Google Head Of Game Design Noah

Noah Falstein's Blog Expert Blogs

A game designer practically since birth, I went pro in 1980. Since then I was one of the first ten employees at Lucasfilm Games/LucasArts Entertainment, The 3DO Company, and Dreamworks Interactive. From 1996 to now I have had my own consulting company, The Inspiracy http://www.theinspiracy.com, with a 4 year hiatus where I was Chief Game Designer at Google. These days I am focusing mostly on game and health, working with companies like Akili Interactive (first game to be cleared by the FDA to treat a disorder!) and Healium from StoryUp (stress relief). A few of my games that I was project leader, designer, or co-designer on: Sinistar, Koronis Rift, PHM Pegasus, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Chaos Island, Hungry Red Planet, Freedom Fighter 56, and Mata Hari.

Expert Blogs

The FDA has granted clearance to market a game from Akili Interactive that is designed to treat pediatric ADHD. This opens the door to similar clearances of games that act as digital therapeutics.

My personal opinions on how Google Glass will work as a platform for games. I've been using Glass almost daily for several months now and thinking a lot about how it might be used for game development.

An interesting way to add "alien" or faux-ancient languages to games

Overview of a workshop on wellbeing, attention, and video games held at the White House Aug 21-22, 2012. Many neuroscientists, game developers, and government agency representatives attended.

A survey of some interesting people and projects blending Neuroscience and Game Design

This article was written with David Fox 15 years ago for the GDC (then CGDC) proceedings, but I was pleased to see it holds up pretty well.

Noah Falstein's Comments

Comment In:

[News - 03/03/2020 - 12:12]

I got to know Tim ...

I got to know Tim in the 80 's when I had worked on Sinistar and was excited to meet the guy who 'd made Star Castle. He was a clever and talented man. His 1983 book of cartoons Shoot the robot, then shoot mom was ahead of its time ...

Comment In:

[News - 02/08/2017 - 11:00]

For those of us old ...

For those of us old enough to remember when Summer CES did this, it may be worth mentioning the consequences. It was like unleashing a swarm of locusts. Children were tearing empty boxes off of displays, hoping there were games in them. I saw some trying to run off with ...

Comment In:

[News - 11/02/2016 - 01:15]

Just to clarify - that ...

Just to clarify - that 80 millisecond figure was for phones from a couple years ago running on Cardboard, our new Daydream system which requires cutting-edge Pixel phones, and the special features of Android Nougat OS gets that delay to under 20ms and often significantly faster, which is necessary for ...

Comment In:

[Blog - 04/14/2016 - 01:54]

Three Stigmata... is Phillip K. ...

Three Stigmata... is Phillip K. Dick, not Arthur C. Clarke. But regardless of that, this is a fun concept.

Comment In:

[Blog - 09/15/2015 - 02:51]

Comment In:

[News - 04/16/2015 - 04:35]