Chapter: The virtual tourist: the simulated environments and impossible geographies of videogames.
(Michael Salmond and Dr. Jacqueline Salmond)
Tourism & the Creative Industries (2016)
About the Book: This book focuses on the theoretical, policy and practice linkages and disjunctures between tourism and the creative industries. There are clear and strong intersections between the sectors, for example in the development and application of new and emerging media in tourism; festivals and cultural events showcasing the creative identity of place; tours and place identities associated with film, TV, music and arts tourism; as well as particular destinations being promoted on the basis of their ‘creative’ endowments such as theatre breaks, art exhibitions and fashion shows.
Videogame Design; Principles & Practices from the Ground Up (2016)
Video Game Design is a visual introduction to integrating core design essentials, such as critical analysis, mechanics and aesthetics, prototyping, level design, into game design.
Using a raft of examples from a diverse range of leading international creatives and award-winning studios, this is a must-have guide for budding game designers. Industry perspectives from game industry professionals provide fascinating insights into this creative field, and each chapter concludes with a workshop project to help you put what you’ve learnt into practice to plan and develop your own games.
With over 200 images from some of the best-selling, most creative games of the last 30 years, this is an essential introduction to industry practice, helping readers develop practical skills for video game creation. This book is for those seeking a career making video games as part of a studio, small team or as an independent creator. It will guide you from understanding how games engage, entertain and communicate with their audience and take you on a journey as a designer towards creating your own video game experiences.
- James Portnow, CEO at Rainmaker Games
- Brandon Sheffield, Gamasutra.com/Game Developer magazine
- Steve Gaynor, co-founder The Fullbright Company (Gone Home)
- Kate Craig, Environment Artist. The Fullbright Company (Gone Home)
- Adam Saltsman, creator of Canabalt & Gravity Hook
- Jake Elliott & Tamas Kemenczy, Cardboard Computer (Kentucky Route Zero)
- Tyson Steele, User Interface Designer, Epic Games
- Tom Francis, Game Designer, Gunpoint & Floating Point
- Kareem Ettouney, Art Director, Media Molecule. Little Big Planet 1 & 2, Tearaway.
- Kenneth Young, Head of Audio, Media Molecule
- Rex Crowle, Creative Lead, Media Molecule – See more at:
The Fundamentals of Interactive Media Design. (2013)
This book will help you design media that engages, entertains, communicates and ‘sticks’ with the audience. Packed with examples of groundbreaking interactive design, this book provides a solid introduction to the principles of interactive communication and detailed case studies from world-leading industry experts.
The Fundamentals of Interactive Design takes you step by step through each stage of the creative process – from inspiration to practical application of designing interfaces and interactive experiences. With a visually engaging and exciting layout this book is an invaluable overview of the state of the art and the ongoing evolution of digital design, from where it is now to where it’s going in the future. – See more at:
Translated into Chinese and French editions.
Book Interview ‘Design Genius’:
Design Genius celebrates the creative thought processes of 69 leading artists, designers, creative agencies, animators, illustrators and typographers. While highlighting key design techniques and theories, the rich visuals presented in this book aim to engage, provoke and inspire.
Whether you are new to design, or a seasoned expert, the many layers of information provided by this book mean it has something for everyone. Readers will delight in the visual and tactile effects of a number of subtle design features, as well as the vast array of illustrations on display. In-depth discussions with the creatives themselves as well as more practical design tips will also help you to discover the power of your own creative problem-solving skills – See more at:
Chapter 1: Allowing Creative Thinking. Chapter 2: The Business of Creativity. Chapter 3: Thinking in Images. Chapter 4: Words and Narrative. Chapter 5: Form and shape. Chapter 6: Current Themes. Chapter 7: Technology.
Book Chapter: Mediating the Tourist Experience. (2014)
My chapter is: ‘The mediation and fetishisation of the travel experience’ and covers my on-going travel series on tourist buses. The book is published by Ashgate in the UK and available from their site – or Amazon in the US and UK.
About the book: Traditionally, tourism media has referred to the image of destinations constructed through media texts such as brochures and postcards, with increasing attention towards other mediascapes such as films and television. Yet, with prolific advancements in technologies of media communication, such traditional formats have experienced a shift in the productive and consumptive practices through which they come into being. The possibilities of production and subsequent consumption are unequivocally changing the ways in which tourists imagine, understand and engage with destinations.
This book therefore explores the role of tourism media and mediating practices in the development of non-linear processes of communication and understanding as both producers and consumers come together to negotiate the tourist experience. In varying ways it examines the emergent relationships and connections between media practices and tourism practices, everyday experiences and encounters of place. Collectively, the authors in this book address a range of media and technologies from brochures, television, video and film to mediated virtual spaces, such as e-brochures, Internet cultures, social networks, and Google Earth. In doing so, the book highlights the continued significance of media in tourism contexts; recognising both traditional and newer technologies, and the non-linear, continuous cycle of mediated representations and experiences.
