Christopher Swain, B.A.

Assistant Professor
Co-Director, EA Game Innovation Lab

310.403.0798
cswain@cinema.usc.edu
interactive.usc.edu/research/games

Co-founder and director of the EA Game Innovation Lab, Chris Swain is a game designer, entrepreneur, and co-author of the textbook Game Design Workshop, who teaches courses on game design, interactive design, and the business of interactive media.

His lab projects include:

•    Immune Attack – funded by National Science Foundation and created in collaboration with Brown University, the USC Gamepipe Lab, and the Federation of American Scientists.
•    The New New Deal – funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and produced in collaboration with the LA Times.
•    ELECT-BiLat – funded by the US Army and produced for USC Institute for Creative Technologies.
•    The Redistricting Game – funded by the Annenberg Center for Communication.

Prior to USC, Swain was a founding member of the New York design firm R/GA Interactive, where he led over 150 interactive products for clients that include Microsoft, Sony, Disney, Activision, America Online, Warner Brothers, PBS, Intel, IBM, Kodak, Ticketmaster, Children’s Television Workshop, and many others.

Swain was also a co-founder of the technology start-up Spiderdance, Inc. He served on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmy’s) from 2000-2004. He started his career at the pioneering interactive firm Synapse Technologies.