Chris Solarski

Chris Solarski started work in video games at Sony Computer Entertainment’s London Studio as a character and environment artist before making a career-defining detour into figurative oil painting. The unusual mix of game art and classical art eventually resulted in Chris authoring Interactive Empathy and Embodiment (IEE)—a sensory design methodology that adapts traditional craft to interactive media with the aim of heightening kinaesthetic empathy and embodiment. Chris has authored two other books on game art and storytelling in games that are endorsed by the likes of Assassin’s Creed founding member Stéphane Assadourian, and Cyberpunk 2077 level designer Max Pears. Chris’ work has been described as gaming’s equivalent to Robert McKee’s screenwriting classic, Story, and compared to Joseph Campbell’s universal storytelling structure. Chris has had the pleasure of presenting at the Smithsonian Museum’s landmark The Art of Video Games exhibition, Disney Research, SXSW, Google and FMX, to name a few.

Chris is currently developing an international humanities centre and theme park collaboration with Three Golden Doors. Chris also lectures and serves as industry liaison at SAE Institute in Zurich; Chairs the International Game Developers Association’s Switzerland Chapter (IGDA Switzerland) to support #swissgames developers in their craft with conferences and specialist training and initiatives that foster diversity and sustainable business practises; and co-founded the IGDA Game Art Special Interest Group (SIG)