Chris Swain (game designer)
{{BLP sources|date=June 2021}}
Chris Swain is an American game designer, entrepreneur, and professor. He is the founder of two venture-backed game companies. He worked full-time as a professor at The University of Southern California from 2004-2011.
Career
Swain started his career in at Robert Abel’s interactive software company Synapse Technologies.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} Chris was VP of Programming at game developer Spiderdance, Inc, where his work included participatory television projects.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}} He was a founding member of R/GA Interactive.{{Cite book |last1=Karen |first1=Schrier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vKFdDHDFNmoC |title=Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values through Play: Teaching Values through Play |last2=David |first2=Gibson |date=2010-02-28 |publisher=IGI Global |isbn=978-1-61520-846-3 |pages=358 |language=en}} Swain co-founded the Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab at USC and served as the director of the USC Games Institute. He co-authored the first edition of Game Design Workshop: Designing, Prototyping, & Playtesting Games with Tracy Fullerton and Steven Hoffman in 2004.{{Cite web |title=Game Design Workshop - Bookverdict.com |url=https://bookverdict.mediasourceinc.net/details.xqy?uri=Product-30007935858215.xml |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=bookverdict.mediasourceinc.net}}
Notable projects in his early career include: Netwits for the Microsoft Network,{{Cite web|url=https://www.mobygames.com/game/netwits/|title=NetWits for Windows (1996)|website=MobyGames}} Multiplayer Jeopardy!{{cite web |url=http://www.sonypictures.com/games/jeopardy/index.php?hs308=%2F |title=Sony Pictures |website=www.sonypictures.com |access-date=19 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605044407/http://www.sonypictures.com/games/jeopardy/index.php?hs308=%2F |archive-date=5 June 2011 |url-status=dead}} and Multiplayer Wheel of Fortune{{Cite web |url=http://www.sonypictures.com/games/wof2/index.php |title=Sony Pictures Games | Wheel of Fortune 2 |date=March 17, 2007 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317201416/http://www.sonypictures.com/games/wof2/index.php |archive-date=17 March 2007 |url-status=dead}} for Sony Online, Stickerworld for Children's Television Workshop,{{Cite web |url=http://www.sesameworkshop.org/stickerworld/ |title=Sesame Workshop - Sticker World |date=March 12, 2007 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312171433/http://www.sesameworkshop.org/stickerworld/ |archive-date=12 March 2007 |url-status=dead}} and Poetry of Structure, the interactive companion to Ken Burns’ documentary about Frank Lloyd Wright.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/frank-lloyd-wright/|title=Watch Frank Lloyd Wright | Ken Burns | PBS|website=Frank Lloyd Wright | Ken Burns | PBS}}
Swain served on the board of directors of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Emmy's) from 2000 to 2004. While a board member, Swain co-led the initiative that developed and awarded the Emmy for achievement in interactive television.
The games SurgeWorld and Immune Attack (2006) address health topics.{{Cite web |title=Video Games: Medicine For The Body |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060921205003.htm |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=ScienceDaily |language=en}} The Redistricting Game (2006) models gerrymandering, aimed at informing voters.{{Cite news |last=Musgrove |first=Mike |date=2007-06-10 |title=Mike Musgrove - The New Political Games Make a Point |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/09/AR2007060900049.html |access-date=2022-03-12 |issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web |title=New video games play to serious objectives - USATODAY.com |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-10-30-serious-skills_x.htm |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=usatoday30.usatoday.com}}{{Cite news |date=2007-06-14 |title=A Gamer's Guide to Redistricting |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2223197439|id={{ProQuest|2223197439}} }} Enhanced Learning with Creative Technologies (ELECT) is a project funded by the US Military which produced a game on urbanism, as well as a game about bi-lateral negotiation.{{Cite web |date=2007-09-27 |title=SIGNAL Magazine |url=http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/templates/Signal_Article_Template.asp?articleid=1259&zoneid=203 |access-date=2022-03-12 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201736/http://www.afcea.org/signal/articles/templates/Signal_Article_Template.asp?articleid=1259&zoneid=203 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead}}
Swain is also known for his mentorship of students at USC. Several projects by his students, for which he was their advisor, have gone on to become published games. These include fl0w (Sony PlayStation), Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (2K Games), and Reflection (Konami).{{Cite news |date=2009-10-28 |title=Chris Swain, Director USC Games Institute, to Give 2nd Keynote for IGC West |work=Business Wire |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/443824334|id={{ProQuest|443824334}} }}
In 2010, Swain founded the games studio Talkie for story-driven social games. They created the Facebook game Ecotopia to promote environmental conservation, launched in 2011.{{Cite news |date=2011-03-11 |title=Talkie Teams with Conservation International, Sets out to Save the Environment One Facebook Gamer at a Time with Ecotopia |work=Business Wire |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/855443476|id={{ProQuest|855443476}} }}{{Cite web |date=2011-04-04 |title=Talkie rolls out green social game Ecotopia on Facebook |url=https://venturebeat.com/2011/04/04/talkie-starts-rolling-out-green-social-game-ecotopia-on-facebook/ |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/sequence/videos/1791-usc-prof-chris-swain-on-the-future-of-video-games-part-1/ Video of Chris Swain speaking at MIT on the Future of Games]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070307073313/http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml Interview in Forbes about independent games]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Chris}}
Category:American video game designers
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)