Chris Bennett

The Habit Loop

Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit introduced a concept called The Habit Loop. He breaks this into three steps: Cue: the trigger for an automatic behavior to start Routine: the behavior itself Reward: what our brain gets out of it “When cue and a behavior and a reward become neurologically intertwined, what’s actually happening is a… Read more The Habit Loop

Game Design Thinking at Bradley University

Chris Bennett recently had the honor to speak to students in the Interactive Media department at Bradley University, which has one of the top Game Design schools in the country. Department Chair and event host Ethan Ham recently authored a book on ‘Tabletop Game Design For Video Game Designers, and his students were primed to see how… Read more Game Design Thinking at Bradley University

MediaX Spring Seminar Series On Games and Interactive Media

Ingmar Riedel-Kruse and MediaX have another wonderful lineup for their continuing seminar series on games and interactive media. In particular, we are really excited for the talks by Michael John, Sebastian Deterding, and Katherine Isbister. These happen every Tuesday from noon-1pm. Check out the link for more info. http://mediax.stanford.edu/forums/interactive-media-games/seminar-series If you missed the Winter 2016 talks, you… Read more MediaX Spring Seminar Series On Games and Interactive Media

IndieCade is Coming!

This October, Los Angeles will be host to the ninth iteration of IndieCade, the biggest event in the nation that showcases independent games. Chris Bennett was honored to be selected as a juror for the IndieCade awards, and we are looking forward to an exciting line up of games this year. There are many tracks, such as video, arcade,… Read more IndieCade is Coming!

What Can an Octopus Teach Us About Emotion?

Some of the most innovative thinking at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco every spring comes from alt.control.GDC, where finalists are invited to show off their games and interactive experiences that use alternative controls and interaction schemes. Chris Bennett had a chance to demo some of this work and talk to the people who… Read more What Can an Octopus Teach Us About Emotion?

Interactions Dynamics Notation in the HIVE

Have you ever been in the HIVE?  The HANA Immersive Visualization Environment is a scientific visualization wall that is 10 x 24 feet and is made up of 35 monitors that allow up to 16 users to connect at once. Quite a piece of technology for the Stanford Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME).… Read more Interactions Dynamics Notation in the HIVE

What is "Critical Play"?

Mary Flanagan studies and creates games as researcher and director of the TiltFactor game lab at Dartmouth College. Chris Bennett was fortunate to be in attendance as she spoke at the Theory and History of New Media Studies Lecture Series at University of Berkeley. Sometimes “cool pickup artists” make the huge mistake of confusing decisiveness with boorishness.… Read more What is "Critical Play"?

Center For Brain Health in Dallas

Margarita Quihuis and Chris Bennett visited the Center For Brain Health at University of Texas at Dallas. The Center is doing groundbreaking work studying not only how to repair damaged and aging brains, but also improving the healthy brain for better cognition. And speaking of groundbreaking, we could see construction work starting on the Brain Performance Institute… Read more Center For Brain Health in Dallas

Think Like A Game Designer Workshop

Chris Bennett and Margarita Quihuis worked closely with Karin Forssell, Director of Learning, Design & Technology Master’s program at GSE to create a one day workshop for her current and former students. We spent a fun and educational day learning to deconstruct tabletop games, and practicing key GDT concepts like the Core Loop and the Compulsion Analysis.… Read more Think Like A Game Designer Workshop

Of Quests and Brain Chemicals

Lauren Hall-Stigerts interviews Chris Bennett, and does a nice job of explaining to her casual gaming audience at Big Fish Games how playing games can effect the neurochemicals in our brain. Well worth a read.