Playthink

Game developer, designer, and author Cheryl Platz joins us for this episode of Playthink, to discuss about her book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive. Interviewed by MFA candidate Bernice Wang, Platz gives us insights into her deep experience in user-research supported design for ground-breaking games and beyond. Her latest book has been hailed by game design luminaries Will Wright as “an amazingly broad and contemporary take on our industry” and Jesse Shell as “an amazing crash course for anyone who wants to make games that actually succeed.” She has worked as a Creative Director, Experience Design Director, Lead Producer, writer, game designer, and voice talent for companies like Riot Games, Scopely, Inc., Electronic Arts, and independent studies like Griptonite Games. And, she has shipped and supported games including The Sims: Bustin’ Out, The Urbz: Sims in the City, Disney Friends DS, MARVEL Strike Force, League of Legends, 2XKO, and more.

USC Games Professor Richard Lemarchand joins us for this episode of Playthink, to talk about his book A Playful Production Process - For Game Designers (And Everyone). Interviewed by Game Innovation Lab Director Tracy Fullerton, Lemarchand discusses the core aspects of concentric development, digging into the importance of prototyping, macro charts, and truly collaborative design teams. This book, which is the core text for the USC Games Intermediate Project classes comes out of Lemarchand’s deep expertise as a lead or co-lead designer on all three PlayStation 3 games on Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, as well as his work on the Gex and Soul Reaver games at Crystal Dynamics, and, of course, his experiences teaching game design, development, storytelling, and production as a professor at USC.

This episode of Playthink welcomes game designer, scholar, and professor Celia Pearce as we discuss the rich areas of play theory explored in her new book, Playframes: How do we know we are playing? Interviewed by MS candidate Reef (Harith Liew), Pearce leads us through a fascinating set of questions around the metacommunication of play. WIth topics ranging from theme parks, to sports, to cosplay and video games, Pearce creates distinctions for us, both designers and players, that help us understand how better communications around what is play and when we are playing can start to build better and safer playful spaces.

On this episode of Playthink, we welcome game designer and author Chris Totten as we explore his book, An Architectural Approach to Level Design. Interviewed by level designer and MFA candidate Zhutian Zhang, Totten discusses ways in which his approach brings in methods of planning and thinking about levels as playful architectural spaces that bring together the artistic, the cultural, and the technological.

On this episode of Playthink, we welcome game designer and scholar Tracy Fullerton as we explore her book, The Well-Read Game: On Playing Thoughtfully — co-authored with Dr. Matthew Farber. Game designer and USC Games alumnus Maynard Hearns hosts this conversation about the themes of the book, which invite us to examine the ephemeral, emotional, and deeply personal experiences of play, the stories that we tell ourselves while playing, the feelings that linger, and the subjective meanings we create.