FEATURED AUTHOR

Roberto Dillon

Associate Professor
James Cook University

Dr. Roberto Dillon was born in Genoa, Italy, where he graduated in computer engineering before moving to Singapore in 2005. Since then he has been active both as a researcher, professor and game designer across different institutions and companies. His games have been showcased by the international press and at events like "Sense of Wonder Night" in Tokyo and "FILE Games" in Rio de Janeiro. He is a regular speaker at both academic and professional conferences worldwide.

Biography

Roberto Dillon was born in Genoa, Italy and holds a Master and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Genoa.

Over the years he worked in prestigious academic institutions across Europe and Asia, including KTH in Stockholm, NTU and the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Singapore. While at DigiPen, he served as an Assistant Professor and Game Design Department Chair, teaching a variety of subjects like Game Mechanics and Game History, with his students gaining top honours at competitions like the IGF both in San Francisco and Shanghai.
He is now an Associate Professor at the Singapore campus of James Cook University where he teaches game design subjects to both undergraduate and graduate students.

Besides writing two books, "On the Way to Fun" and "The Golden Age of Video Games", published by AKPeters and CRC Press in 2010 and 2011 respectively, Dr. Dillon has led high profile research projects on innovative game mechanics, designing serious and experimental games that were showcased by the international press and at events like Sense of Wonder Night in Tokyo and FILE Games in Rio de Janeiro.
He is also active in consulting with the industry and has collaborated on commercial mobile and social games for studios like Oyatsukai (Tokyo) and Kentaura (Singapore), with duties ranging from QA to Chief Game Designer.

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Formal models for game analysis and design, experimental game mechanics, serious games (training, education, rehabilitation), videogame history, analysis of emotional content in interactive digital media.