Tier 1 National/International

Documentation: My book titled Introduction to 3D Game Art has not yet been published, but I have signed a contract with Bloomsbury Academic Press for them to publish it. The book has been my main scholarship focus for 2024 and 2025. I have finished the first draft of the manuscript, and have made extensive progress on the second draft. I chose to include it in this section because it has already been disseminated to reviewers, and has received multiple rounds of formal peer review feedback.

The book provides an introduction to the 3D game art production process using Maya, Substance Painter and the Unreal Engine. It includes extensive tutorials that show how to create a robot arm game asset from start to finish.

Peer Review: My book proposal and sample chapter packet were extensively reviewed anonymously by reviewers chosen by Bloomsbury. Each review was several pages long. The first draft of the book proposal and sample chapter packet was reviewed by one person; I made changes based on that review, then the book proposal and sample chapter were sent out for an additional round of review, this time by three anonymous reviewers. After I reworked my documents based on that round of review, a committee of internal Bloomsbury editors reviewed my documents and then decided to move forward with publishing, and we signed a contract. After I finished the first draft of the manuscript, Bloomsbury sent the manuscript out for review, I am currently awaiting the feedback from that round of review. Throughout my writing process I have also had extensive informal review from faculty colleagues and students.

Dissemination: The book proposal, sample chapter, and full first draft manuscript have all been disseminated to Bloomsbury external peer reviewers, as well as a committee of internal editors.

Introduction to 3D Game Art

2025

Documentation: I did a presentation titled, Strategies for Providing Students with Creative Industry Experience Beyond Traditional Internships. Jenn Hinton helped me write the presentation. The a2ru conference location changes every year, this year it happened to be in Rochester.

Peer Review: My presentation proposal was double-blind peer reviewed by the conference selection committee.

Dissemination: I presented at the a2ru National Conference in Rochester NY, on 11/16/2024.

a2ru 2024 National Conference Presentation

2024

Documentation: We created the video game, That Damn Goat.

Peer Review: That Damn Goat went through an extensive review by Nintendo as part of the publication process for the Nintendo Switch platform. It was also reviewed by Valve before publication on the Steam platform.

That Damn Goat also won Indie Game of the Year at the inaugural Rochester Game Awards at The Strong National Museum of Play.

The game was also written about in the Rochester and RIT news; links to news articles are below:

• RIT’s ‘That Damn Goat’ comes to Nintendo Switch, Rochester First, 5/17/2024, https://www.rochesterfirst.com/video-games/rits-that-damn-goat-comes-to-nintendo-switch/

• Inside the making of 'That Damn Goat,' RIT's latest video game, RIT News, 2/15/2024, https://www.rit.edu/news/inside-making-damn-goat-rits-latest-video-game

• RIT releases 'That Damn Goat' video game for PC, Rochester First, 12/27/2023, https://www.rochesterfirst.com/video/rit-releases-that-damn-goat-video-game-for-pc/9283374/

• That Damn Goat’ now available for purchase on Steam, RIT News, 12/15/2023, https://www.rit.edu/news/damn-goat-now-available-purchase-steam?utm_campaign=&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&utm_content=37c71eb26cbf461c99638971c95796dc-165762

Dissemination: That Damn Goat was disseminated internationally, nationally, regionally, and locally at many conferences, festivals, exhibitions and showcase. The full list of disseminations is listed by tier and date on this page below.

That Damn Goat was published Internationally on the Valve Steam marketplace on 12/15/2023, and on the Nintendo Switch on 5/15/2024.

That Damn Goat

2024

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat on the expo floor at PAX East. GDC and PAX happened at the same time. I attended GDC, and so was not able to attend PAX. However, we split our Goat team, and some of us showcased our game at PAX on the expo floor.

Peer Review: This was not a juried event, but it did provide tremendous exposure for That Damn Goat. Many thousands of people attended the conference, and hundreds saw our game.

Dissemination: PAX East is an absolutely massive national gaming conference, which draws an annual crowd of over 100,000 people. We had hundreds of attendees come to our booth and play our game there. Pax Easts ran from 3/21/2024 - 3/24/2024.

Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)

2024

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Game Developers Conference (GDC).

Peer Review: This was not a juried event, but it did provide tremendous exposure for That Damn Goat. Thousands of people attended the conference, and hundreds saw our game.

Dissemination: We disseminated That Damn Goat at GDC, the largest international conference for game developers in the world. GDC this year drew nearly 30,000 attendees, and ran from 3/18/2024 – 3/22/2024.

The Game Developers Conference (GDC)

2024

At the time I wrote this paper, I had been teaching introductory level design courses for several years. I decided to write about my pedagogical approach - what worked, what didn't, and what I learned along the way.

Documentation: I wrote a paper titled, The Pedagogy of an Introductory Level Design Course.

Peer Review: My paper was peer reviewed by the conference selection committee.

Dissemination: The paper was published in the proceedings of INTED2024 (18th annual International Technology, Education and Development Conference). According to the conference website, “INTED has been an annual event and become a well-known conference for academics and teaching professionals from around the world to meet and enhance their knowledge about developments in education. Participants from over 78 countries joined INTED2024”. The paper abstract can be read here - https://library.iated.org/view/OBRIEN2024PED This international conference took place in Valencia Spain, from 3/4/2024 to 3/6/2024.

INTED 2024 Conference Paper

2024

At the time I wrote this paper, I had been teaching introductory Maya courses for ten years. I decided to write about my pedagogical approach - what worked, what didn't, and what I learned along the way.

Documentation: I wrote a paper titled, The Pedagogy of an Introductory University-Level Maya Course.

Peer Review: My paper was peer reviewed by the conference selection committee.

Dissemination: The paper was published in the proceedings of EDULEARN23, the 15th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies. . According to the conference website, “Every year, EDULEARN brings together more than 800 delegates from 80 different countries”. The paper abstract can be read here - https://library.iated.org/view/OBRIEN2023PED This international conference took place in Palma de Mallorca Spain, from 7/3/2023 to 7/5/2023.

EDULEARN 2023 Conference Paper

2023

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat on the expo floor at PAX East.

Peer Review: This was not a juried event, but it did provide tremendous exposure for That Damn Goat. Many thousands of people attended the conference, and hundreds saw our game.

Dissemination: PAX East is an absolutely massive national gaming conference, which draws an annual crowd of over 100,000 people. We had hundreds of attendees come to our booth and play our game there. The conference took place in Boston MA, from 3/23/2023 to 3/26/2023.

Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)

2023

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). Because GDC and PAX happened at the same time, I was not able to attend GDC. However, we split our Goat team, and some of us showcased our game at GDC on the expo floor.

Peer Review: This was not a juried event, but it did provide tremendous exposure for That Damn Goat. Thousands of people attended the conference, and hundreds saw our game.

Dissemination: We disseminated That Damn Goat at GDC, the largest international conference for game developers in the world. GDC this year drew over 24,000 attendees, and ran from 3/20/2023 – 3/24/2023 .

The Game Developers Conference (GDC)

2023

I ran a project where we created a RIT themed courier for our RIT Dota 2 esport team. Dota 2 is an incredibly popular Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) video game, played by people all over the world, created by Valve Software, and hosted on the international Steam platform. My courier project was funded by a grant from MAGIC Spell Studios.

Documentation: We created the courier and published it on the Dota 2 Workshop.

Peer Review: My project proposal was peer reviewed by the MAGIC Spell Studios leadership team, and they granted me $3,600 to fund the project. The completed courier was reviewed and voted on by hundreds of Dota 2 players and game artists.

Dissemination: Our courier was disseminated internationally on the the Dota 2 Workshop; it has been viewed by 1,061 unique visitors logged into Steam, and many more visitors not logged in.

RIT News published an article about our courier project. See the article here - https://www.rit.edu/news/vote-now-rits-tiger-courier-dota-2-game

The courier can be seen on the Dota 2 Workshop page here - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2877656500

The courier was posted on the the Dota 2 Workshop on 10/20/2022.

RIT Courier Dota 2 Workshop Publication

2022

I did a presentation with Craig Foster at SIGGRAPH 2022. We talked about our VRm software tool, including an overview of the tool functionality, how we assembled and maintained our team, and the process we used to create the software.

Documentation: VRm is a Virtual Reality tool for medical professionals to study anatomy. The project was a collaboration between myself, Craig Foster (a professor in the RIT Medical Illustration department), and our students.

Peer Review: The presentation proposal was extensively peer reviewed by several official SIGGRAPH reviewers.

Dissemination: Our presentation was disseminated at SIGGRAPH, the premier international conference & exhibition on computer graphics and interactive techniques. In 2022 the conference was in its 48th year, and was attended by over 11,700 people. Our presentation recording can be viewed here - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3532724.3535592 SIGGRAPH 2022 took place in Vancouver Canada, from 8/8/2022 to 8/11/2022.

SIGGRAPH 2022 Conference Presentation

2022

This is a paper I wrote with Craig Foster for SIGGRAPH 2022. We wrote about our VRm project; the paper abstract is below.

VRm is the prototype for a Virtual Reality (VR) software tool for medical professionals to study anatomy. The tool is designed to improve learning outcomes for complex anatomical subject matter that is difficult to teach using traditional methods. VRm was developed at the Rochester Institute of Technology by faculty and students. In addition to developing the tool, the goal of the project was to explore pedagogical approaches emphasizing cross-disciplinary collaboration, production-based learning, and to utilize industry-standard software development methodologies in the context of a class.

Documentation: In addition to our presentation, we wrote a paper for SIGGRAPH, it was published in the conference proceedings.

Peer Review: The paper was extensively peer reviewed by several official SIGGRAPH reviewers.

Dissemination: Our paper was published in the Proceedings of the ACM SIGGRAPH 2022 Educator's Forum, the web link is here - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3532724.3535592 The paper was published on 7/26/2022.

SIGGRAPH 2022 Conference Proceedings - VRm: A Virtual Reality Tool for Anatomical Study

2022

Documentation: I did a presentation with Craig Foster at The Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) annual conference. We talked about the functionality of VRm, how our VRm software tool could be used in the broader medical illustration community, and our interdisciplinary approach to developing the software with a team of Medical Illustration students creating the art assets, and a team of Interactive Games and Media students doing the interface design and programming.

Peer Review: Our presentation proposal was peer reviewed by the AMI conference selection committee.

Dissemination: Our presentation was disseminated at The Association of Medical Illustrators (AMI) annual international conference. AMI is an international organization founded in 1945, it is composed of 850 medical illustrators, related professionals and students of medical illustration. The AMI conference is the premiere conference in the medical illustration industry, it has been ongoing for over 76 years. The conference location changes every year; in 2022 it was held in Des Moines Iowa from 7/20/2022 - 7/23/2022.

Association of Medical Illustrators 2022 Annual Conference Presentation

2022

Documentation: I worked as an animator on the game Knockout City, developed by Velan Studios and published by Electronic Arts.

Peer Review: Knockout City was glowingly reviewed by games journalists on game industry websites. The game was extremely well received. Below is a selection of some of those reviews.

https://www.ign.com/articles/knockout-city-review - “Knockout City is one of the best team-based PvP games to come out in years.”

https://www.pcgamer.com/knockout-city-review - “...Knockout City is so damn good. “

https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-knockout-city - “I’m shocked with how well Knockout City turned out.”

https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/switch-eshop/knockout_city - “Knockout City is an absolute blast…”

https://apptrigger.com/2021/06/26/knockout-city-review - “...a refreshing take on the team-based competitive multiplayer genre.”

https://www.gameinformer.com/review/knockout-city/knockout-city-review-dodgeball-delight - “Knockout City masterfully combines the best from both dodgeball and multiplayer shooters to create an experience that is frantic, fun, and welcoming to players of all skill levels.”

Dissemination: Knockout City was disseminated internationally, and played by over 12 million people. It was published by Electronic Arts, the game was released on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 5/21/2021.

Knockout City

2021

Documentation: I worked on the game Table Trenches, a casual real time strategy game designed for AR. Using your phone’s camera, you can scan your table, couch, or floor and create a unique battlefield.

Peer Review: Table Trenches won the 2022 Snap AR Lens Fest Award for the Play category - https://ar.snap.com/lens-fest-awards-2022 The Lens Fest international conference brings together thousands of developers from around the world for two days of AR innovation, creative celebration, and community connection. The event is also home to the Lens Fest Awards.

Table Trenches was a finalist for the international Auggie Awards in the Best Game or Toy category - https://www.awexr.com/blog/AWE-2023-Auggie-Awards-Finalists The Auggie Awards (aka “The Auggies”) are the XR industry’s most prestigious awards, and celebrate all of the innovative solutions submitted by the breadth and depth of companies and individuals from across the augmented and virtual reality industry, from all across the world.

Dissemination: Table Trenches has been played over one million times, it was disseminated internationally when it was published on iOS and Android on 4/13/2020.

Table Trenches

2020

Tier 2 Regional

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Rochester Game Festival.

Peer Review: The festival was juried by event organizers, who decided which games were able to exhibit.

Dissemination: That Damn Goat was exhibited at the Rochester Game Festival. This regional game festival first opened its doors in 2017 and it remains the area’s only dedicated game convention. According to their website, "More than 7,000 people have attended Rochester Game Festival events over the years, and they’ve been able to try out the latest projects from more than 150 developers headquartered in New York State and the surrounding region."

I was interviewed at the festival on the news, Local developers celebrate gaming at RIT's ROC Game Fest, 13 WHAM, 9/29/2024, https://13wham.com/news/local/rochester-institute-technology-magic-spell-studios-roc-game-fest-development-design-community-playtest-content-creators

The Rochester Game Festival took place in Rochester New York, on 9/28/2024.

Rochester Game Festival

2024

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Rochester Game Festival.

Peer Review: The festival was juried by event organizers, who decided which games were able to exhibit.

Dissemination: That Damn Goat was exhibited at the Rochester Game Festival. This regional game festival first opened its doors in 2017 and it remains the area’s only dedicated game convention. According to their website, "More than 7,000 people have attended Rochester Game Festival events over the years, and they’ve been able to try out the latest projects from more than 150 developers headquartered in New York State and the surrounding region."

I was interviewed at the festival on the news, Gamers, developers unite at ROC Game Fest to showcase new game development, Spectrum News 1, 9/9/2023, https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/news/2023/09/09/gamers--developers-unite-at-roc-game-fest-to-showcase-new-game-development

The Rochester Game Festival took place in Rochester New York, on 9/9/2023.

Rochester Game Festival

2023

I did a presentation titled The 3D Art Production Pipeline for That Damn Goat at the East Coast Game Conference.

Documentation: As Co-Creative Director and Art Director, I developed the the 3D art pipeline we used in the production of That Damn Goat. The presentation was about the pipeline I created.

Peer Review: My presentation proposal was peer reviewed by the conference selection committee.

Dissemination: My presentation was disseminated at the East Coast Game Conference. This regional conference was first held in 2008. According to their website, “The East Coast Game Conference annual event attracts more than 1,800 attendees.” Conference attendees were mostly game development professionals and students, the presentations were designed for that audience. My presentation recording can be viewed here - https://youtu.be/d1pHQz-W6UU The East Coast Game Conference took place in Raleigh North Carolina from 4/18/2023 to 4/20/2023.

East Coast Games Conference 2023 Presentation

2023

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat and provided a playable demo at the The Strong National Museum of Play Gaming for All: A Women in Games Celebration.

Peer Review: The event was juried by the event organizers, who decided which game development teams were invited to exhibit.

Dissemination: The Strong Museum on their website described the regional event as, "A special evening of big-kid fun to celebrate and share the contributions of women, people of color, differently-abled people, the LGBTQIA+ community, and other under-represented groups to the world of video games!" and the event also included, "An exclusive offering of playable video games created and/or inspired by people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented groups" and "A chance to meet local game developers and try out their games presented by ROC Game Dev". The event took place in Rochester New York on 11/17/2022.

Gaming for All: A Women in Games Celebration at The Strong National Museum of Play

2022

I did a presentation and a panel at the Rochester Game Festival. The audience of this panel was predominantly game developers. This event tied into my scholarship of game art and design as I expounded on specific examples of engaging and appealing game mechanics.

Documentation: I was a panelist and guest lecturer at the Rochester Game Festival. My presentation was titled, My Favorite Games and Why.

Peer Review: I was invited to do the presentation and panel by the Rochester Game Festival organizer.

Dissemination: My presentation was disseminated at the Rochester Game Festival. This regional game festival first opened its doors in 2017 and it remains the area’s only dedicated game convention. According to their website, "More than 7,000 people have attended Rochester Game Festival events over the years, and they’ve been able to try out the latest projects from more than 150 developers headquartered in New York State and the surrounding region." The Rochester Game Festival was held in Rochester New York, on 9/10/2022.

Rochester Game Festival Panelist and Guest Lecturer

2022

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Rochester Game Festival.

Peer Review: The festival was juried by event organizers, who decided which games were able to exhibit.

Dissemination: That Damn Goat was disseminated at the Rochester Game Festival in Rochester New York, on 9/10/2022.

Rochester Game Festival Exhibitor

2022

Tier 3 Local

Documentation: I was awarded a RIT Provost's Learning in Innovation Grant (PLIG) of $5,000 to write a new course called Creating Character Skins for Games. I also did a poster presentation about the course at the RIT Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning Symposium.

Peer Review: My grant proposal was peer reviewed by the PLIG selection committee. As a grant awardee, I was invited by the RIT Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning Symposium organizers to present my poster.

Dissemination: The results of the grant funded work were disseminated at the RIT Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning Symposium poster presentation in Rochester, NY on 5/14/2025.

RIT PLIG Grant and 2025 Summer Institute for Teaching and Learning PLIG Poster Showcase

2025

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival.

Peer Review: This did not have a formal peer review, but our exhibition proposal was reviewed by the Imagine RIT Festival organizers.

Dissemination: According to the RIT website, "Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival is a signature event that showcases the imaginative and inventive spirit of RIT students." The yearly festival began in 2008, and every year attracts thousands of attendees from Rochester and the surrounding region." We exhibited That Damn Goat in the Wegmans Theater at RIT. This year Imagine RIT took place on 4/27/2024.

Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival

2024

Documentation: I met Animation Instructor Zach Inks at the East Coast Game Conference. Zach asked me to talk to his class about the game development industry, MAGIC Spell Studios, and opportunities at RIT.

Peer Review: I was invited to do this presentation by Animation Instructor Zach Inks.

Dissemination: I did the presentation virtually for a high school class at the South Caroline Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities in Greenville SC, on 10/30/2023.

South Caroline Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities Presentation

2023

Documentation: We showcased That Damn Goat at the RIT Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend; according to the RIT website this is "a longstanding RIT tradition of celebrating families, students, alumni, staff, and friends of the University with one spectacular weekend in October."

Peer Review: This was not a peer reviewed event, but we had hundreds of visitors view and play our game.

Dissemination: We disseminated That Damn Goat during Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend in Rochester NY on 10/14/2023.

Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend

2023

Documentation: Craig Foster and I exhibited VRm V2 at the Frameless Symposium.

Peer Review: Our presentation proposal was peer reviewed by the Frameless Labs selection committee. We submitted this video as part of our proposal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ynlzvKE0g

Dissemination: We disseminated VRm V2 at the 8th Annual Frameless XR Symposium in Rochester NY on 11/17/2023.

Frameless Labs VRm Exhibit

2023

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival.

Peer Review: This did not have a formal peer review, but our exhibition proposal was reviewed by the Imagine RIT Festival organizers.

Dissemination: According to the RIT website, "Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival is a signature event that showcases the imaginative and inventive spirit of RIT students." The yearly festival began in 2008, and every year attracts thousands of attendees from Rochester and the surrounding region, this year it took place on 4/29/2023.

Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival

2023

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Rochester Maker Faire.

Peer Review: This did not have a formal peer review, but our exhibition proposal was reviewed by the Maker Faire organizers.

Dissemination: The Rochester Maker Faire website describes it as "a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to scientists to crafters, Maker Faire is a venue for these "makers" to show hobbies, experiments, projects. We call it the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth - a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness." We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Maker Faire on 11/19/2022.

Maker Faire Rochester

2022

Documentation: For this event, the the Strong National Museum of Play invited local game developers to showcase their work at the museum, and we exhibited That Damn Goat. This is how The Strong Museum advertised their event, “Explore Rochester’s video and tabletop gaming scene with music from Glitch Video Game Band, demos from local game creators, and open gaming with local organizations.”

Peer Review: The event was juried by event organizers, they decided who was invited to exhibit.

Dissemination: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Strong National Museum of Play during their Game On! event, on 1/8/2022.

The Strong National Museum of Play: Game On!

2022

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival.

Peer Review: This did not have a formal peer review, but exhibition proposal was reviewed by the Imagine RIT Festival organizers.

Dissemination: According to the RIT website, "Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival is a signature event that showcases the imaginative and inventive spirit of RIT students." The yearly festival began in 2008, and every year attracts thousands of attendees from Rochester and the surrounding region, this year it took place on 4/23/2022.

Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival

2022

Documentation: We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Rochester Maker Faire.

Peer Review: This did not have a formal peer review, but our exhibition proposal was reviewed by the Maker Faire organizers.

Dissemination: The Rochester Maker Faire website describes it as "a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to scientists to crafters, Maker Faire is a venue for these "makers" to show hobbies, experiments, projects. We call it the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth - a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness." We exhibited That Damn Goat at the Maker Faire on 11/15/2021.

Maker Faire Rochester

2021

I did a presentation with Craig Foster for the RIT College of Health Science and Technology (CHST) Research Vitals Seminar. Our presentation was titled, Considerations for Developing Interactive Anatomical Learning Environments using VR.

Documentation: VRm is a Virtual Reality tool for medical professionals to study anatomy. The project was a collaboration between myself, Craig Foster (a professor in the RIT Medical Illustration department), and our students.

Peer Review: We were invited to present by the Research Vitals Seminar organizers.

Dissemination: Our presentation was disseminated locally during the Research Vitals Seminar on 10/26/2021.

RIT CHST Research Vitals Seminar Presentation

2021

Documentation: We exhibited VRm at the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival.

Peer Review: This did not have a formal peer review, but our exhibition proposal was reviewed by the Imagine RIT Festival organizers.

Dissemination: According to the RIT website, "Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival is a signature event that showcases the imaginative and inventive spirit of RIT students." The yearly festival began in 2008, and every year attracts thousands of attendees from Rochester and the surrounding region, this year it took place on 5/4/2019.

Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival

2019