Dr Douglas Brown
Head of Games
Formerly employed by international games developer and publisher Square-Enix and credited on several of their high-profile titles including the award winning Final Fantasy XII, Doug made the move into higher education from the games industry just as games design courses were being founded, and has contributed to games being taken seriously by academia.
He holds a BA in English from Oxford University, and an MA and PhD in Digital Games from Brunel University. Having previously built up and led a leading games design university course at Brunel, Doug was attracted to the Falmouth approach to games development by its focus on entrepreneurship, teamwork and view of games as an art form.
Fascinated by games of all kinds, from board games to text adventures to AAA titles, Doug has always seen games as a medium with the most immense potential for reshaping how we engage with stories and messages. He has published work on games and franchise adaptation, MMO-RPG design and game analysis, as well as contributing to consultations on game content regulation with the UK government. He has a wealth of experience teaching theory courses that complement and synergise with games design learning. His current project is a book on how 'suspension of disbelief' can be seen to be working in games, focusing on the Metal Gear Solid series. With numerous connections in the games industry and games academia, Doug's focus is on developing the Games courses at Falmouth towards a distinctive and effective programme of study, and helping unlock Cornwall's potential as a hub for indie game development.
Qualifications
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | PhD Digital Games | Brunel University |
| 2007 | MA Digital Games Theory & Design | Brunel University |
| 2005 | BA English | Oxford University |
Research Interests
Research Topics
- Digital Games Design
- Digital Games theory
- Narrative in games
- Suspension of Disbelief
- Games and Storytelling
- Games and Adaptation
- Media convergence and Transmedia Storytelling
Research Outputs
Publications and research outputs
Book Section
Brown, Douglas  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2019) To Disney Infinity and Beyond - Star Wars Videogames Before and After the Lucasarts Acquisition. In: Disney’s Star wars: Forces of Production and Promotion. University of Iowa Press, Iowa, USA, pp. 123-135. ISBN 9781609386436 | |
| Krzywinska, Tanya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0744-4144 and Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2015) Games, Gamers and Posthumanism. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television. Palgrave Handbooks . Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK, pp. 192-201. ISBN 9781349577019 Item availability may be restricted. | ![[thumbnail of Brown_Krzywinska_Posthuman_Games_FINAL.pdf]](https://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
| Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2015) Adaptive Harmonics - Star Trek's Universe and Galaxy of Games. In: The Star Trek Universe: Franchising the Final Frontier. Chapter 12 . Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, USA, pp. 133-145. ISBN 978-1-4422-4985-1 | |
| Krzywinska, Tanya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0744-4144 and Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2015) Games, Gamers and Posthumanism. In: The Palgrave Handbook of Posthumanism in Film and Television. Palgrave Macmillian UK, London, pp. 192-201. ISBN 9781137430328 (online) 9781349577019 (print) | |
| Krzywinska, Tanya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0744-4144 and Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2015) Online Games and Genre. In: International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication and Society. John Wiley & Sons/Blackwell, Oxford. ISBN 978-1-118-29074-3 | |
Conference or Workshop Item
| Mitchell, Alexander ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5630-2620, Greer, Terry ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-1577, New, Warwick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0790-266X, Walton-Rivers, Joseph ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3406-0584, Watkins, Matt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4196-2276, Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 and Scott, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6803-1490 (2021) Student Perspectives on the Purpose of Peer Evaluation During Group Game Development Projects. In: United Kingdom and Ireland Computing Education Research Conference, September 2 - 3, 2021, Glasgow, United Kingdom. (In Press) | |
| Scott, Michael James ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6803-1490, Parker, Alcwyn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2374-1229, Powley, Edward ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7317-7304, Saunders, Rob, Lee, Jenny, Herring, Phoebe, Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 and Krzywinska, Tanya ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0744-4144 (2018) Towards an Interaction Blueprint for Mixed Reality Experiences in GLAM Spaces: The Augmented Telegrapher at Porthcurno Museum. In: Proceedings of the 32nd BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference, 2-6 July, 2018, Belfast, NI. | |
Book
| Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2020) Rerolling Boardgames. Studies in Gaming . Mcfarland and Company, Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4766-7079-9 Item availability may be restricted. | |
Thesis
| Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2012) Game-Playing-Role. Doctoral thesis, Brunel University. | |
Review
| Brown, Douglas ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-6629 (2016) Book Review: Game Play by Paul Booth. Intensities, 1 (8). ISSN 1471-5031 | |
Research Students
Research degrees examined
I have examined one PhD student at Brunel University.Number of research degree examinations
1Teaching
Areas of teaching
- Games Design
- Games Theory
- Game Writing
Courses taught
- BA(Hons) Digital Games
- MA Digital Games
