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 The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

from 2004-2011.

Career

Swain started his career in at Robert Abel’s interactive software company Synapse Technologies. Chris was VP of Programming at game developer Spiderdance, Inc, where his work included participatory television projects. He was a founding member of R/GA Interactive. 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. Notable projects in his early career include: Netwits for the Microsoft Network, Multiplayer Jeopardy! and Multiplayer Wheel of Fortune for

Sony Online Daybreak Game Company LLC is an American video game developer based in San Diego. The company was founded in December 1997 as Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, but was spun off to an independent investor in ...

, Stickerworld for

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization and television company that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—includin ...

, and Poetry of Structure, the interactive companion to

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the Nati ...

’ documentary about

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

. Swain served on the board of directors of the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the Television in the United States, television industry in the United S ...

(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. ''The Redistricting Game'' (2006) models

gerrymandering Gerrymandering, ( , originally ) defined in the contexts of Representative democracy, representative electoral systems, is the political manipulation of Boundary delimitation, electoral district boundaries to advantage a Political party, pa ...

, aimed at informing voters. Enhanced Learning with Creative Technologies (ELECT) is a project funded by the US Military which produced a game on

urbanism Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, a profession focusing on the design and management of urban ...

, as well as a game about bi-lateral negotiation. 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). In 2010, Swain founded the games studio Talkie for story-driven social games. They created the

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

game Ecotopia to promote environmental conservation, launched in 2011.

References

External links

Video of Chris Swain speaking at MIT on the Future of Games

Interview in Forbes about independent games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swain, Chris American academics American video game designers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male writers University of Southern California faculty