Anne Sullivan Email & Phone Number

Toronto, On, Ca

Atlanta, Georgia , Us

*Directed research projects with students, faculty, and community organizations such as Zoo Atlanta,Worcester Craft Center, and the International Modern Quilt Guild, working to explore and create next-generation human-computer interaction platforms designed to teach, entertain, and inform users.*Organized and managed research teams in charge of researching, developing, and creating programsto gain approximately $500,000 in government funding for research and development projects.*Improved student engagement and developed a culture of student-led learning by leading thedevelopment and adoption of play-driven learning methods, resulting in 15 awards and recognitionsbased on high-level feedback from student evaluations.*Planned, developed, and led boot-camp-style orientation and training programs for incoming DigitalMedia graduate students; assisted technical and non-technical students to achieve optimal skill levelsin software development, positioning them for successful course completion and future professionaladvancement.*Led graduate and undergraduate courses focused on educating students in digital media design,including video game development, UX / UI development, functional design, engineeringexperimental controllers, developing interactive stories, implementing playful educationalinteractions, and designing around social justice themes.*Created novel user interactions and experiences by designing and engineering new AI-enabledframeworks.

Orlando, Fl, Us

Topics taught: game design, programming, alternative controllers

Washington, Dc, Us

Researching AI, story, and social interactions within the domain of games.

*Oversaw creative operations responsible for developing and deploying playful web-based designtools; conducted UX research that included ethnographic analysis, interviews, and surveys tounderstand the unique needs of amateur and professional-level crafters and designers.

Santa Cruz, Ca, Us

* Designed and taught CMPS 179 - Game Design Practicum, an upper division course in the game design major. The class focused on theory and application of game design, and I reworked the class to mainly use rapid prototyping methods. The students created 1-2 games a week in different teams for the first half of the class using paper prototyping, moving to longer development times in the latter half. The final project was a team-based programmed version of one of their prototyped games.

*Developed digital wireframes for mobile application UX / UI designs, creating digital assets accordingto established specifications.

Santa Cruz, Ca, Us

Dissertation: The Grail Framework: Making Stories Playable on Three Levels in CRPGsComputer role-playing games (CRPGs) have strong narratives, but in general lack interesting and meaningful choices for the player within the story. As a result, the stories are not playable. This breakdown happens at four different levels within storytelling: the player, quest, game and world story levels. The world story level is the structure and setting of the world that the game inhabits and is generally static. The game story level describes the over-arching story which is at best minimally branching in most CRPGs. The quest story level is the level in which players are given a series of tasks to complete, with little choice in the outcome. Finally, the player story level of storytelling within CRPGs is defined by a sequence of moment-to-moment decisions a player makes within the constraints of the game mechanics, which the player feels is worth re-telling. My PhD research focused on analyzing ways to make story playable, and culminated in the creation of the Grail Framework which addresses playability at three of the levels: the game, quest, and player story levels.I also designed and implemented Mismanor, a game built using the Grail Framework and designed to explore the possibilities of playable story. In constructing the Grail Framework and Mismanor, I focused on creating an existence proof for a new approach to story in role-playing games — one with power and flexibility that addresses known problems in the game genre and allow it to move toward experiences that have proven impractical with today’s technical and design approaches.

I worked with one other instructor to design and teach a four-week intensive summer school course to 19 high school students on game design and programming. My role was to teach game design principles and work with the TAs to assess areas that the students were struggling and modify the lectures accordingly.

Worked with two groups of 16 high school students in an on-site summer school program focused on game design and programming. My role was to work with the students in class and during study sessions to identify and resolve issues with their designs and programs.

My role was to work with the design team to brainstorm new styles of interactivity for a multiplayer synchronous mobile-based game that could be played globally or locally.

Thuridion is a consulting firm, providing software support for various client needs. My role was to work directly and indirectly with clients to assess their needs, then work within a team of engineers to supply the software support for those needs. I provided web design and coding, database design and query design, user interface design and coding, and other general programming support.

Redwood City, Ca, Us

*Worked as a software engineer in charge of UX / UI programming for two released video game titles,as well as designing and developing an AI-based scripting language for an unreleased game.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Computer Science

Education record