Steve Wilcox is an assistant professor in the Game Design & Development program at Wilfrid Laurier University where he researches & creates knowledge translation games. He is also the co-founder & former editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar.
“Platitudes were abundant—well meant of course, and everyone involved quite sincerely wanted games to improve in terms of accessibility. But answers weren’t exactly forthcoming; more was said on defining inclusivity and accessibility, rather than illustrating a workable path towards more of it.”
“In the 2D sidescroller Thunderbird Strike, fly from the Tar Sands to the Great Lakes as a thunderbird protecting Turtle Island with searing lightning against the snake that threatens to swallow the lands and waters whole.” -Developer
“We are stronger when we laugh and humor makes it easier to talk about difficult issues. Cards Against Colonialism attempts to embrace the modern Native Culture, and allows us to learn and laugh at the same time.” – Publisher
“Gamasutra interviews Bethesda’s Emil Pagliarulo and 2K Marin’s Jordan Thomas to discuss the importance of building challenging, satisfying ethical gameplay — both in games the duo created such as Oblivion, Fallout 3 and BioShock 2, and in the work of others.” – J. Matthew Zoss
“In this book, Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum present Values at Play, a theoretical and practical framework for identifying socially recognized moral and political values in digital games. Values at Play can also serve as a guide to designers who seek to implement values in the conception and design of their games.” – Publisher
“Representation is the key to kickstarting discussion, and video games have taken a woefully one-dimensional approach in the mental health conversation. While there’s no shortage of mental health-related content in today’s games, it falls into one of two specific camps, neither of which confront the complex and nuanced issues with the empathy and consideration they deserve.” – Patrick Lindsey
“…the question of what gaming would look like in a socialist world has haunted me for days. Not only because I’m a leftist and I care about games, but because of how it relates to many crucial issues of 21st century radicalism…” – Paolo Pedercini
“A Theory of Fun for Game Design is not your typical how-to book. It features a novel way of teaching interactive designers how to create and improve their designs to incorporate the highest degree of fun. As the book shows, designing for fun is all about making interactive products like games highly entertaining, engaging, and addictive. The book’s unique approach of providing a highly visual storyboard approach combined with a narrative on the art and practice of designing for fun is sure to be a hit with game and interactive designers.” – Publisher
“Welcome to a book written to challenge you, improve your brainstorming abilities, and sharpen your game design skills! Challenges for Game Designers: Non-Digital Exercises for Video Game Designers is filled with enjoyable, interesting, and challenging exercises to help you become a better video game designer, whether you are a professional or aspire to be.” – Publisher
“This production-oriented course teaches students in communications fields how to tell stories interactively using 360-degree video and computer-generated scenes that subjects experience through leading virtual reality headsets. The target platforms for this course are the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard phone-based viewers.” – Syllabus