Academics Page

Research Projects

From my time at Northwestern University

Undergraduate Art History Thesis:

As a part of my furthered undergraduate education, I am currently writing an Art History thesis on 2001's ICO as a fascinating historical object. This will be, at time of my writing, the first ever undergraduate art historical thesis written on the topic of a video game. I want to combine traditional art historical methods and approaches with the novelty of video games as an artistic medium; specifically, I am working to apply the Affect Theory of thinkers like Gilles Deleuze and Aubrey Anable to this incredibly influential game that was the first of its kind. From this, a new canon of video games could be developed that focuses not on replicating narrative, but on gameplay and its ability to affect players.

As a part of my thesis research, the art history department funded a trip to New York City to visit various archives at The MET and Columbia's Avery library where I was able to see original 17th and 18th century architectural prints from Piranesi, Boullee, and others as a part of a comparison with the modern technological representation of architecture.

A submitted draft to my advisor is attached below, alongside the page explaining what an Undergraduate Art Historical Thesis entails at Northwestern.

Paper Draft

Undergraduate Thesis

Media Arts and Game Design Module:

The Media Arts and Game Design Module (MAGD for short), is a program in the School of Communications at Northwestern University. In the program, students are required to take a certain number of courses that focus on the theory of game design and development and media art in general. My advisor for the module is Özge Samancı, an incredibly talented Turkish media artist whose artworks have been shown internationally in various museums. I work closely with her on my thesis game, The Bends. The tightknit gaming community also includes industry professional Derrick Fields and games scholar Patrick Fiorilli. I am currently working on the largest project of any student in the module and am slated to complete the project upon my graduation in winter of 2025.

More information about the module can be found below, alongside more information about The Bends.

The Bends

MAGD Home Page

Additional Writings

Alongside my art historical thesis, I am currently working with my Games Studies advisor, Dr. Patrick Fiorilli to publish several more papers in scholarly publications. The furthest along is covering Silent Hill 2 and its relation to the painterly work of Francis Bacon, specifically how the recreations of many of his drawings operate differently in the ludic context of an interactive game. The full work will be published in the fall.

Paper Draft

Applied Journal

Significant Coursework

I have taken every video game related course at Northwestern:

Comp_Sci 376: Game Design and Development [A-]
Comp_Sci 377: Game Development Studio [A]
RTVF 376-22: Advanced Game Studio [A]
RTVF 376-23: Computer Code for Arts [A]
RTVF 398-1: Symposium on Video Game Theory and Criticism [A]
RTVF 398-2: Symposium on American Gothic Video Games [A]

Courses that are relavent to my work as a designer:

JOUR 201-2: Multimedia Documentary Storytelling [A]
RTVF 190: Media Construction [A]
RTVF 220: Media Analysis [A]
RTVF 372: Film Editing [A]
RTVF 379: Science Fiction Production [A]
RTVF 397: Advanced Film Directing I & II [A]
RTVF 398-20: Storytelling and Creating in TTRPG's [A]
RTVF 368: Film Finishing & Post-production [A]
Comp_Sci 211: Fundamentals of Computer Programming II [A]
Comp_Sci 213: Intro to Computer Architecture [A]
Comp_Sci 214: Data Systems and Algorithms [B]
Comp_Sci 348: Introduction to AI [A]

Art History Courses:

ART_HIST 235: Introduction to Latin American Art [A]
ART_HIST 232: Introduction to Architecture [A]
ART_HIST 319: Monsters, Art, and Civilization [A]
ART_HIST 320: Byzantine Art [A]
ART_HIST 360: European Global Modernisms [A]
ART_HIST 368: Women & Textiles [A]
ART_HIST 389: Painting the Orient [A]
ART_HIST 390: Global Materiality of Marble [A]
ART_HIST 390: The Global Renaissance [A]
ART_HIST 391: History and Methods of Art History [A]
ART_HIST 395: Japanese Woodblock Prints [A]
ART_HIST 399: Independent Thesis Studies [A]