Chris Solarski The Aesthetics Of Game Art And Game Design

Chris Solarski's Blog Expert Blogs

Chris Solarski's started work in video games at Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio as a character and environment artist before making a career-defining detour into figurative oil painting. The unusual mix of game art and classical art eventually resulted in Chris authoring theInteractive Empathy and Embodiment (IEE) framework—a sensory design methodology that adapts traditional craft to interactive media with the aim of heightening kinaesthetic empathy and embodiment. Chris has authored two other books on game art and storytelling in games that are endorsed by the likes ofAssassin's Creed founding member Stéphane Assadourian, and Cyberpunk 2077 level designer Max Pears. Chris' work has been described as gaming's equivalent to Robert McKee's screenwriting classic,Story, and Joseph Campbell's universal storytelling structure. Chris has had the pleasure of presenting at the Smithsonian Museum's landmarkThe Art of Video Games exhibition, Disney Research, SXSW, Google and FMX, to name a few.

Chris is currently developing an international humanities centre and theme park collaboration with Three Golden Doors. Chris also lectures and serves as industry liaison at SAE Institute in Zurich; Chairs the International Game Developers Association's Switzerland Chapter (IGDA Switzerland) to support #swissgames developers in their craft with conferences and specialist training and initiatives that foster diversity and sustainable business practices; and co-founded the IGDA Game Art Special Interest Group (SIG).

Chris is available for design consulting, workshops and speaking events. For further information, please contact Chris via solarskistudio.com and follow @solarskistudio on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Expert Blogs

Posted by Chris Solarski on Tue, 05 Jan 2021 10:55:00 EST in Audio, Design, Programming, Production, Art, Console/PC, Serious, Indie, Social/Online, Smartphone/Tablet, VR

The 'Interactive Empathy and Embodiment' framework is an innovative, sensory design approach to game design founded on traditional craft, which promotes empathy and hopes to nudge the industry in a more self-aware and conscientious direction.

An introduction to 'Interactive Empathy and Embodiment' framework, and sensory-design for game design, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and cross reality (XR), as presented in my Google Tech Talk.

Video games are undoubtably big business. Video games are so big, in fact, that they effortlessly out-earn the film and music industry combined. But what does the future of video games hold? Is it more of the same but bigger and better?

Promoting sustainable business practises is a key issue for the International Game Developers Association. This white paper aims to provide practical tips for sustainable management—featuring a series of points that have immediately actionable value.

This article concerns the dramatic value of player-character motivation and in story-driven games. The featured case studies illustrate techniques for adding a second narrative layer to game objectives, and how this layer can heighten player immersion.

An international line-up of indie developers was brought together by the IGDA Switzerland Chapter to discuss the topic of death and consequence in game design. What emerged were varied perspectives that reflected the complex nature of death.

Chris Solarski's Comments

Comment In:

[Blog - 04/05/2017 - 11:23]

Very happy to see you ...

Very happy to see you also enjoying the shape concepts Mike Nice article I thought that you may be interested to hear that my Gamasutra article has now been turned into a comprehensive book 'Interactive Stories and Video Game Art ' that also includes storytelling techniques. Great work :D

Comment In:

[Blog - 06/21/2013 - 03:50]

Glad you like the article, ...

Glad you like the article, Lisa You may also be interested in another article I wrote on the aesthetics of video game art and design: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/185676/the aesthetics of game art and .php r n r nThanks for clarifying: I 've inserted the full title of the talk at the top ...

Comment In:

[Feature - 01/30/2013 - 04:50]

Thanks for all the nice ...

Thanks for all the nice feedback r n r nIn answer to your questions: r n r ntb: Nope, I only experimented with the strongest shape contrasts the circle and triangle. r n r nArturo Nereu: The only shape change that happens is between level 1 and 2, where the ...

Comment In:

[Feature - 09/08/2010 - 07:30]

Thanks for the nice feedback, ...

Thanks for the nice feedback, Yensei and everyone else The emphasis was more on studying somewhere where I wouldn't be distracted by the need to work and make a living. Warsaw was the perfect option because it's very cheap to live and study in Poland. My family is Polish so ...

Comment In:

[News - 09/08/2010 - 03:22]

Hi Bobby Thanks for taking ...

Hi Bobby Thanks for taking an interest in the article but I would recommend that you read the full text first before coming to any conclusions the above is just an overview . Your points are discussed more thoroughly in the full text. The articles pretext is simply to pass ...

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[Blog - 07/28/2010 - 07:49]

Apologies for the self-promotion on ...

Apologies for the self-promotion on the back of your article, Paul, but I think it's relevant. : Gbanga - http://gbanga.com - comes under the Small Developer heading. We already have our location-based platform running on iPhone and most J2ME phones. We take advantage of viral marketing services like Facebook and ...