019s deepest emotions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Vivian Shen<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Professor Vivian Shen is a faculty member at the Entertainment Technology Center, where she teaches classes focused on AI and hardware for games and experimental media. She comes directly from finishing her PhD at CMU\u2019s Robotics Institute, with the Future Interfaces Group. Her background lies in embedded systems, sensing and VR\/AR, and much of her work is focused on creating new systems and devices for haptics and interaction. She has published at several premier Human-Computer Interaction conferences (CHI, UIST, etc.), and her work has been featured on NBC, TechCrunch, CNN and more. Outside of the PhD, Vivian has interned at companies such as Meta Reality Labs, Disney Research, NASA JPL, etc. In her free time, Vivian plays a LOT of ultimate frisbee and does chainmaille art!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vivian Shen joined the ETC in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Team Members Chufan Chen Programmer Chufan studied Computer Science (Games) at the University of Southern California. During his senior year, he worked as a programmer on the AGP project Lake Minnewaska, a narrative fishing game now available on Steam. He is currently self-developing games with a focus on Technical Design, exploring more systematic and modular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-22","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/22\/revisions\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/spellchemists\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}