Team – EarthGames

Who We Are

Experts in the fields of climate science and game development.

Dargan Frierson

Associate Professor
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
University of Washington
Dargan does research on the global circulation of the atmosphere and is especially interested in how the hydrologic cycle might change with global warming. His outreach work includes giving talks, making YouTube videos, and writing songs about our planet’s climate.

Joshua Lawler

Professor
School of Environmental and Forest Sciences
University of Washington
Josh Lawler is an ecologist driven by applied conservation questions and their real-world applications, with climate change at the root. In particular, he is interested in how climate change can drive shifts in plant and animal distributions, and the impacts those shifts have at both the species and the ecosystem level.

Dawson Fourier
Lead designer/developer
Undergraduate
Dawson is the lead designer and developer for Cloud Forest Climb, made by EarthGames in collaboration with foundry10 and Woodland Park Zoo. He is additionally leading development of Tera Power, an interactive exploration of climate futures.

Alumni

Rikki Parent
Artist, Designer, Programmer
Rikki is a UW graduate with a degree in Atmospheric Sciences. She is also an illustrator in traditional and digital arts and uses these skills to make environmental science fun and accessible for all ages. She created the art for Erode Runner, Soot Out at the 0C Corral, A Caribou’s Tale, 60 Second Sustainability, and EcoTrivia: Save the Animals. Her newest projects are a set of games for King County Water Treatment, and Sustainability Action Arena, a UW CSF project.

twedt Judy Twedt
PhD student, Interdisciplinary Individual PhD Program
Judy has a MS in Atmospheric Science and is working on creative climate communication. She is designing “environmental infosonics,” a term she coined, which use music to represent datasets about the natural world. She co-founded the Climate Change Speaker’s Bureau to talk to labor unions about climate change. She is the winner of the Husky Green Award and College of the Environment Award for Outstanding Community Impact.

Andrew McDonald

Lead Developer/Programmer/Designer

Andrew designed and programmed the location-based mosquito/NET app and the augmented reality game The Other World. He’s working on a city-builder game as well.

Elisa Bonnin
Graduate Student
Elisa is a graduate student in oceanography studying ocean chemistry, and a published fiction writer. She is working on Cascadia and has contributed writing and storylines to Water Ways and Save the Pikas.

Samuel Dassler

Game Developer

Samuel Dassler is a game designer with over 5 years of professional experience working in various studios in the

Seattle area. His past work includes Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition, Galak-Z: The Dimensional, and Mekazoo. He received a Bachelor’s of Art in Game Design from DigiPen: Institute of Technology. He designed and programmed Erode Runner, A Caribou’s Tale, and the update to Infrared Escape.

Andrey Butenko
Undergraduate alumnus
Andrey worked as a developer on Northlands: Arctic Choices and National Parks Adventure.

Ben Celsi
Undergraduate alumnus

Ben designed Drop and did the art and much of the game design for Life of Pika. He has worked in IT and as an artist for the Daily.

Alexey Beall

Undergraduate alumnus
Alexey programmed and designed the Dark Side of the Earth visualization.

Steven Neff
Undergraduate alumnus
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
University of Washington

Ekaterina Bogdanova
Staff, Undergraduate Alum
Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington