About

Drew Thomas is a multifaceted game developer with experience in doing the art, programming, writing, and soundtracks for games. After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design with his Masters in 2023, he did quality assurance for a mobile Star Wars game while running his own indie game operations. In 2024, he began teaching as an Assistant Professor at Eastern Michigan University. He is currently focusing his practices and research on the development of serious games or games for change, by studying how games can be used as a platform for intrinsic thinking and social change via the use of magical realism (fantasy elements) and critical play (infusing the mechanics of games with thoughtful themes). In his freetime, he loves staying active, drawing, or playing Chess.

Unlike many other forms of play and media, video games are platforms that can physically express and project experiences of what can’t exist otherwise. They’re interactive spaces that are hardly limited by materiality. Any message can exist, any story can be told, and any emotion can be captured.
That’s what makes video games an ideal platform for going beyond the core elements of play to create something more meaningful than a game, but a platform to subtly examine social issues, intrinsic thinking, and creative expression.