GAME -vierailuluento: Rilla Khaled "Materialize Design Traces // Trace Design Materials!

Materialize Design Traces // Trace Design Materials

Rilla Khaled
Concordia University in Montréal
Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre

Abstract: In Materialising Game Design, Professor Rilla Khaled invites us to look beyond finished games and into the vibrant, messy, creative processes that bring them to life. Through her Method for Design Materialisation, she shows how sketches, code commits, playtests, and everyday design traces can reveal the hidden artistry of making games. This talk celebrates experimentation, embraces uncertainty, and offers accessible tools for understanding game design as a living, evolving craft — one where ideas grow through hands-on practice, reflection, and play.

Bio: Dr. Rilla Khaled is Associate Professor in the Department of Design & Computation Arts at Concordia University in Montréal, and Associate Director of the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre, one of Canada’s leading game-studies and digital media labs. With a PhD in Computer Science from Victoria University of Wellington, she has built a global academic profile at the intersection of serious games, specultive interaction, and inclusive design. Her research develops new methods for documenting and analysing game-design processes—most notably the “Method for Design Materialisation”—and works with diverse and Indigenous communities to co-create playful systems that support social change, cultural reflection and inclusive futures. Dr. Khaled is widely recognised as a thought-leader in game design research, combining rigorous scholarship, design-practice and engagement with emergent technologies (such as AI and speculative prototypes) to advance how we think about play, participation and material design.

This guest talk is hosted by Associate Professor Perttu Hämäläinen, Department of Computer Science.