Learning from Game Design + Incorporating it into VR/Immersive Storytelling

Robert Yang makes surprisingly popular games about gay culture and intimacy -- he is known for his historical bathroom sex simulator The Tearoom and his male shower simulator Rinse and Repeat, while his gay sex triptych Radiator 2 has over 150,000 users on Steam.

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He is currently an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU Game Center, where he is the "the VR guy", and he has given talks at GDC, IndieCade, Queerness and Games Conference, and Games for Change. He holds a BA in English Literature from UC Berkeley, and an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School for Design. His site is at www.debacle.us (http://www.debacle.us/).

Robert will present two of his recent games (Rinse and Repeat, and the Tearoom) and share how his practice relates to VR / immersive storytelling -- code and 3D, like any other form of media, has a political valence that creators mustn't ignore, and his games are interventions in this sense.

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He will incorporate a short introduction to thinking about games as communities and virtual spaces. Learning about game design can help you create better immersive experiences or apps in general. After all, video games have been thinking about the aesthetics of digital interaction for decades, they might have something to offer you! Robert argues that playful design is a useful framework for any designer or practitioner working in any field.