Professional Certificate in Game Design

Philip Tan

Research Scientist, MIT Game Lab

Philip Tan teaches courses in game design and production at MIT. His research translates the joy of expert challenge in scientific, professional, and competitive fields into playful forms that are accessible to anyone. For six years, he served as the executive director of the US operations of the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, a game research initiative. Philip has conducted research and development on projects with Blizzard Entertainment, Bose Corporation, Raytheon BBN, Fire Hose Games, and the Museum of Science in Boston.

In addition to his research and teaching, Philip served as an assistant manager at the Media Development Authority of Singapore, working closely with Singaporean game developers to launch industry-wide initiatives and administer content development grants. He has also served on the steering committee of the International Game Developers Association’s Singapore chapter.

Early in his career, Philip produced and designed online PC games at The Education Arcade, an MIT research group that studied and created educational games. He complements his master's degree in comparative media studies with his work at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the MIT Media Lab; WMBR 88.1FM; and the MIT Assassins' Guild, where he earned the title of Master Assassin for his live-action roleplaying game designs. He also teaches DJ courses and founded a DJ crew at MIT.

Mikael Jakobsson

Research Scientist, MIT Game Lab

Mikael Jakobsson’s interest in game development began in the 1980s, the age of early home computers. With a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and a Master’s in Informatics, he went on to write his dissertation on social interaction design in virtual worlds. Prior to his time with MIT, he also worked as a game reviewer for a major Swedish newspaper. His research interests converge at the intersection of game design and game culture. Building on a foundation in interaction design, he approaches his research using a combination of design exploration, interaction criticism, and participatory design, with the objective of strengthening the voices of underprivileged stakeholders.

Through his research, Mikael frequently collaborates with the game development community, including organizations such as Tencent, Ubisoft Massive, and King, and with other industry partners such as Bose Corporation and Boston Consulting Group. His work has been published extensively in leading game studies journals and anthologies, and he has coauthored a book with Professor Mary Flanagan scheduled for release from MIT Press in 2023. He has presented his research to a global audience, including the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Tencent in Beijing, and the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. He also teaches classes in game studies, game criticism, game design, and interaction design at undergraduate and graduate levels. He has 25 years of experience in teaching, developing courses, managing research projects, and advising master’s and PhD students.