I publish academic research papers across the fields of computer graphics and UGC, computer games, visual culture and art history. Here is a selection of my publications:
Realism in the Age of the Simulated Image: Two Black Holes
Leonardo (2022, Volume 55, Issue 5).
This paper examines the production and reception of two scientific images of black holes, the 2019 image of the M87 black hole and Gargantua from Christopher Nolan’s 2014 film Interstellar. The author argues that these two images of unobservable phenomena crystallize a definition of contemporary realism. In an information-rich society a simulated image achieves realism by compressing large amounts of data into an intelligible image using an algorithmic methodology that the viewer trusts as scientifically reliable and therefore realistic.
Encoding the Symptom or the Cause? Values in the Design of Computer Games that Represent School Mass-Shootings.
Proceedings of The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, 2018.
This paper explores psychological literature surrounding school mass shootings relative to two computer games that represent the same phenomena. The first is a Counter-Strike mod made by a young player, the second is a shooting simulation game produced by a government agency. Throughout this comparison, the paper explores the representations of computer games relative to other social factors that have a closer statistical relationship between these acts of mass violence.
Reconstructing a Historical Site Within a Computer Game.
Catalog Essay for Serious Games, HowArt Museum Shanghai, 2019.
Proceedings of The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, 2018.
This essay examines the practice of 3D site reconstruction in virtual archeology using the case study of a Counter-Strike mod I co-authored. It argues that digital site reconstruction is shaped by the software that it uses, and it highlights certain limitations we encountered when using the Valve Source Engine to reconstruct a historical site in Hong Kong.
Starcraft II and Chinese Scroll Painting: Narrative Ideas for RTS Computer Games
International Symposium on Electronic Art, 2016.
This essay builds on previous scholarship examining the historical connection between oblique projection in Chinese scroll painting and the use of isometrics in sprite-based Real-Time Strategy games. Where modern RTS games have struggled to merge narrative storytelling with the isometric format, this essay suggests that the spatial storytelling of scrolls might hold some answers.
A Game Made From Other Games: Actions and Entities in Garry's Mod
Proceedings of The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, 2017.
This paper examines user-generated content in sandbox computer games. Sandbox games are those where the typical features such as goals and win/lose conditions have been removed and players are given an expanded ability to reconfigure the game environment. Using 'Garry's Mod' as a case study, I examine computer game sandboxes as a highly innovative example of the Situationist practice of derive as well a software that can be repurposed for completely new uses such as encrypted stenographic communication.
Colliders with Context: Trees in First Person Shooter Computer Games
Proceedings of The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, 2016.
This paper compares the function of trees as obstacles and collision objects in computer games with their aesthetic qualities and visual reference material. It is an essay on the inseparable relationship between computer game functionality and representation.