Robin Hunicke joins UC Santa Cruz's game program as an instructor

Newsbrief: UC Santa Cruz's Games and Playable Media program just snapped up acclaimed game developer Robin Hunicke, best known for her work on Thatgamecompany's award-winning Journey and the MDA framework, an influential paper she co-authored, which proposed a formal approach to game design. She will join the university's faculty as an Associate Professor of Art & Game Design. "Her blend of deep design and technical background is extremely rare, and I'm excited she will be bringing this knowledge to our students," said Jim Whitehead, UC Santa Cruz Professor of Computational Media, in a statement. Hunicke is also an active game developer -- she's working with Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi on a new title. Hunicke joins names such as Facade co-developer Michael Mateas and Brenda and John Romero on the UCSC games faculty roster.