Jeff Watson (designer)
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies. (January 2018) |
Jeff Watson | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 26, 1973 Game Design |
| Notable work | The Thing From The Future (2014) Reality Ends Here (2011–2017?) |
| Awards | Association of Professional Futurists Most Significant Futures Work Award (2015) IndieCade Impact Award (2012) |
| Website | www |
Jeff Watson (March 26, 1973 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian game designer, writer, and educator. His principal topics of interest were pervasive and environmental game design, creative process design, and participatory media. He served as an assistant professor of interactive media and games at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, was an associate faculty member with the USC Game Innovation Lab, and directed (with Stuart Candy) the Situation Lab.
Biography
Watson was born in Calgary, Alberta. He attended McGill University in Montreal, York University and the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he received his PhD (2011) in media arts and practice. His dissertation project, Reality Ends Here, won the 2012 Impact Award at the IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games. From 2013 to 2014, Watson was an assistant professor in the Digital Futures program at OCAD University in Toronto, where he founded the Situation Lab with futurist Stuart Candy. In 2014, the Situation Lab released its highly influential first game, The Thing From The Future.[1][2][3]
Watson died in November 2020 following a battle with cancer.[4] It is unknown whether Reality Ends Here is still active.
Awards
- Most Significant Futures Work Award (2015) for The Thing From The Future, Association of Professional Futurists[5]
- Impact Award (2012) for Reality Ends Here, IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games[6]
References
- ^ "The Thing From The Future@Teach The Future" (PDF). January 2017. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
- ^ "Gaming futures literacy: The thing from the future, in Transforming The Future: Anticipation in the 21st Century, NY: Routledge" (PDF). 2018. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
- S2CID 149552024. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
- ^ "OCAD U mourns the passing of Jeff Watson | OCAD University". www.ocadu.ca. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
- ^ "Association of Professional Futurists 2015 MSFW Awards". July 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-08-10. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
- ^ "IndieCade 2012 Award Winners". October 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-16. Retrieved 2015-08-23.
External links
- remotedevice.net – Design portfolio and research blog
- situationlab.org – Research lab
- gameinnovationlab.com – Affiliated research lab
- cinema.usc.edu – USC Cinematic Arts faculty profile page