Bio

I'm a game designer, professor, and writer with a lot of hands-on videogame design and production experience. I was a lead game designer at Naughty Dog, where I helped to create and build the 'Uncharted' series, and I helped create the 'Gex' and 'Soul Reaver' series at Crystal Dynamics. I have a focus on people-oriented design and development methods, and I love videogames as a powerful cultural form with great untapped potential. I'm the author of 'A Playful Production Process, for Game Designers (and Everyone),' published by MIT Press in October 2021. The book is a professional handbook and textbook about the game project management approach we use in the USC Games program, which helps people to create excellent games without crunch. My specialties are: character-action game design; video game production; experimental game design; vision-keeping; mechanics, layout and story origination; communication facilitation; tools pipeline development; Agile development; concentric development; virtual reality; interactive art; participatory theater.