Veteran Game Creator Helps Rider Students Prep For Industry

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ — A seasoned game creator has joined Rider University as the program director for the university’s new game and interactive media design major, the university announced. Wil Lindsay helps students funnel their passion into a profession.

"Video games don't just appeal to one type of person," Lindsay said. "We've seen the ways they infiltrate popular culture through their immersive storytelling and music. Sometimes we change the technology and sometimes the technology changes us."

Video games are surpassing Hollywood and the music industry combined, with $140 billion in revenue worldwide, according to the Electronic Software Association, the trade association of the video game industry in the United States.

This is why Snoop Dogg’s music can be found on the soundtrack for Madden 20, and why most children know the dances from Fortnite. Rider’s new major is designed to help students prepare to join the growing industry.

It will give them the foundational tools for game design and allows them to customize their studies to focus on specific areas of interest such as audio and music for game design, storytelling, graphics and animation, according to the university.

"Game design is truly an interdisciplinary world," Lindsay said. "It's the computer science and art worlds coming together. Students will have the ability to tap into both the analytical side of game design and the creative side."

Students in the program work in a studio-based and project-based atmosphere where constructive critiques are commonplace. They create playable prototypes in interdisciplinary teams dedicated to game design, storytelling and music in Rider's new Fine Arts Digital Media Lab.

The same principles used for game design in video games can also be applied to board games, phone games and games designed for educational purposes, Lindsay said. One of his research interests is a field called the gamification in education.

"When we look at games designed to help children learn, there's a reward component to them," Lindsay said. "Children may be more motivated to learn a concept if it is tied into a game such as earning virtual badges every time you correctly complete a level or having a leaderboard that shows them how they are progressing."

Lindsay has been teaching game design since 2007 at the college level. Outside the classroom, he remains a practicing artist. He has showcased his work in more than 40 gallery exhibitions and live media performances.

He has contributed to developing escape rooms, a large-scale interactive display for the release of a new Nike sneaker and a 14-foot game for the Texas Rangers' ballpark, Globe Life Park, among other game-inspired creations. Lindsay has also been an artist in residence at Beta Locale in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and The Hacktory in nearby Philadelphia.

He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Arts from The University of Arizona and a Master of Fine Arts in Integrated Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Lindsay is also the founder of StrayTechonologies, a company that creates custom interfaces for electronic media artists and musicians, including DIY game kits, synthesizer kits and media controllers.