Concordia’s Behaviour Interactive scholarships fuel new waves of creation in game design

Thirteen Concordia students have been awarded Behaviour Interactive (BI) Scholarships to support their inventive projects in game design. Funded by the Montreal-based independent video-game developer, the program empowers students to push the boundaries of research-creation and interactive storytelling through mentorship, community and hands-on production support.

This year, nine undergraduates received $5,000 awards and four graduate students earned scholarships of $15,000 each. Their projects will culminate in a spring showcase that gathers creators from across the university’s game research communities.

“The goal has always been to cultivate a space where students can experiment boldly,” says Jonathan Lessard, associate professor and Behaviour Interactive Research Chair in Game Design. “These scholarships support them materially, but just as importantly, they foster a community of practice. It’s a place where ideas grow through conversation, critique and shared enthusiasm.”

Among this year’s graduate recipients are Humanities PhD students JoDee Allen and Elise Trinh, whose projects reflect the breadth of creative approaches emerging within Concordia’s game studies ecosystem.

How games shape players

For JoDee Allen, the BI scholarship supports the development of Punching Out, a game that imagines an aging, hot-flashing action hero at a crossroads: should they retire peacefully or keep questing until the end?

“Players chart new trajectories through virtual time and space as an aging bad-ass,” Allen explains. “Does this wise, experienced adventurer choose to take a step back, read books and garden, or keep questing until the bitter end?”

The game is the creative component of Allen’s research-creation PhD, which explores games as “choreographic devices or systems that shape player embodiment through modes of idleness and actions,” Allen explains.

“At the design level, I’m asking what mechanics enhance the embodied feeling of slowing down. And more broadly, in an action-based society like ours, how can we place value on rest, leisure, enjoyment or self-care?”

Allen notes that the scholarship’s impact goes beyond funding.

“This support helps me focus on the game, but the network of faculty and other PhD students has been invaluable for feedback, support, and generally chatting about games. Over the next year, I hope to finish a playable version to present at my doctoral defence,” they add.

Stories worth telling

Elise Trinh is developing Conversation Starters, a micro-game about how to strike up a conversation with someone on a bench.

“It’s part of a series of micro-games about micro-interactions in narrative games,” Trinh explains. “How do we bring depth and tell stories about ordinary encounters or relationships, using the unique means of video games? How can we subvert usual preconceptions we may have about what is deemed fun, or 'worth telling' in games?”

The BI scholarship has already helped Trinh reach a first playable prototype and find community.

“I hope to make an extended version of it next year. Conversation Starters is also the final micro-game in my research-creation project as a PhD student, and I hope to complete the associated thesis in the coming months.

“The supportive, growing community of game researchers and creators is incredibly valuable to me. Sharing work regularly, discovering peers’ projects and helping one another is always fun and inspiring.”
 

Learn more about Concordia’s Department of Design and Computation Arts.

Discover the Humanities Interdisciplinary (HUMA) Program at Concordia’s School of Graduate Studies.

Explore research-creation in game studies through the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre at Concordia.