Michigan State University Department of Media and Information
caseyod@msu.edu
Below is an excerpt from Casey O’Donnell’s book, Developer’s Dilemma: The Secret World of Videogame Creators (MIT Press, 2014). – How to Play (Use) This Game (Book) – The structure of this book is performative. It imitates the level structure of the Nintendo Entertainment System game Super Mario Bros. (SMB) to highlight the importance that games and […]
[Cross Posted: CASTAC, Gamasutra and #CultD] I was going to write about the butterfly effect, ethnography and a key informant’s book on the development of the game Jagged Alliance 2. But then the portion of the Internet surrounding videogames and game development exploded. I’ve started posts previously with the line, “I teach game design…” I’ll […]
[Cross Posted at Gamasutra] Yesterday, Todd Harper (@laevantine) tweeted a reflection on several other blog posts responding to recent news that Irrational Games was closing. I like that both @leighalexander and @BRKeogh‘s pieces on Irrational highlight the intense opacity of the game dev process… — Todd Harper (@laevantine) February 19, 2014 Both Leigh Alexander (@leighalexander) […]
In May, Adobe prompted me reflect on the “Cloud.” Adobe announced that it’s widely used “Creative Suite,” which includes things like Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat and many other software products would be transitioning to a subscription-based, web-based and cloud-based product, the “Creative Cloud.” My first (and clearly cynical) thought was, “Well, at least I don’t […]
An Introduction [Cross Posted at the CASTAC Blog] Ask an anthropologist a question and they’ll tell you a story. In this case, you didn’t ask, but I’m going to tell. During the fall of 2012, I was perusing my Facebook feed before bedtime, imagining myself to be reconnecting with old friends and keeping up with […]