Nevermind & Biofeedback Games

Today Genese talks with Erin Reynolds and Michael Annetta about Nevermind, a bio-feedback enhanced thriller game that revolves around the subconscious.  

Erin Reynolds is the Founder, President, and Creative Director of Flying Mollusk. She has a diverse background spanning the past 10 years in game development within a variety of different environments, including as a developer (handheld, social, and mobile), publisher, academic, and now indie. Erin is passionate about the potential games have to empower, educate, and inspire players of all kinds and to make the world a better, more playful place.
To this end, she took a sabbatical from her career in Game Development in 2009 to pursue her MFA through the prestigious Interactive Media & Games Division of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. There, Erin led projects such as Trainer, (winning the two top awards for Michelle Obama’s Apps for Healthy Kids competition at the White House) and the critically acclaimed academic version of Nevermind.
As Chief Mollusk of Flying Mollusk, Erin is dedicated to continuing to create edgy games and interactive art that leave a lasting positive impact on the user and world.

Michael Annetta has worked as a designer and producer with, among others, Wemo Labs, Walt Disney Imagineering, The Annenberg Innovation Lab, The Alchemists, and Mirada Studios.  He is a former member of the steering committee of TransmediaLA (now StoryForwardLA) and is currently a Consulting Advisor for The Lavender Effect, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization committed to advancing the future of LGBTQ history and culture. He has presented on games, transmedia and virtual reality at Storyworld, PAX Prime, NAMLE (National Association for Media Literacy Education), VR Long Beach and Bent-Con.
Michael holds an MFA from USC’s renowned Interactive Media division (where he was the first-ever recipient of the USC Lambda LGBT Alumni Association’s NOGLSTP (National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals) Scholarship in Innovation).
Michael shifted into games after a long and diverse career as a performer, singer, director and producer in stage and film. He has worked extensively in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. He can still perform a Shakespearean monologue or 16 bars of a ballad and uptempo when prompted (or intoxicated).