A/P Christopher Thomas Ryan teaches at the University of British Columbia in the Sauder School of Business. His research interests include optimization (broadly defined), theoretical economics, operations management, organizational learning, pedagogy, and business history.
| Name of Speaker | A/P Christopher Thomas Ryan |
| Schedule | Friday 27 August 2021, 10am |
| Link to Register | https://nus-sg.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUtduutqT0uH92GC20RTeo9_WTQvoDW4DCg |
| Title | Designing video games: A research overview |
| Abstract | Video games are the fastest-growing and largest sector of the entertainment industry. Video games have also been at the heart of technological innovations for decades. However, there is, I believe, a largely untapped opportunity for operations research methods to study questions of game design. In the words of Paul Tozour, a well-known game designer, in 2013:
“If used properly, decision modeling can significantly enhance many aspects of the design process … we should be able to search through a much larger number of possible solutions than we could do by hand or with our imaginations … we can often get better results, get results faster, and in some cases, we can even solve problems that simply can’t be solved any other way.” In this talk I will review some of the literature on using operations research tools to study video game design. I will also talk about four of my recent papers looking at four important problems in video game design: level design, world design, designing for diversity of play, and designing “boosters” in puzzle games. I will also present a framework for future research in video games and an invitation for more researchers to join us. I will present work based on projects with the following co-authors: Oussama Hanguir (Columbia), Yifu Li (Xian Jiao Tong Liverpool), Will Ma (Columbia), Lifei Sheng (University of Houston Clear Lake), Benny Wong (UBC), and Xuying Zhao (Notre Dame). |
