BIOGRAPHY

Eric Zimmerman has been working in the game industry for more than twelve years. He is the co-founder and CEO of gameLab, a game development company based in New York City. gameLab creates award-winning singleplayer and multiplayer online games for sites like LEGO.com, Shockwave.com, Real Network's Real1Arcade, and Microsoft's Gaming Zone, including the hit downloadable game Diner Dash. Pre-gameLab titles include SiSSYFiGHT 2000 and the PC title Gearheads. Eric has taught courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, and Parsons School of Design. He has lectured and published extensively about game design and game culture and is the co-author with Katie Salen of Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (MIT Press, 2004) and The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology (MIT Press, 2006), as well as the co-editor with Amy Scholder of RE:PLAY: Game Design and Game Culture (Peter Lang Press, 2004).

ABSTRACT

Game Design Essentials

This hands-on workshop will cover many basics of game design, including fundamental concepts like rules and play, designing freedoms and constraints, and creating a meaningful play experience. We will also apply these game design concepts to issues of learning and games, as well as creating games to convey educational content. The workshop will consist of a handful of game design exercises where participants will play, modify, design, and discuss off-the-computer games. We will round out the workshop by linking the concepts and design experiences to the challenges of digital game creation. Please come prepared to participate and have fun.