Playthink

Playthink

Playthink is a USC-based salon about games, play, art and interactivity. These discussion are recorded live at the USC Game Innovation Lab, which is part of the USC Games Program at the University of Southern California. For more information follow us on Instagram @uscgameinnovationlab or visit our website at www.gameinnovationlab.com/playthink.

Episodes

Cheryl Platz at Playthink: 3/4/26

March 4, 2026 • 52 mins
Game developer, designer, and author Cheryl Platz joins us for this episode of Playthink, to discuss about her book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive. Interviewed by MFA candidate Bernice Wang, Platz gives us insights into her deep experience in user-research supported design for ground-breaking games and beyond. Her latest book has been hailed by game design luminaries Will Wright as “an ...
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Richard Lemarchand at Playthink: 11/17/25

November 17, 2025 • 68 mins
USC Games Professor Richard Lemarchand joins us for this episode of Playthink, to talk about his book A Playful Production Process - For Game Designers (And Everyone). Interviewed by Game Innovation Lab Director Tracy Fullerton, Lemarchand discusses the core aspects of concentric development, digging into the importance of prototyping, macro charts, and truly collaborative design teams. This book, which is the core text for the USC...
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Celia Pearce at Playthink: 11/3/25

November 3, 2025 • 69 mins
This episode of Playthink welcomes game designer, scholar, and professor Celia Pearce as we discuss the rich areas of play theory explored in her new book, Playframes: How do we know we are playing? Interviewed by MS candidate Reef (Harith Liew), Pearce leads us through a fascinating set of questions around the metacommunication of play. WIth topics ranging from theme parks, to sports, to cosplay and video games, Pearce creates di...
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Chris Totten at Playthink: 10/15/25

October 15, 2025 • 67 mins
On this episode of Playthink, we welcome game designer and author Chris Totten as we explore his book, An Architectural Approach to Level Design. Interviewed by level designer and MFA candidate Zhutian Zhang, Totten discusses ways in which his approach brings in methods of planning and thinking about levels as playful architectural spaces that bring together the artistic, the cultural, and the technological.
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Tracy Fullerton at Playthink: 4/16/25

April 16, 2025 • 62 mins
On this episode of Playthink, we welcome game designer and scholar Tracy Fullerton as we explore her book, The Well-Read Game: On Playing Thoughtfully — co-authored with Dr. Matthew Farber. Game designer and USC Games alumnus Maynard Hearns hosts this conversation about the themes of the book, which invite us to examine the ephemeral, emotional, and deeply personal experiences of play, the stories that we tell ourselves while playi...
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TreaAndrea Russworm at Playthink: 3/26/25

March 26, 2025 • 62 mins
On this episode of Playthink, Professor TreaAndrea Russorm, Director of the Radical Play Game Design Lab, and Post Doctoral Scholar M. Coopilton discuss how games shape civic engagement, power structures, and democracy. We dive into the ways that interactive media can challenge or reinforce social hierarchies and inspire new forms of Play.
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Sam Roberts at Playthink: 2/19/25

February 19, 2025 • 48 mins
On this episode of Playthink, Game Designer Sam Roberts and Eric Park discuss Robert's essay on class systems in Final Fantasy Tactics and other RPG's. The conversation ranges far and wide from the narrative potentials for system designs around class to the ways that playing with class in games can offer real world opportunities for change.
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Christal Rose Hazelton at Playthink: 11/12/24

November 12, 2024 • 58 mins
On this episode of Playthink, Narrative Designer Christal Rose Hazelton and Bryan Sng Yong about Hazelton's work on Apex Legends, crafting authentic characters from diverse backgrounds, and using feedback to refine portrayals of characters. She has some great advice for young creatives on finding their voice in the industry — especially those from underrepresented backgrounds.
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Eric Zimmerman at Playthink: 9/15/20

September 15, 2020 • 69 mins
On this episode of Playthink, Eric Zimmerman and Tracy Fullerton discuss the recently released “The Infinite Playground,” the final book by visionary game designer Bernie De Koven, written with Holly Gramazio and edited by Celia Pearce and Eric Zimmerman.
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Bonnie Ruberg at Playthink: 9/10/19

September 10, 2019 • 55 mins
Bonnie Ruberg's work explores gender and sexuality in digital media and digital cultures with a focus on queerness and video games. On this episode of Playthink, Ruberg discusses their book "Video Games Have Always Been Queer" with Jeff Watson.
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Liz Ryerson at Playthink: 4/23/19

April 23, 2019 • 66 mins
Liz Ryerson is a composer, critic and occasional game designer and podcaster. On this episode of Playthink, Liz and USC Games professor Jane Pinckard discuss her work across games, journalism and the future of game workers. NOTE: There were audio issues with recording this session, but we've done our best to make the audio work!
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Paul Slocum at Playthink: 3/26/19

March 26, 2019 • 61 mins
Paul Slocum is an artist, software developer, curator, and musician based in Pasadena, California. He is director of a new media art gallery called And/Or Gallery that exhibits digital art and develops software for digital art displays and music. On this episode of Playthink, Slocum and Tracy Fullerton talk about art games, curating digital art and art in the age of play.
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Magalis Videaux-Martinez at Playthink: 2/26/19

February 26, 2019 • 54 mins
Videaux-Martinez's work lives at the intersection of experience design, immersive storytelling and experiential learning. Here, she discusses her newest project the Imagination Lab, a learning and play-space at Hawkins High School's Critical Design and Gaming School here in South Central Los Angeles with Professor Jeff Watson of USC.
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Capital W at Playthink: 11/20/18

November 20, 2018 • 68 mins
Capital W is an immersive theater group run by Lauren Ludwig and Monica Miklas and well known for its award-winning project Hamlet-Mobile, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet staged in a cargo van. Capital W joined professor Jane Pinckard at Playthink for a wonderful conversation about immersive theater and participatory play.
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Brian Upton at Playthink: 10/16/18

October 16, 2018 • 76 mins
Brian Upton is an internationally-known game designer and game theorist with over 20 years of professional experience in the game industry.  For 14 years he worked as a senior game designer at Sony’s Santa Monica Studio where he collaborated with external teams on titles such as Fat Princess,Warhawk, Sorcery, Everybody Has Gone to the Rapture, Bound andHere They Lie.  Prior to joining Sony, he was the creative director at Red Storm...
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Adam Badawy at Playthink: 9/18/18

September 18, 2018 • 57 mins
Adam Badawy is a computational social scientist and a PhD candidate in the Political Science Department and Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California (USC). Working at the Machine Intelligence and Data Science Lab, Adam uses machine learning, network analysis, and natural language processing to study and measure malicious activities and political behavior on online social networks. His latest res...
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