Jake Adams Headshot

Jake Adams

Lecturer

School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Office Hours
Wednesday 930 AM to 1150AM and Thursday 330PM to 515PM
Office Location

Jake Adams

Lecturer

School of Interactive Games and Media
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences

Bio

Creator of the first digital holographic comic (holo-comic). Interactive visual artist and founder of Valholo a VR and digital holographic studio. Jake Adams holds an MS in Design and Digital Media from the University of Edinburgh and a BFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art. Emanating from a fine arts background, his visual skills coupled with programming and asset production have allowed him to become a versatile artist and educator. His studio creates holographic content for the Looking Glass Factory and 3D/2D assets for Sandbox (SAND) on the Polygon network. Jake Adams specializes in mixed media arts, Asset production, and interactive narrative with a focus on making the intangible more tangible. 
 

Before Valholo, he was an artist assistant to Michael Zelehoski, and a gallery assistant to Ethan Cohen, and the Dia: Beacon Art Gallery. In 2019 he created and published the world's first holo-comic (digital holographic comic book). Other accomplishments include 2008 best in category: painting, Celeste Prize winner (Berlin Exhibition catalog), A 2019 CodeBase: creative informatics grant recipient issued by the Scottish Government, and the 2020 games & new media official selection at the Supernova: Denver Digerati Animation festival.

Jake Adams' work is defined by a sublime psychological narrative that interpolates the tangibility and intangibility of spatial-temporal decisions while utilizing social systems as a catalyst toward the fluctuation of emotional extra-diegetic space. 

Select Scholarship

Adams, Jake. 2023. “Aphid Through the Looking Glass” Published August 2023 at Valholo, Rochester, NY. Visual Novel- holographic application. https://valholo.itch.io/aphid-through-the-looking-glass

Currently Teaching

IGME-101
4 Credits
This course provides students with an introduction to problem solving, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking that is relevant across the field of new media. Students are introduced to object-oriented design methodologies through the creation of event-driven, media-intensive applications. Students will explore the development of software through the use of a range of algorithmic concepts related to the creation of applications by writing classes that employ the fundamental structures of computing, such as conditionals, loops, variables, data types, functions, and parameters. There is an early emphasis on object oriented concepts and design.
IGME-119
3 Credits
This course provides a theoretical framework covering the principles of animation and its use in game design to affect user experience. Emphasis will be placed upon principles that support character development and animations that show cause and effect. Students will apply these principles to create animations that reflect movement and character appropriate for different uses and environments.
IGME-219
3 Credits
This course provides an overview of 3D game asset production. Basic ideas learned within the first asset production course are also revisited within the 3D environs. Topics covered include modeling, texturing, skinning and animation. Emphasis is put on low polygon modeling techniques, best practices in game art production, and effective communication strategies between artists, programmers and designers.
IGME-529
3 Credits
This course focuses on the major elements of narrative for interactive environments. Students in this course explore the basics of narrative in the context of interactive games and media, with examination of digital storytelling in games and interactive environments of several varieties. Branching narrative, hypertext, multi- and non-linear concepts are also explored with an emphasis on balancing immersive and interactive aspects of digital narrative.
IGME-690
1 - 6 Credits
This is intended to allow for special one-time offerings of graduate topics. Specific course details (such as the course topics, format, resource needs, and credit hours) will be determined by the faculty member(s) who propose a given seminar offering. (Varies)

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