OPEN ALPHA

o·pen al·pha

/ōpən alfə/
noun
a cycle of testing a game in an early stage, wherein the test group is much larger than that of closed testing and typically open to anyone who is interested.

Our Mission

Bring a game from conception to an open-alpha release each semester.

Build games with awesome people.

That's the idea Open Alpha was founded on. As a member, you'll make games with fellow students from the world's best games school. You'll bring your own talent and vision to a real-world project in an exciting and fast-paced development environment. And best of all, you'll join the tight-knit Open Alpha family and partake in awesome community events throughout the semester.

Events at Open Alpha

At Open Alpha, we care about more than just making games—we’re here to build a thriving community of game developers who learn, create, and have fun together. Below is a photo gallery of some examples of events we've hosted in the past! Hover over each picture for a caption.

OA members playing Monopoly Cheaters Edition during game night!

Brainstorming ideas for the name and logo of Cohort 10 ;)

Ctrl + Alt + Create, a mini game jam fostering collaboration (and competition) amongst OA members!

Cohort 11 posing for a picture during retreat to Lake Arrowhead (in the middle of a hike).

Group field trip to Round1 Arcade

Quick boba run to Pot of Cha

Voices from Open Alpha: Meet The Teams

Design
"My favorite part of design is seeing everyone's designs come to life and collaborating with creatives! I also love riffing with others on ideas; everyone just clicks and we have an amazing mental connection." - Azam

"It's really fun! I feel very included and its a close family. I feel like my ideas are very heard. The design leads are nice - sometimes. I like how well we communicate with the other teams. Design has a motto: to be cringe is to be free." - Brianna

"I think design is really fun. We all get to share our ideas and work together to create a beautiful project. I love seeing everyone's different perspectives and ideas. I love being a design lead because I get to guide all the conversations we have. Sometimes it can get a little hectic, and sometimes we go a little off topic, but that's always really fun. Plus, we rein it back in and always complete our tasks. It's just a lot of fun!" - Sophia

Art
"I love seeing everything come to form, and seeing the members talk to each other and befriend each other! I love drawing." - LiAn

"Art makes the game come to life. You get to pick how the game looks and collaborate with others!" - Niem

"I feel like it's a very wholesome and welcoming community. I think we get a lot of creative control over how the game looks, and I really like playing drawing games as team bonding. Even though we are assigned tasks, we get to add our own creative interpretation on how a specific asset will look. As a game design major, I don't always make a lot of art for games since I'm doing design/programming, but being in art for OA lets me see a different aspect of game development." - Chenyen

"I like art because we have a lot of control over how the game looks. It's pretty low stakes but everyone is still passionate about art! I haven't done pixel art before, so I like how I'm getting more experience with that and experimenting with different art styles. I learned a lot about making assets, like resizing and creating a cohesive style that aligns with the vision of the game." - Addy

Sound
"It's the smallest team, and it's the most tight knit too! I love being part of a really strong community within OA. It's also a huge undertaking because we do everything from sound design to composition to voice acting, so we grow really close in the process". - Dayton

"We all know each other better. Together we are stupendous and we make sounds! We make some of the sounds of all time. As a small team, we know our strengths and weaknesses. Even though I'm a sound lead, I feel like we all have mutual respect for each other and are on equal footing. A super unique experience! Also if you are a voice actor please apply." - Hazel

"We are a force to be reckoned with. We work behind the scenes because we create things that people don't notice but often have the most profound impact." - Edward

"We are the sound-tastic six." - Daniel

Programming
"Everyone has different programming backgrounds. My favorite part of being on programming is getting to approach coding from a different perspective while working with others on the programming team that have different levels of experience." - Cathelina

"It's chill, I've had some really good experiences. Everyone is so nice and I feel like my programming mentors help simplify it so that I can understand and learn. Overall I love the community and I learned how to use Unity and work with other people." - Allyson

"I came in knowing absolutely nothing, but everyone was so welcoming that I was able to pick stuff up right away! Then, as president, it's been amazing to give that knowledge back to the new members each semester." - Ramsey

Meet the Board

Individuals passionate about making incredible player experiences

Violet Rose Wang
Co-President

Jason Choi
VP of Social

Vivien Chen
VP of Technology

Cathelina Zhan
VP of Marketing

Ramsey Hauanio
Co-President

Tiffany Dreesen
VP of Finance

Azam Modan
VP of Outreach

Dayton Goslin
VP of Production

Past Board Members

Where great games start.