Michael W. Merriam
917-455-1420 • michael.merriam@ucf.edu
My research and professional interests involve the overlap of Game Writing and Game Design, specifically the ways that narrative elements (and narrative techniques) can interrogate and re-define the boundaries of what counts as Game Design. Even more specifically, this has lately involved the concept of Game Balance, which is an area less often touched on in studies of game narratives, but which could provide narrative writers a way to address directly more quantitative and computational elements of design. (Put more simply, at what point does Game Writing become so focused that it is indistinguishable from Game Design?)
I specialize in curriculum innovation through game dynamics. With a core skill set that includes instructional design, educational technology integration, and game theory, I create immersive learning experiences.
Experience
Marauder Tech
Narrative Director (Unannounced Mobile Strategy Game) • Present (ongoing)
Narrative Design, lorekeeping, and related duties. Ref. Contact - Joel Balyeat (Chief Product Officer) - joel (at) maraudertech.net
University of Central Florida
Instructor • 2023 - Present
Created material, designed and/or updated modules, and taught courses Introduction to Digital Media and Game Design Portfolio Development
Comets and Cockpits
Guest Writer • 2022
Created material for a TTRPG module, centered around an original creature with unique behavior, backstory, and lore
Full Sail University
Course Director (Writing for Games, Script Analysis and Criticism) • Dec, 2018 — Jun, 2022
Designed and delivered course materials for undergraduate and graduate students that aligned with curriculum requirements. Leveraged multimedia tools to simulate collaborative writers' room experiences in online environments, enhancing student engagement. Re-focused all creative writing assignments and assessments toward industry skills acquisition. Prepared curriculum maps, and organized trainings on the preparation of curriculum maps for all faculty of the Creative Writing MFA program. Gained extensive knowledge of ACCSC accreditation standards through direct involvement in the accreditation process. Applied best practices in curriculum development and assessment to meet and exceed academic benchmarks. Adapted teaching methods and course materials in response to evolving accreditation requirements, demonstrating flexibility and a commitment to educational excellence.
- Created a modular, synchronous online Writing for Games course that taught game design skills through collaborative writing (for the Creative Writing MFA program)
- Re-designed and taught the MFA Creative Writing course in Script Analysis & Criticism
- Taught MFA courses in Visual Storytelling and Character Creation & Development
- Taught BFA courses in Science Fiction and Children's Entertainment
Radio Theater Project
Writer • 2018
Adapted works of literature into radio scripts for national syndication, including Timon of Athens and The Diary of Lady Murasaki.
Education
Columbia University in the City of New York
Master of Arts, Medieval/Renaissance Studies • 2015
Bachelor of Arts, Archaeology, English and Comparative Literature • 2010 — 2014
- Summa cum Laude
Projects
Undead Computer - ELO Exhibit
Designer • July-August 2024
Electronic Literature Organization exhibit titled Undead Computer, a game-like meta-exhibit focused on the exploration and interactive engagement with obsolete technologies. This exhibit invites participants to interact with, modify, and repurpose the text of the website itself, while dead links and other phenomena speak to the decay of the once hopeful techno-space.
Equity Quest
Author / Presenter • June 2024
Virtual-Based Games in Education Conference, synchronous online presentation about incorporating real-world inequalities into the design of gamified modules.
Risk and Re-word - Board Game Themes as Encrypted Cognitive Tools
Author / Presenter • March 2024
NeMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association) seminar developing the concept of 'ludoception' to describe a cognitive faculty honed by games, linking thematic elements with game mechanics to enhance understanding of real-world systems and social rules.
Game Balance and Classroom Fairness (Poster Session)
Author / Designer • October 2023
SIGDOC (Special Interest Group on Design of Communication) interactive poster session diagramming the potential of game balance (in the field of design) to provide new conceptual models of 'fairness' in the classroom
Metattendance - Social Deduction Games as Models for Asymmetrical Policies in a Post-Attendance World
Author / Presenter • January 2024
CFA Games Conference, University of Kentucky. The paper focused on using the asymmetrical rules for player roles in social deduction games as models for asymmetrical attendance policies, and for methods of including antagonistic students without needing to change their behavior or attitude.
Checkmate or Chat-Bot? Leveraging AI to Gamify Classroom Learning
Author • March 2024
NeMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association) conference paper on ludic curriculum design using AI to create egregoric NPCs of student groups, and incorporating narrative for enhanced student engagement.
Skills
Educational Technology Integration (Script Languages, et. al.)
Integrating educational technology to reshape the classroom experience; integrating Unity and various script languages into courses in Level Design to bridge knowledge gaps and diverse fields of student expertise; leveraging tools that resonate with a digital-native audience, while meeting or exceeding the needs of non-student stakeholders.
Immersive Space Design
Escape rooms, theatrical experiences, and experience working in film and television art departments
Game Writing
Narrative Design and Narrative Direction, including methods for influencing technical departments through plain language documentation
Recognition
Profile in the New Yorker magazine (Talk of the Town)
The New Yorker • 2008
My work as editor of 'the first magazine for the iPhone' and with digital fashion photography written up in a September issue of the New Yorker magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/09/29/dial-a-mag
Additional Links
- VIRTUAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATION - Branch vs. Root, a talk on the best use of skill trees (rather than merit badges) in gamified curricula
- PUBLICATION - Interview with Fairy Tale expert Jack Zipes in World Literature Today
- PUBLICATION - Interview with Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours and The Snow Queen, LA Review of Books
- PUBLICATION - Article on Haitian Literature as a model for World Literature, and an interview with Haitian author Franketienné
- My Escape Room blog (written with Paul S. Nowak), Partly Wicked
- PUBLICATION - This is Not a Brothel, article in n+1 about escorts in Washington DC
- Guest spot on the literary podcast Drunken Odyssey, discussing the video game Doom and its mod entitled 'Myhouse.wad' as works of literature
- As above, discussing the film and graphic novel 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'
- Peer Gynt (for which I was the script writer) as broadcast on national radio in 2018
- King John (short film) screened at the Shakespeare Birthplace 2013
Social Links
- Github: https://github.com/mwmxyz/academic
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-merriam1/