Looking for some stimulating reading material to help get you through the rest of the winter? It might be time to expand your book collection, and we’ve got a few recommendations, all written by people you might recognize.
DigiPen faculty have more than just game and film credits under their belts — many of them are also accomplished authors. Four such talented faculty stepped into the world of publishing within the past year and a half, each with a new book that touches closely on their respective area of teaching. Spanning a collection of poems, a cookbook, a graphic memoir, and an educational textbook, this collection of books offers a little something for everyone.
What is Game Design?
So many aspects of our lives are intentionally planned. Whether organizing your grocery shopping list for an easier trip or mapping out the most efficient route of transportation to get to school, design plays an integral role in our lives. But what about game design? What’s needed to create a functioning and engaging player experience?
In his new educational text, award-winning tabletop game designer Jeremy Holcomb draws from his expertise as a professor and program director of DigiPen’s BA in Game Design degree program to explore the various tools used to create powerful experiences for players. Design activities and discussion topics fill out the various chapters and offer a taste of what it’s like to sit in on one of Holcomb’s introductory courses at DigiPen. Grab the book to follow along in class or read through this text independently to sharpen your understanding of game design.
Fulgurite
It happens in a split second. Lightning strikes the earth, and the material surrounding the impact site reacts to the extreme heat by fusing into a coarse form of glass — sand or rock transformed in an instant. This is fulgurite.
Catherine Broadwall, an award-winning poet and assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at DigiPen, is back with another collection of poems, this time exploring themes and metaphors that blur the line separating myth from reality. Broadwall, who published Fulgurite under her former surname Kyle, touches on topics of gender, ghosts, fairy tales, dissociation, and transformation, all while examining these themes through the lens of everyday experiences.
The HOTLOGIC® Mini Cookbook: Recipes for Everyone
It’s not often a game designer limits their craft solely to the world of video games. Innovative minds frequently take everyday tasks and maximize their potential in ways that emphasize effectiveness and efficiency.
What happens when you give a game designer, specifically the author of Code Samples: The New Professional Programmer’s Guide, a device intended to simply reheat food? For Ellen Guon Beeman, associate professor in the Department of Game Development and Production, getting ahold of her portable mini oven quickly turned into the ability to use a slow cooker on the go. With a passion for invention and a love of service to friends and family, Beeman turned her various slow cooker recipes into a comprehensive cookbook that pushes the boundaries of what a food reheater can provide. Discover plenty of tasty, healthy, and practical foods to cook when on the move.
regular
by Doug Parry
Living in the moment is a key aspect of many an artist’s mindset and background. What you observe, the things you feel, and the details of your surrounding all inform the art you produce.
Doug Parry, associate professor in the Department of Fine Arts, certainly came to understand this when he served at a New York bar, the historic Cedar Tavern, in the early aughts. His experiences interacting with diverse patrons could fill a book, and so they do in this graphic memoir. As the bartender who has seen it all, Parry dedicates each entry in his book to the colorful cast of real customers that brought the tavern to life. Each hand-drawn portrait and accompanying text offers a small but vibrant glimpse into the lives of over 30 unforgettable guests.
All four books are available for purchase online. Students can borrow these books from the DigiPen Library.