Eric Stein, MA, PMP

Instructor
It is my singular goal as an instructor that my students be able to leave my classroom at the end of the semester and say, “me too, I’m a game developer.” I believe that university instruction is not only about education but emancipation, about teaching students to say, “I can.”

Eric Stein is a games industry professional and game development instructor at Trinity Western University. He works as a Development Director at Electronic Arts, with shipped AAA titles including EA SPORTS FIFA 23, FC 24, and the forthcoming FC 25. Since defending his master's thesis at TWU in 2018, Eric has also conducted numerous qualitative research studies on narrative and games, employing the phenomenological, hermeneutical, and post structural methods of his academic training to perform mechanical close readings of games like Kentucky Route Zero Hollow Knight, The Last of Us, and FromSoftware’s oeuvre from Demon’s Souls to Elden Ring, as well as tabletop games like Dream Askew / Dream Apart and Trophy Dark Eric has been an instructor at TWU since 2020, covering a wide range of courses including interactive storytelling, video game aesthetics, game production, and project management for video games.

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steinea/

  • MA Interdisciplinary Humanities (Trinity Western University; 2018)
  • BA Honours English with Distinction (Simon Fraser University; 2016)
  • Certificate in Creative Writing (Simon Fraser University; 2016)

Expertise

Game Studies, Game Development, Project Management, Interactive Storytelling, Narrative Design

Eric has researched, written, and presented extensively on a variety of contemporary digital and analog games, with a special interest in the literary and philosophical analysis of game mechanics and thematics. Much of his research can be found open access online:


Some of his recent papers include:

  • “Dreams of Extraction: The Techno-Ecological Imaginary of Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield.” Canadian Game Studies Association Annual Conference, TAG Lab, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, and Online, 2024. https://zenodo.org/records/12594276.
  • “Beasts and Sovereigns: The Zoopolitical Imagination of FromSoftware’s Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring.” Canadian Game Studies Association Annual Conference, Online, 2023. https://zenodo.org/record/8051188.
  • “No Dice, No Masters: Procedures for Emancipation in Dream Askew / Dream Apart.” GENeration Analog: The Tabletop Games and Education Virtual Conference, Online, 2021. https://zenodo.org/record/5156494.
  • “It’s More Like a Tendency: Trajectories of the Literary in Kentucky Route Zero.” Northeast Modern Language Association Annual Convention, Online, 2021. https://zenodo.org/record/4603525.
  • “Praise the Sun: The Metaphysics of Dark Souls from the First Flame to the End of Fire.” Canadian Game Studies Association Conference, Western University, London, ON, 2020. https://zenodo.org/record/4603500.

Awards & Honors

  • Humanities Award (TWU; 2018)
  • Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement (SSHRC; 2017)
  • Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master's (SSHRC; 2016)
  • Capi Blanchet Scholarship in Fiction (SFU; 2015)
  • Philippa Polson Memorial Prize in English (SFU; 2015)

Affiliations & Memberships

  • Project Management Institute
  • Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences
  • Canadian Game Studies Association
  • International Game Developers Association
  • Tabletop Game Designers Association

  • GAME 140 Introduction to Game Design
  • GAME 240 Game Design for Video Games
  • GAME 260 Project Management for Game Development
  • GAME 290 Game Development Project I
  • GAME 340 Advanced Game Design
  • GAME 341 Interactive Storytelling
  • GAME 380 Field Placement
  • GAME 390/391 Game Development Project II
  • GAME 471 Video Game Aesthetics
  • GAME 490/491 Game Development Project III