Profession Strikes: Comets helped construct considered one of gaming’s most anticipated releases – Bass School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology

Inside the Bass School’s artistic pipeline fueling expertise for main recreation builders.

By Javier Giribet-Vargas

March 30, 2026

Like most seniors about to graduate from the Animation and Games program on the Bass School at The University of Texas at Dallas, Jordan Turner BA’19 was stretched skinny ending a Capstone underneath a looming deadline, making ready for the ultimate tasks and exams of his upper-level programs, and dealing vigorously along with his Animation Lab group.

The remaining semester of his undergraduate journey obtained even busier when two freelance alternatives arose simply months earlier than commencement, paving the way in which for a profitable profession at id Software.

Turner at the moment serves as senior technical designer on the Richardson-based gaming studio, which has been a cornerstone of the first-person shooter style since its 1993 launch of the sci-fi horror recreation DOOM, on PC. February 2026 marked the thirty fifth anniversary of the founding of the studio and its outstanding influence on the gaming business.

DOOM: The Dark Ages, the newest installment from id Software, was considered one of 2025’s most extremely anticipated releases. It carries the artistic mark of a number of business specialists who’ve sturdy ties to the Bass School at UT Dallas.

While on the University, Turner centered on sharpening his expertise as a lighting artist in 3D animation tasks, which impressed him to enroll in Animation Lab II (ANGM 4317) in Spring 2019. This superior course attracts upper-level college students in Arts, Technology and Emerging Communication to collaborate on creating a completely realized 3D-animated quick movie over two semesters.

As the look improvement lead for Stargazer in the course of the first semester, Turner guided a small group of pupil artists in shaping the movie’s visible model and general aesthetic. That semester, id Software and the Dallas-based laptop animation and visible results studio Reel FX approached him, providing alternatives as a contractor to do lighting and composition work.

Like Turner, Bryon Caldwell, affiliate professor of instruction at UT Dallas, is among the many artists, animators and recreation builders who’re shaping the way forward for gaming.

Throughout the 12 months, Caldwell freelances as an animator on blockbusters and online game tasks. Formerly a senior cinematics animator at id Software, Caldwell at the moment is a senior animator at Agora, a world community {of professional} artists within the business.

For the previous six years, Caldwell has taught Animation for Games (ANGM 4373), History of Visual Effects (ANGM 2325), and a wide range of laptop animation programs. His portfolio consists of work on Rocket League, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the Paddington and Jurassic World franchises, and Gravity, which gained the Oscar for Best Visual Effects together with six different awards on the 86th Academy Awards.

Within the UT Dallas Animation and Games neighborhood, id Software is thought for welcoming prime expertise from this system. Comets Jordan Douglas BA’22, Brennan Black BA’23 and Emily Willingham BA’24 all earned levels in Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication and labored as atmosphere artwork contractors on DOOM: The Dark Ages. Later, Douglas transitioned to a full-time function as atmosphere artist at id Software. Currently, Black and Willingham work as affiliate atmosphere artists (contract) at Austin-based Gunfire Games.

Reflecting on her experiences within the Bass School’s Animation and Games program, Willingham noticed that it taught her lots of the basic expertise she wanted to turn out to be an atmosphere artist. “During my time here, I took as many 3D modeling, texturing, environment art classes that I could possibly find and learned so much from my professors, who I could tell were very passionate about what they were teaching. Many of my class projects were either open-ended or flexible in some way, which lets you put your own creative twist on what you make. And my favorite part of any class was always being able to see what my classmates were able to create. It was always so inspiring to see how many different directions a single prompt could be taken,” she stated.

In December 2024, Paolo Beteta BA’24 joined the atmosphere artwork group at id Software whereas finishing his remaining weeks on the Bass School. Beteta’s two older brothers, Andres Beteta BA’19 and Daniel Beteta BA’22, additionally graduated from UT Dallas.

“Andres studied political science, and my older brother, Daniel, studied design and production,” he stated. “Both graduating from UTD, in combination with UTD having a good animation program, inspired me to attend, even if it was on a different path from theirs.”

While on the Bass School, Paolo recurrently participated in Tech Arts Meetups led by Professor of Practice Nelson Lim. These gatherings gave him insights into the business past the classroom and alternatives to attach with technical and atmosphere artwork professionals. For his Capstone undertaking, he created a trailer for a brief movie, that includes a cinematic 3D sequence of a Viking village underneath siege by a dragon

“The program orientated me in the right direction, in that it led me to what I truly loved doing,” he stated. “After experimenting with different areas, I found the merging of technical art and environment art to be my calling. In addition to guidance, the program allowed me to meet some of the best professors UTD has to offer and gain meaningful connections.”