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creative:impact - Video Game Development Is So Much More Than Fun

Jeremy Gibson Bond

Character artists, animators, sound designers, programmers, and coders are just a few of the team members it takes to design and launch a video game.  It takes a lot of hard work and time.  Jeremy Gibson Bond, game designer and professor of practice, game design, and development at MSU, tells Deb Polich and David Fair all about this industry that has evolved exponentially since the days of Pong and Pac-Man on this edition of "creative: impact."  Listen here.

Deb Polich
Deb Polich, President and CEO of The Arts Alliance

Creative industries in Washtenaw County add hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy.  In the weeks and months to come, 89.1 WEMU's David Fair and co-host Deb Polich, the President and CEO of The Arts Alliance, explore the myriad of contributors that make up the creative sector in Washtenaw County.

ABOUT JEREMY GIBSON BOND:

Jeremy Gibson Bond is a Professor of Practice teaching game design and development at Michigan State University.  Since 2013, he has served the IndieCade independent game festival and conference as the Chair of Education and Advancement, where he co-chairs the IndieXchange summit each year.  Jeremy is the founder of ExNinja Interactive and the author of Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to Playable Game in Unity and C#, a book on game design and prototyping using Unity that was released in the summer of 2014 and, since then, has consistently been one of the top-selling game design books and Unity development books on Amazon.com.

 

Credit Jeremy Gibson Bond
Jeremy Gibson Bond

In 2013, Jeremy founded the company ExNinja Interactive, through which he develops his independent game projects.

Prior to joining the MSUGames faculty, Jeremy taught for three years as a lecturer in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor where he taught game design and software development.  And, from 2009-2013, Jeremy was an Assistant Professor teaching game design for the Interactive Media and Games Division of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, which was named the #1 game design school in North America throughout his tenure there.  Jeremy also apparently has the distinction of being the first person to ever teach game design in Costa Rica.

RESEARCH AND TEACHING

Game design and development, emerging game hardware, independent games.

Research Centers and Labs

Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab

RECENT AWARDS

IndieCade Official Selection, 2013 – My game Ranamor was featured at the IndieCade Night Games 2013. Ranamor is a gettinng-to-know-you game for many co-located players about frogs finding love in the urban evening (http://www.indiecade.com/2013/festival_nightgames/).

IndieCade E3 Showcase, 2012 – My game Coalesce was a part of the Showcase and featured in the Wired article ""7 Indie Games That Rocked at E3″ (http://bit.ly/L434EK).

Game Developers Conference, 2011 – Top 50 Speakers

Game Developers Conference Online, 2010 – Fourth Highest-Rated Speaker

Skyrates – A sky-pirate MMO developed by my team in graduate school (http://skyrates.net) Gleemax Silver Award for Strategic Gaming, 2008 – Independent Game Festival Best Simulation Game Audience Award, 2008 – JayIsGames.com

Best Simulation Game Editors Award, 2008 – JayIsGames.com

CONTACT INFORMATION

404 Wilson Rd.

Communication Arts and Sciences Building

Michigan State University

JEREMY GIBSON BOND EXPERIENCE

Professor of Practice - Game Design and Development

Michigan State University

Aug 2016 – Present

East Lansing, Michigan

Joined the fantastic MSUGames group and Games for Entertainment and Learning lab in MSU's Media & Information department.  Working with a truly talented, passionate, and generous group of people in one of the most collaborative and supportive academic environments I've ever heard of.

GAMEDEV.MSU.EDU

Founder

ExNinja Interactive, LLC

Sep 2013 – Present

Ypsilanti, MI

Chair of Education and Advancement

IndieCade

2013 – Present

Vice President - Airship Studios Corp.

Jun 2009 – Present

Lecturer - Game Design & Development

University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Aug 2013 – Jul 2016

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Assistant Professor of Cinema Practice

University of Southern California

Aug 2009 – Jun 2013

Greater Los Angeles Area

Faculty member of the Interactive Media Division of the School of Cinematic Arts at USC.  Professor of Game Design Workshop (CTIN 488), Intro to Game Development (CTIN 483), Immersive Design Workshop (CTIN 486), Level Design Workshop (CTIN 499), and Graduate Thesis Production (CTIN 594a).

Faculty

Masters of Digital Media Program

Sep 2008 – Jun 2009

Faculty - Visiting Assistant Professor

Center for Digital Media GNWC

Sep 2008 – Jun 2009

Associate Producer / Game Designer

Electronic Arts / Pogo.com

Jun 2007 – Sep 2008

Game Designer / Developer / Lead Combat Designer

Skyrates

Jan 2006 – Jul 2008

Greater Pittsburgh Area

http://skyrates.net

EDUCATION

Carnegie Mellon University

Master’s of Entertainment Technology

2005 – 2007

Activities and Societies: Skyrates

The University of Texas at Austin

Bachelor of Science

Film / New Media

1996 – 1999

USC

RESOURCES: 

Jeremy Gibson Bond

ExNinja Interactive

"Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping, and Development: From Concept to Playable Game in Unity and C#"

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— David Fair is the WEMU News Director and host of Morning Edition on WEMU.  You can contact David at 734.487.3363, on twitter @DavidFairWEMU, or email him at dfair@emich.edu

Contact David: dfair@emich.edu
Polich hosts the weekly segment creative:impact, which features creative people, jobs and businesses in the greater Ann Arbor area.
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