Audio-Centric Game Design in ChucK/ChuGL

This workshop will be taught both in-person at Stanford University and online. Please indicate your preference during registration.

In this workshop, participants will learn to program interactive audiovisual software. Topics include real-time sound synthesis, graphics programming, interaction and game design, and how to expressively put all of these elements together. Over the week, participants will put these ideas into motion, building video game prototypes or other audiovisual projects of their own choosing.

We will learn to code all the above in ChucK / ChuGL, a programming environment designed for creating audiovisual experiences (FYI this workshop is taught by the primary authors of these tools). More specifically, ChucK is a computer music programming language and ChuGL is a language extension to ChucK, specifically designed for synchronizing high-performance graphics with real-time audio. By the end, you will have learned new tools and techniques to use in your own creative practice, well beyond the workshop.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Andrew: [email protected]

This is a programming-intensive workshop. We will dive straight into audio and graphics programming using ChucK/ChuGL and will not be covering the fundamentals of how to code in general. Therefore, a basic level of programming proficiency is required. (FYI no prior experience with ChucK / ChuGL is necessary; we will teach these.)

Please bring a laptop (macOS or Windows) and a pair of headphones to the workshop.

Days will include lectures and hands-on programming time, during which the workshop instructors will be available for 1:1 guidance and help. The final day will conclude with a showcase and presentation.

Andrew Zhu Aday is a Ph.D. candidate at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University. He is the creator of ChuGL, a tool for programming 3D graphics in ChucK. His research involves game engine architecture, audiovisual software systems, and game design.

Kunwoo Kim received his Ph.D. from the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University. He is the founder of Stanford VR Orchestra, acting director of the CCRMA VR Design Lab, and a member of ChucK Development Team. In May 2025, he defended his thesis on humanistic tool-building for virtual reality using audio-driven design. He finds great fulfillment in the laborious process of giving form to his imaginations, leading to practice-based research on artful design, media arts, music, creative coding, and humanistic philosophy. He is and has been an avid gamer, especially in games with complete, meaningful stories and worlds. After his Ph.D., he aspires to expand his creative research and crafts into artful video game design.

Ge Wang is an Associate Professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). He researches the artful design of tools, toys, games, musical instruments, programming languages, expressive VR experiences, and interactive AI systems with humans in the loop. Ge is the chief architect of the ChucK audio programming language, the director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra and the Stanford VR Design Lab. He is the Co-founder of Smule and the designer of the Ocarina and Magic Piano apps for mobile phones. He is a Senior Fellow and a Faculty Associate Director of Stanford Human-Centered AI Institute. He teaches at the intersection of engineering, art, and the humanities (and believes these are subjects that should never have been separated from one another). A 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, Ge is the author of , a photo comic book about how we shape technology—and how technology shapes us.

This workshop offers a limited number of financial aid scholarships. Apply here.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Knoll, 660 Lomita Court, Stanford, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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