Stefano Gualeni

Stefano Gualeni is an Italian philosopher, architect, and game designer who created videogames such as Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths and Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade.^[1][2][3]

In 2011, Together with the Italian videogame development company Double Jungle S.a.s. and the support of NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Gualeni developed Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade, which used biometric experiments.^[4]

Gualeni lectures in Game Design at the Institute of Digital Games of the University of Malta, where he also performs academic research in the fields of philosophy of technology, game design, and existentialism.^[5][6] He is also a columnist and an independent videogame developer.

Background

Born in Lovere , Italy, in 1978, Gualeni graduated in 2004 in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. His final thesis was developed in Mexico supported by ITESM (Tec de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de Mexico). He spent a year of his undergraduate career at the QUT in Brisbane, Australia.^[7]

Gualeni was awarded his Master of Arts in 2008 at the Utrecht School of the Arts. In his thesis, he proposed a hermeneutic model for digital aesthetics inspired by Martin Heidegger's existential phenomenology.

He obtained his Ph.D. in Philosophy (postphenomenology, philosophy of technology) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2014. His dissertation, titled Augmented Ontologies, analyse virtual worlds in their role as mediators: as interactive, artificial environments where philosophical ideas, world-views, and thought-experiments can be materialized, explored, and manipulated.^[8]

Academic work

Gualeni's work takes place in the intersection between continental philosophy and the design of virtual worlds.^[9] Given the practical and interdisciplinary focus of his research - and depending on the topics and the resources at hand - his output takes the form of academic texts and/or of interactive digital experiences.^[10] In his articles and essays, he presents computers as instruments to (re)design ourselves and our worlds, as gateways to experience alternative possibilities of being.^[11][12]

In 2015, Gualeni released the book Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools - How to Philosophize with a Digital Hammer with Palgrave Macmillan. Inspired by postphenomenology and by Martin Heidegger's philosophy of technology, the book attempts to answer questions such as: will experiencing worlds that are not 'actual' change our ways of structuring thought? Can virtual worlds open up new possibilities to philosophize? What does it mean to 'be' in virtual worlds?^[13]

List of commercial titles released as game designer

• Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade (2011) (iPad)
• Prezzemolo in una Giornata da Incubo (2007) (DVD TV game)
• Tony Tough 2: A Rake's Progress (2006) (PC)
• Midway Classics 2 (2006) (GBA)
• Midway Classics 1 (2006) (GBA)
• Dangerous Heaven (2005) (DVD TV game)
• Prezzemolo in una Giornata da Incubo (2003) (PC)
• Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths (1997) (PC)
• Mikro Mortal Tennis (1996) (Amiga)

Playable philosophical works

Stefano is a philosopher who designs videogames and a game designer who is passionate about philosophy.^[14] Although his academic work largely takes the form of texts, he designs virtual experiences that have the specific objective of disclosing thought experiments and philosophical ideas in ways that are interactive and negotiable (and perhaps even playful).^[15][16] The following are examples of ‘playable philosophy’ designed by Stefano:

• Something Something Soup Something (2017)
• NECESSARY EVIL (2013)

Other game industry credits

• Stefano is listed in the 'extra credits' of the 2013 Independent Games Festival (IGF) 'Student Showcase finalist' videogame ATUM for having acted as project supervisor and game design consultant.^[17][18]
• Stefano designed Necessary Evil, a small, critical videogame developed together with Dino Dini, Marcello Gòmez Maureira and Jimena Sànchez Sarquiz. The game was presented at the 2013 Digital Games Research Association conference in Atlanta as an example of the self-reflexive and critical potential of the videoludic medium.^[19]
• Stefano is listed in the credits of the 2012 action-adventure videogame The Unfinished Swan (PlayStation 3, developed by Giant Sparrow) for having tested early versions of the game and having provided design-related feedback.^[20]
• Gualeni appears in the credits of Playlogic Entertainment's 2009 hack-and-slash videogame Fairytale Fights (for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) for having helped with quality assurance recruiting and training.^[21]
• Stefano is thanked in the credits of the videogame EXP for having helped with the structuring of the game concept and having acted as project supervisor.^[22] EXP received honorable mention in the 2011 Independent Games Festival Student Showcase.^[23]
• Stefano is in the 'special thanks' section of the credits of the videogame Chewy! for having provided game design guidance.^[24] Chewy! was honored with the 'Best Design' award ($25,000) at the 2011 Independent Propeller Awards at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.^[25]

External links

• Stefano's personal website
• Dr Stefano Gualeni's profile at the University of Malta
• The website of the Institute of Digital Games at the University of Malta
• A selection of Gualeni's articles and publications
• A website pursuing an understanding of 'GAme Design as a TRasformative Practice'
• Website for the free, philosophical videogame NECESSARY EVIL
• Something Something Soup Something: playable philosophy

Footnotes