News

Do you have experience with spray paint? Do you like to play/study/create games or games-related material? The Games Institute is looking for a volunteer to spruce up our new space in East Campus 1 with some graffiti art. Interested parties should contact GI’s Graphic Artist Becky Anderson for more details. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Brian Cullen’s You Are Not a Banana game is now available to buy on Desura ($2.99 USD). The game has a average rating of 7.4/10 and has drawn a lot of positive feedback.

On December 2nd, Drs. Brianna Wiens (English Language and Literature) and Daniel Harley (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) presented their work and research in areas of feminist and responsible design.

Canadian Cap and Trade Simulation (CCTS) is a serious game/simulation designed to teach undergraduate Chemical Engineering and Environmental Studies students about carbon tax and trade systems in Canada created by PhD candidate Alex Fleck and Dr. Jason Grove.

Dr. Kevin Harrigan is a founding member of the Games Institute, the director of the Knowledge Translation Stream at UWaterloo, and contact person for the Gambling Research Lab. Dr. Harrigan's present research focuses on promoting healthier gambling by developing methods to make gamblers aware of their statistical odds.

This week  on FPS, we have a commentary from Matthew Schwager that approaches Silent Hill 2 as a game about mapping and uses that lens to explore its themes of trauma and the influence butoh, the Japanese dance of shadows, had on the game's design.

This week in First Person Scholar, Andrew Bailey contributes an essay examining hauntological remediation in Resident Evil 7 and P.T. 

This week in First Person Scholar, Dylan Armitage from the University of Calgary contributes an essay on the use of sound in Dark Souls and how it affects the player experience.

“When Dark Souls does use music, it uses it to say something about the space which it occupies as well as the characters and expected actions within those spaces.”  

Read the full essay here.

Nineteen researchers at the University of Waterloo will receive a total of $1.4 million for infrastructure to support research. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funds will provide researchers with the research infrastructure necessary to lead in their field.  

Among those awarded, Games Institute faculty members will receive a total of $165,000.