Education
University of Maryland, College Park Maryland, 1986
BFA, Painting
Academic Experience
Director, The NYU Game Center, 2008-present
Chair, Game Design Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, 2012 - present
Director, MAGNET Presidium, NYU 2013 - present
Adjunct Faculty, NYU, Interactive Telecommunications Program, 1995 - 2008
- Game Design
- Big Games
- Interactive Narrative
Instructor, Parsons School of Design, Digital Design Department, 2004 - 2005
- Hybrid Design Studio
Instructor, School of Visual Arts, 1992 - 1993
- Computer-Aided Design
Work Experience
Area/Code Games, New York , NY , January 2005- 2010
Co-Founder, Creative Director
Area/Code was a pioneer in the fields of cross-media, real world, location-based,and large-scale social gaming. Working in multiple experimental and commercial contexts, Area/Code created games for CBS, Discovery Channel, Van Alen Institute, Arts & Entertainment Network, Qwest, Nokia, MTV, Nike, and the Ubiquitous Computing Conference.
Gamelab, New York, NY, 2002 - 2005
Director of Game Design
Gamelab is a premier developer of online and downloadable games with a focus on creating innovative and accessible games for a broad, non-hardcore audience.
Pop & Co.,New York, NY, 2000 - 2002
Senior Game Designer
Online game design for clients including Cartoon Network, Lifetime TV and VH1.
RGA, New York, NY 1991 – 2000
Creative Director
Lead creative for this highly respected, award-winning digital design studio.
Select Publications
Pervasive Games, Editors: Markus Montola, Jaakko Stenros, Morgan Kauffman Press, 2009
"Pervasive Games and the 'Art Question'"
Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games, Tracy Fullerton, Morgan Kauffman Press, 2008
“Designer Perspective: Frank Lantz”
Space Time Play: Computer Games, Architecture and Urbanism, Drew Davidson, Heather Kelley, Julian Kücklich, Friedrich von Borries, Steffen P. Walz, Matthias Böttger, Birkhäuser Basel, 2007
“Design Case Studies: Big Urban Game, PacManhattan”
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, MIT Press, 2003
“Foreword”, “Commissioned Game: Ironclad”
Merge Magazine, 1999
“Rules, Play and Culture: Towards an Aesthetic of Games”
Panic Encyclopedia, The Definitive Guide to the Post-Modern Scene, Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker, St. Martin’s Press, 1989
“Panic Quake”
Select Speaking Engagements / Presentations
“eSports”, Games for Change Festival, New York, April 2015
"Go in the New World", US Go Congress , New York, August 2014
"Counting Frames", EVO , Las Vegas, July 2014
"Hearts and Minds", Game Developers' Conference, San Francisco, March 2014
"Strange Love or: The Relationship between Game Theory and Game Design", Game Developers' Conference, San Francisco, March 2013
“Life and Death and Middle Pair: Go, Poker, and the Sublime”, Game Developers’ Conference, San Francisco, March 2011
"Games as an Aesthetic Form", MIT CMS Colloquium Series, Cambridge, MA, December 2011
“Why I'm an Optimist”, IndieCade, Los Angeles, October 2010
“Reinventing Gaming”, TEDx PennQuarter, Washington, DC, July 2010
"Doorknobs and Butterflies: Games after Art", The Georgia Institute of Technology and Savannah College of Art and Design Art History of Games Symposium, Atlanta, February 2010
“Alternate Approaches to Alternate Reality: Designing a Different Kind of ARG”, Game Developers eXchange, Savannah College of Art and Design, April 2008
“The Metagame: A Battle of Videogame Smarts”, Game Developers’ Conference, San Francisco, March 2007
“The Return of the Real: Using Real-world Gaming to Achieve Realworld Goals”, Serious Games Summit, Washington DC, October 2006
“The Future of Real World Gaming”, Nokia Games Summit, Monaco, August 2006
"Away From Keyboard: Designing Real-World Games", Montreal International Game Summit, November 2005
“Radical Territories: The Future Frontier of Game Design”, panel at the AIGA Design Conference, September 2005
“Urban Gaming”, Sidney Kahn Summer Institute for New Practices in Performance and Technology at The Kitchen, New York City, June 2005
Selected Ludography
Drop7, iPhone, Area/Code Games (Zynga)
Parking Wars, Facebook, A&E
Chain Factor (the Numb3rs ARG), CBS
Sharkrunners, Discovery Channel
Sopranos A&E Connection, A&E
ConQwest, Qwest Communications
Big Urban Game, University of Minnesota Design Institute
Diner Dash, Playfirst Games
Helix, Card Game
Subway Scramble, Playfirst Games
Arcadia, Shockwave Games
Openhouse, Lifetime Television
RSVP, Lifetime Television
Trick or Treat, Cartoon Network
Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident, LEGO
Worldbuilder, LEGO
Junkbot, LEGO
The Robot Club, South Peak Interactive, 1998
Gearheads, Phillips Interactive, 1996
Awards
Creativity 50, Creativity Magazine
ConQwest
- Best Game, Future Marketing Summit
- Silver, Clio Awards
- Silver Pencil, One Show
- Guerilla Marketing of the Year, Brandweek
Drop7
- IGN Editors' Award
- Edge Magazine, "10 out of 10" rating (one of only 23 games to achieve the highest score in the magazine's 20-year history)
- Edge Magazine, #2 Best iPhone Game of All Time
- PCWorld, Nine Essential iPhone Apps
- Mac Life, The 25 Best iPhone Games
- Kotaku, The 12 Best Games on the iPhone
- The Verge, The 21 Games that Should be Installed on Every iPhone
Macon Money
- 2011 Future Everything Award
Sopranos Connection
- Best of 2007 tech/mech, AdWeek
- Finalist, MIXX
- Gold, OMMA
Sharkrunners & Helix
- Selected for inclusion in the MoMA Exhibition: Talk to Me - July -November 2011