iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Gillian Smith

Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Does anyone have favorite references on the interdisciplinarity penalty (people doing interdisciplinary work are underrewarded in their appointing departments, run centers and degrees without resources or dedicated hires, go to double committee meetings, etc.)?

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Today marked my first day as a full professor. This professor-ing thing has been a wild ride and it's been pretty great, thanks to all the people I get to work with! I celebrated by not working, and instead hiking through a coastal forest to a beach in Olympic National Park. Can strongly recommend.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Hmm, unfortunately probably not. It was an internal study to inform AI literacy initiatives. Probably should write all that up someday though — we’ve been doing a whole lot!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

One of the findings of a mini-study we did in 2022-23 with faculty was that basically all of them felt AI could not be used effectively by students in their classes, but they had sympathy for colleagues in *insert other field here* because AI could work there. Total interdisciplinary expertise gap.

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Golan Levin @golan.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I'm delighted to announce the forensic recovery of the original single-stroke font data from Vib-Ribbon (1999) — exhumed from Playstation ROMs — and now part of my archive of procedural skeleton fonts for #p5js: github.com/golanlevin/p... #mediaArchaeology #typography #plotterArt #creativeCoding

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Reposted by Gillian Smith

mel, binface’s knight 🏳️‍⚧️🔰♨️ @astruckpersonn.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

evangelicals have finally created. the golden calf. from the classic bible story “don’t create a golden calf”

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

So an entirely after-hours (for US east coast) downtime for a single piece of software felt like an existential threat. This seems kind of unhealthy, no?

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Yeah, same here. And I saw one of our recent alumni at our showcase event tonight. He told me he got his extremely stable job doing QA (not in games) because of all the playtesting experience he got in our major. Games is an awesome major for so, so many things!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Yep, this has been an explicit strategy we've been using for a few years now, too. The students also seem excited to learn that they have options! The world is a strange and beautiful place, and they seem to really enjoy learning about career paths that are not Games With A Capital G.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Advice from my Serious and Applied Games class this term. I asked them to make a manifesto based on what they've learned and done, and then to adapt it for different audiences. Then, we rewrote it to be a call to action for ourselves. (First one is mine, the rest is from the students.)

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Reposted by Gillian Smith

Internet Archive @archive.org · 26/04/2026

75% of 1980s video games tracked by the LGBTQ Video Game Archive are preserved & accessible in some form. 25% are still at risk or unavailable. Preservation isn’t automatic. 📚 Read VANISHING CULTURE 📖 Download: archive.org/details/vani... 🛒 Purchase: www.betterworldbooks.com/product/deta...

Pixel-art style infographic showing a white pie chart in drag on a gray background. Large text reads “75%.” Smaller text states that 75% of video games from the 1980s tracked by the LGBTQ Video Game Archive are preserved and accessible in some form through the Internet Archive. Caption reads “Vanishing Culture.”

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Reposted by Gillian Smith

Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美 @halfrobot.com · 25/04/2026

[ slaps top of game theory game] All right then, if you’re not satisfied let’s fit some stakes into this busted jalopy

Google Form reading:

Final Grade - Which Option?
In this class you will either receive an A or a C for your grade.
Please indicate your preference for how your final grade will be calculated by selecting one of the options below.

If most students who express a preference choose “BLUE,” every student in the class will receive an A.
Otherwise, students who choose “BLUE” will receive a C and only students who choose “RED’ will receive an A.

Note: failing to submit this form by the deadline will result in a C grade.

Please choose.
_ BLUE
_ RED

SUBMIT

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Reposted by Gillian Smith

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Faculty in CA in the 1990s successfully protested mandatory online components of their classes largely on the grounds of IP and labor intensification. We don’t have to accept this. We can start with abandoning the LMS.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Definitely, yes! This is the first graduating class that never would have met Dean. :( But I think his legacy has stayed with IMGD nonetheless.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

AND that's a wrap!! If you are local to the Worcester area, you can come see all these projects AND MORE at ShowFest. May 1st, 5:30-8:30pm, on the second floor of the Innovation Studio on the WPI campus. wp.wpi.edu/showfest/

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

“Stay whimsical and magical!”

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

And, last but certainly not least, Myndspell! This is a turn-based RPG with dialog and mini-games and characters that change based on player emotional model that updates with choices. Their paper takes inspiration from old game handbooks and manuals, AND they made merch as a form of data collection!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

9 to 5 is a social commentary game about corporate greed and unethical behaviors that lead to the creation of a billionaire class.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a digital multiplayer board game with mobile phone control! Releasing soon on Steam.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Last session, and it’s all large interdisciplinary production projects! First up is “Disillusion”, a narrative puzzle game dealing with themes of grief and guilt. The player repairs a space ship that they crashed, causing the death of the crew. The player is asked: whose legacy should be passed on?

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Trey Bowen also did his MQP in Japan, and joined an existing research project on creating a “sleep tamagotchi”: a serious game to encourage healthy sleep habits. He refactored the game, set up sustainable dev pipelines, and the co-facilitated a workshop to understand user experience with it.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Our next project was sponsored by NVIDIA, in which students explored the impact of different latency mitigation techniques in human-AI gameplay.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Our next team did a deep dive into interface techniques used in tactics and autonomous control games, and extrapolated how to apply design lessons to real-world autonomous systems.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Now entering session three, which focuses on technical research in games. Up first, we have a team who compared methods for improving quality of experience in streamed games. They made a little demo fishing game and experimented with different buffering and latency conditions.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Crow Zubrick’s project focus is on ritual, witchcraft, antifascism, and transformative play to enact better futures. ❤️ Compassion Cards bring play into life to make the world a better place, one tiny step at a time.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I think it was successful this year! Not for every team and project, but there's a lot to be said for not needing to context switch, and getting that simulated professional studio experience. We did have a preproduction term (B term) where they did 1/2 a class worth of work to prepare, though.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Sofia Napierata has a very different kind of MQP this year: her project was to be a simulated “independent contractor” for audio across multiple other MQPs. Really great to hear her reflect on getting this kind of professional experience!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Shin’Ai rewritten is a cozy gardening game, made in our Japan MQP center. Much of their presentation focuses on the iterations they made across the project.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

DigiDiva is an absurdist, comedic, girlypop game that makes social commentary on gender roles. “We wanted to make a game for women that is not a feminist game.”

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

This team also did an immense amount of audio work! You can check out their soundtrack here.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

We’re temporarily back with SPI-Glass, which was also an MQP in the studio this year! The team is reflecting on their experience iterating on an existing design and moving into full production on the first version of the game.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Unstrung is an alternate controller game where you create shadow puppets that form level geometry in an auto-runner platformer. Nice reflection on the technical challenges and design challenges in creating an alt.ctrl.MQP!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

First up is Leaves of Fate, a zany puzzle platformer. This team had a tight focus on managing an iterative design process on a short timeline. They targeted a middle school (and older) audience with a core message about positive self worth. They are sharing some great advice for future projects.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Our first group of four presentations is from IMGD's new Single Term MQP studio. Four teams, with five students per team, spent 8 weeks working full time on their projects. This was an incredible experience for the students and for the advisors, and we are super excited about the future of this.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

It’s undergraduate time!! All of our graduating students who completed their Major Qualifying Projects this year will present this afternoon!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Closing out graduate project presentations is Mohit Patel and Ryan Stebe, who created an Endless Runner toolkit for supporting procedurally generated levels. It is currently in the review stage for publishing on the Unity Asset Store!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

The Pixel Scriptorium is a new learning lab, directed by Prof. Karen Stewart, in which students work together on a long-form dark academia visual novel. This year’s team is exploring how to launch an academic game studio that supports student learning, while also building a creative foundation.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Mind Walker (Xingyi Liu, Chaoyi Wang, Haoming Xhang) is an RPG that balances dialogue, real-time combat, and logic puzzles with fire-fighting as a core mechanic.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Thomas Jolicoeur is sharing his narrative work on SPI-Glass, but moreso is sharing the challenges of the creative process. Extremely open and relatable to all creators who go through the “this is crap, I am crap” experience and made it to the other side with work they can be proud of!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Thomas Branchaud was the tech lead for SPI-Glass this year and has been working to build the baseline tech to support future years of work: defining a tech stack, and creating modular UI and dialogue systems. Designing from day one for future use, rather than messy prototyping (which he inherited).

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

First up, Minyun Pan is presenting about creating seamless interaction design mechanisms for AR ghost hunting. How do you make the phone feel like the actual tool you are using as a player? Also some very cool ritual mechanics in the game!

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

The previous three presentations were part of the AI Futures Lab, co-directed by myself and Prof. Yunus Telliel. Now we enter presentations from the SPI-Glass lab, directed by Prof. Ben Schneider. SPI-Glass lab is creating an AR ghost hunting game.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Hunter Simone made two games to explore notions of unpredictability and mechanisms to preserve agency in systems design. Hazy Bones is a War-like card game with deck building. Broken Motion is a roguelike/deck-building FPS.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

A comment from the audience notes that this is a game that makes us question why we even do anything at all. And, really, this feels like the core of critical AI literacy to me in so many ways. Lovely to see how making, playing, and understanding his game can prompt these kinds of questions.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Bashar Alqassar shares his new game, “Bots That Explode (Most of the Time)”, a critique of using AI to bypass the core experience of being intrinsically motivated to work.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

First up, Abraham Goodman shares his game poem about how AI erodes critical thinking skills.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

It's IMGD Presentation Day! We have a full-day student conference of creative and technical research. Graduate students present in the morning, undergraduates in the afternoon. If you're interested you can tune online, and I'll be sharing project work here too. echo360.org/section/b7d6...

echo360.org

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

My 10yo got a letter from the library notifying him of an overdue book fine. He is convinced that because our library uses a computer for checkout and the letter is not hand-written, it must be AI-generated. Which means it can’t possibly be real. Parenting through this moment is just really weird.

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Reposted by Gillian Smith

Mike Cook @mtrc.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

I've written a book! Next Level: Making Games That Make Themselves is the story of procedural generation - the tech behind games like Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress. It's about how it works, the games that use it, and the art and magic behind it. Out May 7th, in bookshops: linktr.ee/next_level 🎲🔮

A picture of a hardback book on a washed blue background. The title is Next Level: Making Games That Make Themselves, by Mike Cook.

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Gillian Smith @codingcrafter.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Sad to not be able to see you this year!

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