Tom Dowd

Bio

Tom Dowd is a 25-year veteran of the game design business, having been first published while still in high school. He is one of the co-creators of the award-winning Shadowrun role-playing game, as well as writer/contributor to other role-playing titles and two novels. He was a developer at FASA Corporation, working on the Shadowrun, BattleTech, and EarthDawn game lines and joined the Microprose-FASA Corp joint venture FASA Interactive in the mid-90’s where he was senior designer on the RTS computer game MechCommander. In 1999 he was the lead designed on the Xbox/Xbox-Live million+ selling release, MechAssault. His other computer game credits include Shadowrun games for the NES and Sega consoles, the MechWarrior 2 ,and MechWarrior 3 game series, Axis & Allies: Iron Blitz , Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, and DuelMasters . He is currently the lead of Skotos Tech’s online multiplayer text-based social/rpg game Castle Marrach and is an associate professor and Coordinator of the Game Development concentration teaching and building curriculum in their Game Design major.

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Communication Arts, New York Institute of Technology

Master of Arts, Communication, New York Institute of Technology

Courses Taught

Introduction to Game Development

Introduction to Programming

Game Design I

Game Design II

Game Document Development

Large Team Game Project

Large Team Game Studio

Transmedia Analysis: Film, Games, and Television

Areas of Interest

Video Game Design

Digital Narrative

Transmedia Storytelling/Narrative

Screenwriting

Game Development

Professional Work

Featured Guest, Game Forum of the Animation School of the Beijing Film Academy in Beijing, China,  October 2006

"The Game is Not Afoot", Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy, Open Court Press, Fall 2011

Transmedia Storytelling - International Digital Media Arts Association Conference, Fall 2011

Transmedia Storytelling - University Film and Video Association Conference, Summer 2012

Transmedia Storytelling: One World, Many Media - Focal Press, Spring 2013

Memberships: International Game Developers Association, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, University Film and Video Association, Science Fiction Writers of America