Dr. José P. Zagal is a game designer and scholar. He is also an Associate Professor with the University of Utah’s nationally ranked Entertainment Arts & Engineering program where he teaches courses on game design and analysis. He has over 10 years of experience teaching game design and development, has supervised multiple award-winning student projects, and many of his former students work at leading game studios worldwide. José’s research explores the development of frameworks for describing, analyzing, and understanding games from a critical perspective to help inform the design of better games.
He is also interested in supporting games literacy and game education. His book on this topic, “Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education” was published in 2010. In 2012 he edited “The Videogame Ethics Reader”, a collection of writings that provide an entry point for thinking, deliberating, and discussing ethical topics surrounding videogames. His next book, in collaboration with Dr. Sebastian Deterding, provides an in-depth examination of role-playing games across different media and disciplinary contexts. It will be published in 2017 by Routledge. Jose received his PhD in computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008, his M.Sc. in engineering sciences and a B.S. in industrial engineering from Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile in 1999 and 1997.
Author contact Info:
Books:
- Zagal, J.P. (Ed) (2012), The Videogames Ethics Reader, Cognella : San Diego CA https://titles.cognella.com/behavioral-and-social-sciences/communicatio…
- Zagal, J.P. (2010), Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education, ETC Press : Pittsburgh, http://press.etc.cmu.edu/content/ludoliteracy-defining-understanding-an…