James Roha Halliwell
Teaching Fellow
- V913
- james-roha.halliwell@polyu.edu.hk
- Expertise: Game Environment Art, Real-time Worldbuilding, Immersive Installation, Digital Workflows
Biography
James Roha Halliwell is a game designer, environment artist, and educator working across real-time worlds, immersive installation and digital workflows. He is the founder of Hyperdense, an independent worldbuilding studio studio whose game Dreamless Kingdom is an ongoing synthetic production with a playable demo on Steam. His installation work has been exhibited in Bangkok, Tokyo, Miami and Knoxville. An Epic Games Unreal Engine Authorized Instructor, he taught previously at Chulalongkorn University's International Program in Design and Architecture (INDA) programme in Bangkok and at the University of Tennessee, College of Architecture and Design.
Education and Academic Qualifications
- MSc in Fiction and Entertainment, Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
- BArch in Architecture, cum laude, minor in Physics, University of Tennessee
Professional Qualifications
- Unreal Engine Authorized Instructor, Epic Games
Academic and Professional Experience
- Founder and Creative Director, Hyperdense
- Lecturer, College of Architecture and Design, University of Tennessee
- Studio Instructor, INDA, Chulalongkorn University
- Workshop Leader, Design Investigations, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Teaching Area
- Game environment art and level design
- Real-time production pipelines in Unreal Engine
- Worldbuilding and narrative environments
- Digital workflows and physical computing
- Speculative and immersive design
Research Outputs
Analysis of human–AI collaboration workflows drawn from the development of Dreamless Kingdom, documenting practical guidelines and outcomes across concept art, narrative and asset production.
James Roha (2024). “Dowsing Yonder: Saturophage”, Mergoat Magazine, Issue 4: Ecofutures.
Critical essay reading the Saturophage exhibition through an ecofuturist lens, analysing how its monochromatic world and colour-consuming virus address the homogenising effects of technology on biological and cultural diversity.
“Dowsing Yonder: Saturophage”, Mergoat Magazine, Issue 4: Ecofutures.
James Roha (2023). “The Toll of Simulacrum”, Wired Japan, 50th Anniversary Issue: Speculative Futures, pp. 124–127. Invited contribution.
Speculative design piece visualising the future of simulated nature parks under conditions of advanced virtual environment technology and unequal access to natural space.
Projects
An in-development game world exploring ecological transformation and post-human futures. The playable demo is available on Steam and was publicly playable at PAX East 2025, with over 1,000 wishlists before launch. Produced in collaboration with Termrak Chaiyawat.
Emissary (2024). Digital Matte Painter for short film directed by Liam Young.
Speculative short developed in collaboration with engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the project follows a fictional, eternal spacecraft acting as a robotic messenger that preserves and transmits human history into deep space long after a potential extinction event.
Emissary (2024), Liam Young, New Planet Digital Matte Painting by Roha
Sorn-Lai (2024). Project lead and environment artist. Ijams Nature Center, Gypsy Circus, Remedy Coffee, and UT Downtown Gallery, Knoxville, USA.
Interactive installation of seven 3D printed and hand crafted tabletop ecosystems carrying more than 200 NFC-enabled character sculptures, staged across three portal events under changing lighting conditions.
Saturophage (2023). Project lead and environment artist. Grey Hollow Village, Bangkok, Thailand.
Month-long AI-driven installation and solo exhibition structured as an evolving quest. The physical environment, narrative and interactive tasks changed weekly in response to visitor engagement.
Lilith.Aeon (2022). Art director and creative technologist. Shibuya District, Tokyo, Japan.
Transmedia character debut across public screens in Shibuya and online platforms, comprising a six-part birth sequence of concepted, modelled, animated and rendered video loops.
Awards
- EURECA Faculty Mentorship Award (2025)
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. Awarded for mentorship of undergraduate research and creative achievement. - EDGE Research Fellowship (2020)
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Los Angeles, USA.
