Lien Tran to join as trainer for 2023 YSEALI Game Changers

YSEALI Game Changers 2023 logo

The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has invited Lien Tran via a funded cultural engagement to participate as an international game design trainer and workshop facilitator for YSEALI Game Changers (YGC) in May 2023.   YGC brings together mid-level professionals to learn about and explore, through a 2-day game jam,… Continue reading Lien Tran to join as trainer for 2023 YSEALI Game Changers

Games for civics op ed published in New Thinking

Illustration by Nikki Muller (New Thinking magazine)

The majority of Americans know little about civics and government; video games could prove the unorthodox solution to our miseducation. This is the topic of Professor Lien Tran’s second op ed as a Public Voices fellow with The OpEd Project.    On February 4, 2023, New Thinking magazine published her op ed entitled “The Game of Life: Leveraging Tech for Civics Education“.… Continue reading Games for civics op ed published in New Thinking

Teaching the Next Generation of G4C Developers

Teaching the Next Generation of Games for Change Developers Lien Tran participated in the 2022 Games for Change festival as a panelist speaking about how she has been approaching teaching the next generation of games for change developers as a college professor. Below are a few of the slides shared during her segment. Previous Next… Continue reading Teaching the Next Generation of G4C Developers

On Sunday, December 12, 2021, Jennifer Ann’s Group (JAG)’s Drew Crescente moderated the “Gaming Against Violence: Unplugged” panel at PAX Unplugged on the potential for analog games to communicate signs of and concerns for Power & Control in romantic relationships.

#LifeLovePAX

The judges for JAG’s 2021 Unplugged game design challenge made up the panel speakers: Drew Crecente (he/him/his) [Executive Director, Jennifer Ann’s Group], Dr. Mark Chen (he/him) [Lecturer, University of Washington Bothell], Hannah Corcoran (she/her) [Producer, Auroch Digital], Dr. Krista-Lee Malone (she/her) [Teaching Faculty II (Dr.), UW-Madison], Dr. Elizabeth Levato Richeson (she/her) [Clinical Psychologist / Jennifer Ann’s Group – Advisory Board Chair, Dr. Elizabeth L. Richeson], Dr. Sarah Stang (she/her) [Dr., York University]. 

Hear from the esteemed judges in the video below as they reflect on non-digital prosocial games as a powerful tool to engage young people in difficult topics like dating violence. 

And the winner is….

Matters at Play was featured near the end of the session as one of seven selected #Unplugged finalist with our game The Big Build Up.

At the culmination of the panel, the game design challenge website was updated to announce the winner: Matters at Play with The Big Build Up! We are excited for this recognition and to hear the judges feedback. We also look forward to further developing the game resources for education use with our primary audience of youth ages 13-16.

award winner laurels for 2021 Life Love Game Design Challenge
PAX Unplugged cued up for the #LifeLovePAX panel on “Gaming Against Violence: Unplugged” (starts at 4:32:18)

Going Unplugged with Jennifer Ann’s Group as game challenge finalist

The Big Build Up

Lien Tran, Matters at Play director and DePaul’s School of Design assistant professor, and Lynn Baus, DePaul’s graduate student in the Experience Design program, teamed up to propose an analog game concept for Jennifer Ann’s Group (JAG)’s 14th Annual Game Design Challenge, which challenges game makers everywhere to design compelling prosocial games for violence prevention.… Continue reading Going Unplugged with Jennifer Ann’s Group as game challenge finalist