Eric Zimmerman (born 1969) is an American

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

and the co-founder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Gamelab Gamelab was an independent game studio in New York City, New York founded by game designer Eric Zimmerman and Peter Seung-Taek Lee in 2000. It is best known for creating Diner Dash, one of the most downloaded games of all time (over half a bill ...

, a

computer game development Video game development (or gamedev) is the process of developing a video game. The effort is undertaken by a developer, ranging from a single person to an international team dispersed across the globe. Development of traditional commercial PC ...

company based in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. GameLab is known for the game '' Diner Dash''. Each year Zimmerman hosts the Game Design Challenge at the

Game Developers Conference The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...

. He is also the co-author of four books including '' Rules of Play'' with

Katie Salen Katie Salen Tekinbas is an American game designer, animator, and educator. She is a professor at the University of California, Irvine. Previously, she taught at DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media, Parsons The New School for ...

, which was published in November 2004. Eric Zimmerman has written at least 24 essays and whitepapers since 1996, mostly pertaining to game development from an academic standpoint. He's currently a founding faculty at the NYU Game Center.

Career

Zimmerman develops video games and teaches game design. He has taught at universities including

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

, the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, Parsons School of Design,

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

and

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

. He co-designed the 1996 video game '' Gearheads'' with

Frank Lantz Frank Lantz (born December 17, 1963) is the Director of the New York University Game Center. For over 12 years, Lantz taught game design at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. He has also taught at the School of Visual Arts and Parsons S ...

at R/GA Interactive. During the game's development, they coined the term "engine" to refer to combinations of toys. Beginning in 2010, he serves as an Arts Professor at the NYU Game Center, within the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

. In 2009, game development company Arkadium acquired Gamelab. Zimmerman continued as workshop director for the company. Since 2009, Zimmerman has created a series of large-scale, performative games for art galleries and public space, in collaboration with architect Nathalie Pozzi. These games include ''Sixteen Tons'', ''Cross My Heart + Hope to Die'', ''Starry Heavens'', which was shown at the

New York Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of th ...

, ''Interference''. and Waiting Rooms, at the Rubin Museum of Art Zimmerman is a director of the RE:PLAY series of events and activities on gaming that included an exhibition, conference and accompanying book. The first online game he helped create was a collaboration with Word.com called '' SiSSYFiGHT 2000''. Zimmerman is also a co-writer of a screenplay for a short film ''Play'' (2009). Zimmerman was an Honorary Fellow at Eyebeam from 1997–1999.

Awards

IndieCade IndieCade is an international juried festival of independent games. IndieCade is known as "the video game industry's Sundance."Fritz, Ben"IndieCade, the video game industry's Sundance" Los Angeles Times, October 1, 2009, accessed July 21, 2011. ...

2010 award – Finalists Choice award for ''Sixteen Tons'' * IndieCade 2012 – Game Design award for ''Armada d6'' and Interaction award for ''Interference''

References

External links

Official website

Gamelab site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zimmerman, Eric 1969 births Living people American video game designers American entertainment industry businesspeople Place of birth missing (living people) Video game researchers American male writers Pervasive games