Hamish Todd

I strongly believe that interactive media is the best way to give insights into systems. I believe that it is vital that people understand the beauty and importance of systems if our species is to survive the century. I also believe that the main thing missing from modern video games is level designthat seeks to satisfy a player's mechanical curiosity.

Science Outreach
I briefly worked on C4 rice, a gmo intended to save one billion people, and made this video about it.

I liked Interstellar. Here's some somewhat-mathematically-informed speculations about the ending.

Shipped Video gamesMusic of the Spheres is a puzzle game, intended to be my idea of heaven.

The Stranger Loop is an interactive lecture that uses the structure of the arcade game “Asteroids” to illuminate a few ideas including 4 dimensional surfaces and the shape of the universe.

I spent some time doing level design for a Finnish company, working on an autorunner that was intended to end up as a "Hello Kitty" game. It may have been shipped. DFKDFC.

Writing about level design

I have a semi-regular column called “Untold Riches”, though it has had other names. It focuses on game levels and tries to explain how their designers are able to make things uniquely fun. The first article was about the Medusa Heads from the Castlevania series, the second was about Avion from Shadow of the Colossus, the third was Half Life’s Barnacles, and the most recent wassome interesting platforming fro