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Professor Chris Totten

Christopher W. Totten

Associate Professor
Campus:
Tuscarawas
Office Location:
Founders Hall - B113
Contact Information
Email:
ctotten@kent.edu
Phone:
330-308-7567
Personal Website: Pie for Breakfast Studios

Biography

Chris Totten is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Animation Game Design program at Kent State University.

Chris is an award-winning independent game designer, artist, and animator. His current project is the hand-animated Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends, which uses the process of game art direction to explore the legacy of animation and comics pioneer Winsor McCay. His previous works include La Mancha - a storytelling card game based on Cervantes' Don Quixote; Lissitzky's Revenge - an arcade action game exploring Russian Constructivist and Bauhaus artworks; and Kudzu - a Game Boy game about invasive plants, which was also ported to the Nintendo Switch. He holds a master’s degree in architecture (M.Arch) with a concentration in digital media from the Catholic University of America. Chris is a co-founder of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Arcade and a lifetime member and former Washington, DC Chapter Chair of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). He is on the Board of Directors for the Chicago-based Video Game Art (VGA) Gallery and his work has been shown at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Art Institute Chicago, and the Chicago GameSpace. 

He was a member of the inaugural class for the IndieCade Horizons Faculty Excellence Awards, winning the Innovation Award for his work building an appreciation for games in the context of the arts. He has written multiple books on design, including An Architectural Approach to Level Design and the upcoming book World Design in 2D Action-Adventures, he is also the editor of the collected volume, Level Design: Processes and Experiences and the Level Design Practices series. He was previously the Game Artist in Residence at American University in Washington, DC, and an Assistant Professor of Game Design in the School of Art at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. 

Chris's current project is the hand-animated Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends, which uses the process of game art direction to explore the legacy of animation and comics pioneer Winsor McCay. His previous works include La Mancha - a storytelling card game based on Cervantes' Don Quixote - Lissitzky's Revenge - an arcade action game exploring Russian Constructivist and Bauhaus artworks - and Kudzu - a Game Boy game about invasive plants, which was also ported to the Nintendo Switch. He is on the Board of Directors for the Chicago-based Video Game Art (VGA) Gallery and his work has been shown at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Art Institute Chicago, and the Chicago GameSpace. 

Publications

  • Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends - hand-animated adventure game for PC and Nintendo Switch (upcoming)
  • Level Design Practices: World Design in 2D Action-Adventures, with Adrian Sandoval, 2025 (upcoming), CRC Press
  • Kudzu - Retro adventure game about invasive plants for Game Boy and Nintendo Switch, 2024
  • Fix Fix Robot! - Educational card game for young children, created for the Kent State Child Development Center, 2021
  • GameFest Akron Virtual Art Gallery 2020-2021 - interactive web art gallery for Akron Art Museum
  • An Architectural Approach to Level Design, 2nd Edition - 2019, CRC Press
  • La Mancha - storytelling card game based on Cervantes' Don Quixote, 2019
  • Function Force - Math assessment game for the Educational Testing Service (ETS), based on prototype from the 2014 White House Game Jam, 2017
  • Level Design: Processes and Experiences - 2016, CRC Press
  • Lissitzky's Revenge - Russian Constructivist and Bauhaus art action game, 2015
  • An Architectural Approach to Level Design - 2014, CRC Press
  • Game Character Creation in Blender and Unity - 2012, Wiley Publishing

Awards/Achievements

  • IndieCade Horizons Faculty of Excellence Award for Innovation 2022
  • GDEX 2023 Best of Show for Visual Art/Design - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
  • Best Digital Game - International Conference of Meaningful Play 2022 - Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
  • Game Developers Conference 2022 - Top Speaker
  • Cleveland Gaming Classic 2022 Gamedev Showcase, Best in Show and Best Art: Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
  • Kent State Tuscarawas Campus Distinguished Teaching Nominee, 2021
  • Bronze Medal for Excellence - International Serious Play Educational Game Awards, 2018
  • GLAMi Award Finalist: SAAM Arcade - Museums and the Web Conference 2018
  • Best Paper in Topic Nominee, Foundations of Digital Games Conference 2015
  • Career Connection Faculty Award Nominee 2014, George Mason University

Documents

PDF icon Chris Totten Curriculum Vitae_0.pdf

News Stories

Trew, J. Engadget: “2023 was a Good Year for Game Boy Games”., Boudreau, I. PCGamesN: “Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends brings a classic fantasy cartoon to life”, Ashcraft, B., Kotaku: “Super Mario Maker 2 Creation Tips from a Nintendo Legend and a Level Design Guru”, Priestman, C., KillScreen: "Iconic 20th century art is being turned into a series of experimental videogames," Review of "Lissitzky's Revenge", Meier, A., Hyperallergic: "Be the Bolshevik Wedge in a Game Inspired by El Lissitzky’s 1919 Propaganda Art," Review of "Lissitzky's Revenge" ,

Mailing Address

800 E. Summit St.
Kent, OH 44242

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