William Chyr, an adjunct professor of instruction at Columbia College Chicago, received the Immersive Reality Technical Achievement award at the 29th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards for his studio’s virtual reality game “Hotel Infinity,” according to an announcement on Apr. 8.
The recognition highlights the growing importance of immersive technology in both entertainment and education. The D.I.C.E. Awards are presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and are regarded as a significant honor in the games industry.
Kubi Uner, director of Columbia’s Music Composition for Screen MFA program, said, “This is incredible. The D.I.C.E. Awards are one of the most important awards in the games industry, as they are presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and are the only peer-based awards — nominees are voted on by the 33,000 members of the academy.”
Chyr said he was surprised by his win: “I wasn’t expecting to win at all; I didn’t even have a speech prepared,” he said. “But it’s a huge honor.” Chyr began his career as an installation artist before turning to game development in 2012 with his first title “Manifold Garden.” His company later partnered with Meta and Sony to develop “Hotel Infinity,” which is inspired by Hilbert’s Infinite Hotel Paradox.
Explaining this concept, Chyr said: “Imagine a hotel with an infinite number of rooms and every single room is occupied… At first glance, it seems impossible to fit any new guests. But since the hotel is infinite, you can ask each guest to move down one room, and that leaves the first room vacant.” He added that turning this mathematical idea into an interactive experience was central to their design approach: “While the concept challenges everyday intuition about space and capacity, the game ‘Hotel Infinity’ becomes something you can actually walk through…”
The game’s main feature allows players to physically walk through environments using portals and redirection techniques while remaining within a small real-world area. “You physically walk through the environments,” Chyr said. “The experience of playing the game is you’re moving through an impossibly large hotel seamlessly, while in reality you’re walking in circles.”
Since joining Columbia College Chicago in 2022 as part of its Music Composition for Screen graduate program faculty, Chyr has shared insights from his VR projects with students interested in how music interacts with interactive media.
Looking ahead, Chyr continues teaching while developing new work that blends physics concepts with immersive design.
