Lindsay is an associate professor at American University and founding director of the American University Game Lab and Studio. His game designs have received awards from the Games for Change Festival, Meaningful Play, Advances in Computer Entertainment and Gamescape. He has published more than 40 papers, articles and book chapters on games since 2009. His creative work has been selected for showcase in more than eight countries and 12 states, including New York, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Singapore, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, Chicago and Vancouver. He has given talks at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC), SXSW, Games for Change Festival/Tribeca Film Festival, the Boston Festival of Independent Games and many others. He is currently the Vice President of the Global Game Jam™ and served on the board for the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) between 2013-2015.
Lindsay served Miami University as the Armstrong Professor of Creative Arts at Miami University between 2009-2013. He founded the Persuasive Play Lab (PPL) and directed the Games Center within the Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media. The AIMS game center was co-founded with Sean Duncan and is currently lead by Bob Deschutter. Lindsay's research areas include game design, human-computer interaction, critical gameplay and design. He also writes about design and education. Lindsay has served industry as an independent consultant, web designer, software developer, entrepreneur, business analyst and writer. Teaching [curriculum vitae / resume]
Lindsay joined the faculty at American University's School of Communications in 2013 (Film and Media Arts division). In 2009 he became the first Armstrong Professor of Creative Arts, holding a joint position between the Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies and the College of Creative Arts. From 2003-2009 he taught in digital arts and writing at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago. He has also taught at ITT Technical schools and wrote an online graduate course in database design for American Intercontinental University. Art, Games, and Programming
Lindsay's creative practice is focused on uses of interactive media to explore cultural standards. Extending the foundations of human computer interaction, play design and design anthropology, the work explores the ignored. This work is computer game, gallery art, animation, sculpture or some interdisciplinary amalgamation. Lindsay’s work primarily pursues educational experiences and editorial critique of the social relationship between computers, humans and each other. The medium is typically screen based, software informed and aesthetic. The work demonstrates patterns through their amplification or the exposition of their absence in common awareness. The Critical Gameplay project is the current focus of this work, turning pattern into rhetoric.
Previous Commercial Work
Lindsay currently creates commercial games via Mindtoggle Games. Lindsay has completed several projects as an independent contractor-consultant for small to mid-sized businesses. He consulted on aspects of business system design, web and usability design.
A personal note:
I don't like talking about myself in the third person, but it makes it easier for other people to cut and paste my bio.
I teach because I have more people to thank than I can ever repay. With the skills I have and my propensities - teaching digital design is what I do. I don't think the work I design will save a life, but it might just inspire one.
I also teach because I love it. I want every one of my students to have that ah-ha moment at least once in my classes. Most of my ah-ha moments have changed my life for the better. I hope I can facilitate the same.
Before I was 12 I started selling half-baked video games. I called that company Mindtoggle (from mind-switches). 8 years later I started a company with my friend Tony (now at Twitter), to sell club merchandise, DJ mixes, promote club specials and offer VIP access. I called that company Mindtoggle.com. It grew to be the 3rd largest resource for clubbing news in Chicago, but I put it to rest when Metromix (the #1) matured. Now Mindtoggle sells mobile games. As Kurt Vonnegut writes - so it goes.
Hobbies: I race two cars in SCCA Autocross (a z51 vette and an mx-5), bicycle (I used to race ABR and USCF road), and play video games. The rest of life is peppered with EDM and Salsa dancing, travel, cooking (we'll call it international fusion), board games, fiction and philosophy. My first claim to fame was a credit on Carl Cox's live at Crobar-Chicago CD.
A few photos of me, in case you need them (car racing photo courtesy of Jeff Lowe Imaging):
2015
2014
2012
2011
2011
2010
2009
2008
2008
Yes, my facial hair grows in direct proportion to my stress. I wear a beard most days now.
A few interesting numbers (as of November 2015):
84: The total number of courses I have taught between 2003-2015 (excluding independent studies)
3: the total number of Game courses I taught at American University 7: the total number of Game Design courses I taught at Miami University 6
: The total number of Web Design courses I taught at Miami University
28: The total number of Games courses I taught at AI-Chicago (Design, Scriptwriting, Programming) 18: The total number of Web Design courses I taught at AI-Chicago 15: The total number of general Digital Media courses I taught 4: The total number of film scriptwriting courses I taught at AI-Chicago 3: Total number of online only courses I have taught
1982: The first year I played a computer game 1986: The first year I started making computer games 1993: The first year I had been on an airplane
*Grace, L. 2016. Deciphering Hackathons and Game Jams through Play, in Proceedings of the 1st International Conference of Game Jams, Hackathons and Game Creation Events, David Brower Center of UC Berkeley in California, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4 pages.
(in press) Grace, L., Jamieson, P., Mizuno,N. and Zhang, B. 2015."VerilogTown: Cars, Crashes and Hardware Design" In Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE '15). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4 pages.
(in press) Grace, L., Jackson, T., Totten, C., Rice, J. and Parker, J. 2015. "Designing Microgames for Assessment: A Case Study in Rapid Iteration" In Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE '15). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4 pages.
Grace, L., Janssen, D., and Coyle J. 2014. Did you see that?: in-game advertising retention in players and onlookers. In Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, , Article 42 , 4 pages. DOI=10.1145/2663806.2663856 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2663806.2663856
Grace, L. 2014.You: a poetic game about meaning making and absence. In Proceedings of the 11th Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE '14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, , Article 66 , 4 pages. DOI=10.1145/2663806.2663811 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2663806.2663811
Grace, L. 2014. Adapting Games From Literature: Game Verbs for Player Behavior. In Proceedings of the 32nd of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Toronto, Canada, April 26 - May 1, 2014). CHI EA '14. ACM, New York, NY, USA.
Grace, L. 2013. Big Huggin' Affection Gaming. In Proceedings of the 31st of the international Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Paris, France, April 29 - May 2, 2013). CHI EA '13. ACM, New York, NY, 3025-3030.
Grace, L and Ruffino, P. 2015, Blank Arcade: Games out of Joint, exhibition catalogue, May 14-17, DiGRA Conference, Leuphana University, Luneburg, Germany. ISBN 978-1329103092
Grace, L. Quinter, J, McCain, K, Kitchen, D, 2012. Swivelpad: an Active Body Controller. In Proceedings of the 17th international conference of the Computer Games (Accepted) (Louisville, KY: July 27-30, 2012). IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC, 125-129.
2014 Black Like Me, Big Huggin', Stolen Kisses, 9th Annual Foundations of Digital Games Conference
2014 Music Box, NMC10 Video Programme, varied venues including Annual College Art Association (CAA) Conference (Chicago), West Virigina-Wesleyan, Alfred State University, et al.
2014 Black Like Me, Magfest, National Harbor, Maryland
2013 Black Like Me, Advances in Computer Entertainment, University of Twente, Netherlands
2013 Black Like Me, International Digital Media Arts Exhibit (IDEAS), Laguna Beach, California
2013 Critical Gameplay: Wait, Conversations, Music Box (Video loop), Boston Festival of Independent Games, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts
2015: Grace, L. "Affect and Effect - Persuasive Play and Meaningful Games", University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, February 2015
2014: Grace, L. Keynote: "Media Arts and Game Development Expo", University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI, May 2014
2013: Grace, L. "Games: Play and Impact", Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois, October 2013
2013: Grace, L. "How Indie is Not So Indie", Boston Festival of Independent Games, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 2013
2013: Grace, L. "The Future of Play and Education", E-Tech Ohio (Virtual), Columbus, Ohio, February 2013
2010: Grace, L. "Gaming Augmented Reality, Place-based Applications and More", The Digital Non-Conference, September 2010, Cincinnati, Ohio
2010: Grace, L., Platt, Glenn "Social Media and Digital Games for Environment Action", Saving Species – July 2010 - Kinabatangan, Borneo, Malaysia
Invited Panels
2015: Intersection in Digital Arts, 7th IEEE Games, Entertainment, and Media (GEM) Conference, Toronto, Canada, October 2015
2015: National Assessment for Educational Progress Innovations Symposium – Department of Education, Washington, DC - September 2015
2014: The Rules of War in Games (panel), American Red Cross, Washington, DC, October 2014
2014: Evolution Of Gaming: Understanding the Game Industry (panel with Roger E. Pederson, Scott Miller and Brad MacDonal), Video Gamers United (VGU) Convention, Washington, DC, August 2014
2014: American University Diversity in Games Summit, Washington, DC, March 2014
2014: Social Impact Play Panel, Media That Matters, Washington, DC, February 2014
2013: Animator's Roundtable-Video Games Panel,American University, Washington, DC, September 2013
2010: Digital Society Trends: New Forms of Machine-Human Interactions (panel): Critiquing Software Interactions, The Third International Conferences on Advances in Computer-Human Interactions (St Maarten), February 2010
2014: Grace, L. "Affection Games, Loving Your Way into The Hearts of Players", Boston Festival of Independent Games (FIG), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 2014
2013: Grace, L. "Bikini Beach Zombie Massacre - Sneaking Critical Gameplay Satire into the Mainstream", Arse Electronika, San Francisco, California, September 2012
2014: Grace, L., Chess, Shira, Spangler, Brooke & Jamieson, Peter. "Play Strategies in Liberal Education", Organizing Panelist (with Dr. Shira Chess, Dr. Brooke Spangler , & Dr. Peter Jamieson) Meaningful Play,Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, October 2012
2014: Grace, L. et al. "
Black Arts - Video Games as Art [art panelist], Miami University, April, 2010
2014: 12th Music and Gaming Conference (MAGFest) 2014, National Harbor, Maryland, January 2014
Various Panels for MAGES Track:
Serious Gaming- Role of Academic Institutions
Educating through Play
The Politics of Gaming
Persuasive Play
Are AAA Studios Still Creatively Relevant?
Understanding Game Verbs
How Being Indie is Not so Indie
2013:Games for Change Festival Hall of Fame – Critical Gameplay Wait – 1 of "5 games, the very best games for social impact in the last decade that bring forward the message that games can create change", New York, New York, USA
2012: Meaningful Play Conference Top 5 Paper Award (with P. Jamieson et al.)
2012:Gamescape People’s Choice Award (runner up), Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Consultant (Game Design): National Endowment for the Humanities (2014). PI: Ann Elizabeth Armstrong, $59,994, Freedom Summer Game
Advisor|Faculty Lead: Undergraduate Summer Scholars 2012 (Miami University grant for undergraduate research), Virtual Reality Games and Meta-Fiction Advisor: $3,600 (x2)
2012: Quoted: ABC News, CBS News, Business Week, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, Yahoo Games News, et al (Associated Press): Video game maker linked to US prisoner in Iran(1/10/2012-1/11/2012)
2011: Quoted: ABC News, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Daily Herald, Backstage, Yahoo News, Arab Times, et al (Associated Press): Next Gen Video Games Let Players Control the Story , Actors Storytelling Are Key Elements in New Video Games, Video Game Makers Focusing on Storylines(7/12/2011-7/25/2011)
Zombie Master: http://Zombies.LGrace.com
A micro site for a game prototype I released in 2005/2006. The game is very simple, and really doesn't aspire to anything more than a tech test. I wrote the program to gauge how much my students could accomplish in a quarter. I wrote the game in just under 3 weeks, but it did get reasonable download traffic.
My Applications
Autocross Advantage: http://mindtoggle.com/aa/ A quick mobile app I created to help autocross racers keep track of the course and their times.
Chicago Homicide Tool: http://Chicago.LGrace.com/
The micro site for my scientific visualization program to analyze geographic and chronological patterns in homicides. Last edited 2008
Interactive Travel Map: http://ITM.LGrace.com
Micro site for the Interactive Travel Map, a hastily "slapped together" program to create 3D interactive chronological histories of travel. The program allows the user to map any series of images to any 3D model, then create a timed animation rotating the model and moving through the image sequence. Last edited 2007.
Medical Image Viewer: Medical Image Viewer
Micro site for the Medical Image (e.g. dicom, CT scans, etc) viewer I wrote. It uses several common algorithms for generating 3D images from common data files.
My Work
Art: http://Art.LGrace.com
Descriptions of current digital art works, galleries and presentations.
Blog: http://Blog.Mindtoggle.com
My blog on digital media, interactive art and game related conferences, contests, and related information.
Cape Verde Narrative: http://CapeVerde.LGrace.com
The first few chapters of a narrative I am writing about my travels in west Africa. (incomplete work)
L-Grapher: http://LGrapher.LGrace.com
A program to create 3D height-maps and height-map based animations. Best used with images from the Chicago Homicide Tool. Last edited 2007.
Aii: http://Aii.LGrace.com/
Information for Illinois Institute of Art students, including syllabi, course documents, and related resources.
Camera: http://Camera.LGrace.com
A website introducing common terminology and concepts for describing camera movement. This micro site was created to provide my writing students an easy reference for scripting animated cut scenes in games. Last edited in 2006
Miami University: http://Miami.LGrace.com/
Information for Miami University students, including syllabi, course documents, and related resources.
Students: http://Students.LGrace.com/
A collection of links to work my students have completed. It was maintained for 2 years, while I was teaching web design. The work of my Game Art students requires more bandwidth than this collection would rightly support. Legal issues also prevent me from hosting student work on my own servers. Please visit AI for samples of current student game work. Student game programming examples can be viewed at http://lg3311.aisites.com/games.htm