Playthink

USC Game Innovation Lab

4.6 (7)
VIDEO GAMES

Playthink is a USC-based salon about games, play, art and interactivity. These discussion are recorded live at the USC Game Innovation Lab, which is part of the USC Games Program at the University of Southern California. For more information follow us on Instagram @uscgameinnovationlab or visit our website at www.gameinnovationlab.com/playthink.

11/13/2024

Christal Rose Hazelton at Playthink

On this episode of Playthink, Narrative Designer Christal Rose Hazelton and Bryan Sng Yong about Hazelton's work on Apex Legends, crafting authentic characters from diverse backgrounds, and using feedback to refine portrayals of characters. She has some great advice for young creatives on finding their voice in the industry — especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.

1h 9m
09/16/2020

Eric Zimmerman at Playthink

On this episode of Playthink, Eric Zimmerman and Tracy Fullerton discuss the recently released “The Infinite Playground,” the final book by visionary game designer Bernie De Koven, written with Holly Gramazio and edited by Celia Pearce and Eric Zimmerman.

1h 9m
09/11/2019

Bonnie Ruberg at Playthink

Bonnie Ruberg's work explores gender and sexuality in digital media and digital cultures with a focus on queerness and video games. On this episode of Playthink, Ruberg discusses their book "Video Games Have Always Been Queer" with Jeff Watson.

56 min
04/24/2019

Liz Ryerson at Playthink

Liz Ryerson is a composer, critic and occasional game designer and podcaster. On this episode of Playthink, Liz and USC Games professor Jane Pinckard discuss her work across games, journalism and the future of game workers. NOTE: There were audio issues with recording this session, but we've done our best to make the audio work!

1h 6m
03/26/2019

Paul Slocum at Playthink

Paul Slocum is an artist, software developer, curator, and musician based in Pasadena, California. He is director of a new media art gallery called And/Or Gallery that exhibits digital art and develops software for digital art displays and music. On this episode of Playthink, Slocum and Tracy Fullerton talk about art games, curating digital art and art in the age of play.

1h 2m
02/26/2019

Magalis Videaux-Martinez at Playthink

Videaux-Martinez's work lives at the intersection of experience design, immersive storytelling and experiential learning. Here, she discusses her newest project the Imagination Lab, a learning and play-space at Hawkins High School's Critical Design and Gaming School here in South Central Los Angeles with Professor Jeff Watson of USC.

55 min
11/21/2018

Capital W at Playthink

Capital W is an immersive theater group run by Lauren Ludwig and Monica Miklas and well known for its award-winning project Hamlet-Mobile, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet staged in a cargo van. Capital W joined professor Jane Pinckard at Playthink for a wonderful conversation about immersive theater and participatory play.

1h 9m
10/17/2018

Brian Upton at Playthink

Brian Upton is an internationally-known game designer and game theorist with over 20 years of professional experience in the game industry. For 14 years he worked as a senior game designer at Sony’s Santa Monica Studio where he collaborated with external teams on titles such as Fat Princess,Warhawk, Sorcery, Everybody Has Gone to the Rapture, Bound andHere They Lie. Prior to joining Sony, he was the creative director at Red Storm Entertainment where he pioneered the tactical shooter genre as the lead designer on Rainbow Sixand Ghost Recon. He is the author of two books on game design: The Aesthetic of Play and Situational Game Design. Currently he is working as a senior designer at Tangent Games.

1h 16m
09/19/2018

Adam Badawy at Playthink

Adam Badawy is a computational social scientist and a PhD candidate in the Political Science Department and Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California (USC). Working at the Machine Intelligence and Data Science Lab, Adam uses machine learning, network analysis, and natural language processing to study and measure malicious activities and political behavior on online social networks. His latest research on the political misinformation campaign during the 2016 US presidential elections has been covered widely by various news outlets, including the MIT Technology Review, VOX , infobae, and PBS NewsHour.

58 min

9 Episodes

4.6

out of 5

7 Ratings

Great insight into same dev thinking

11/14/2018

Mm_mike

These interviews go beyond the typical “what games inspired you?” bland Q&A of typical game developer interviews and deliver thoughtful insight from some really talented and successful people in games.

Playthink is a USC-based salon about games, play, art and interactivity. These discussion are recorded live at the USC Game Innovation Lab, which is part of the USC Games Program at the University of Southern California. For more information follow us on Instagram @uscgameinnovationlab or visit our website at www.gameinnovationlab.com/playthink.

Creator

USC Game Innovation Lab
Years Active

2018 - 2024
Episodes

9
Rating

Explicit
Show Website

Playthink

Playthink

Episodes

Christal Rose Hazelton at Playthink

Eric Zimmerman at Playthink

Bonnie Ruberg at Playthink

Liz Ryerson at Playthink

Paul Slocum at Playthink

Magalis Videaux-Martinez at Playthink

Capital W at Playthink

Brian Upton at Playthink

Adam Badawy at Playthink

Ratings & Reviews

Great insight into same dev thinking

About

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