Polycount Pack competition
Guildhall at SMU graduate gets work featured in Team Fortress 2.
Dallas, Texas – (Nov. 16, 2010)– Shaylyn Hamm, recent graduate from The Guildhall at SMU, is enjoying both the pride and paycheck of having her work featured in Team Fortress 2. After only two weeks of its release, Hamm’s Saharan Spy set, which was one of five winning entries in Valve Software’s Polycount Pack competition, generated a royalty check of nearly $50,000.
“This is a great achievement for Shaylyn and we’re extremely happy for her,” said Dr. Peter Raad, founder and executive director of The Guildhall at SMU. “We’ve always maintained that our alums serve as our best form of advertisement. They exemplify our dedication to cultivating next-generation video game developers as well as our commitment to contribute to the diversity of voice that has been lacking in the industry.”
Hamm was the only female who won in Valve’s unique item-modding contest in which entrants submitted sets of items to be introduced as new classes in Team Fortress 2 that fit the overall TF2 theme.
“The submissions included amazing work from people who’d been in the industry for a while, so I was completely caught off guard when it was announced that my entry won,” said Hamm. “All those long nights working at school definitely helped me with this contest, hopefully it inspires more students to look into the mod community to help build their skills and participate in events like this.”
All five winning sets are for sale on Valve’s newly introduced user-developed virtual marketplace called the Mann Co. Store at: http://www.teamfortress.com/mannconomy/item_sets/.
About The Guildhall at SMU
The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University is the premier graduate video game education program in the U.S. Many of the school’s founders are industry icons, and classes are taught by industry veterans. Since 2005, the program has graduated over 350 students, and alums work at more than 110 video game studios around the world, with several graduates now serving in leadership positions. SMU offers both a Master’s degree and a graduate Professional Certificate of Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development, with specializations in art creation, level design, and software development. For more information, please visit http://guildhall.smu.edu.
CONTACT:Ron Jenkins
The Guildhall at SMU
(972) 473-3546
jenkinsr@smu.edu