Simone Downie
Assistant Professor of Game Design and Animation
Office
CVA Center For The Visual Arts 202a
Office Phone
Email
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Selected Research
Biography
Simone Downie teaches and researches at the epicenter of art, gameplay, and interactivity. She is interested in how these worlds can blend together to create hands-on experiences that foster motivation, storytelling, and social bonding.
Current Courses
ART 217.001 Animation: Drawing and Stop Motion
CTK 490.011 Directed Projects In Creative Technology
CTK 390.008 Directed Projects/Seminar In Arts Technology
CTK 351.001 Game Design I
CTK 431.001 Game Design I
CTK 251.001 Introduction to Digital Animation
CTK 481.004 Selected Topics in Creative Technologies
Teaching Interests & Areas
Game design, design thinking, traditional animation, 2D art
MFA Design
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
BA Film and Media Arts
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
BA English
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
University Service Initiative Award
Office of the Provost, Illinois State University
2025
College Service Initiative Award
Office of the Provost, Illinois State University
2024
Grants and Contracts
Understanding and Alleviating the Wicked Problem of Self-Management Adherence Among Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices and Their Caregivers Using AI-Powered Machine Learning and Gamification
Greg Corness, Kristin Anne Carlson, Dan Cox, Luke Russell, Jessie Casida, Simone Downie.
Illinois State University. October 2025 - 2026
Understanding and Alleviating the Wicked Problem of Self-Management Adherence Among Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices and Their Caregivers Using AI-Powered Machine Learning and Gamification
Kristin Carlson, Greg Corness, Jessie Casida, Luke Russell, Simone Downie, Dan Cox.
Research and Sponsored Programs. October 2025 - September 2026
A Novel Adventure: Re-Engaging Hesitant Readers Through Collaborative, Multi-Sensory Gameplay
Simone Downie.
WKCFA College Research Committee. July 2024 - July 2025
Building Community to Support Student Success in The School of Creative Technologies
Kristin Anne Carlson, Simone Downie, Annie Sungkajun, Greg Corness, Rose G Marshack.
Illinois State University. July 2024 - June 30 2025
Conference Proceeding
Empathy and Communication: Developing a Mobile Game to Enhance Social Support for Young Adult Cancer Patients
Mojde Kalantari, Simone Downie, Alex Hashemi.
Springer Nature, LNCS 15823, 247-263, (2025), 10.1007/978-3-031-93061-4_16
Exploring Affective Interaction in Self-Management Adherence for Artificial Internal Organ Care
Kristin Anne Carlson, Greg Corness, Jessie Casida, Luke Russell, Dan Cox, Simone Downie.
CHI Workshop on Affective Computing, (2025)
The Bitter Truth: Virtual Reality Life Review Experience
Moji Kalantari, Kristin Anne Carlson, Simone Downie.
The International Symposium for Electronic Art, (2025)
Designing an Arts-Based, Collaborative Mystery Game to Improve Players’ Motivation and Confidence as Storytellers
Simone Downie.
Springer International Publishing, 13056, 515-520, (2021), 10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_47
Murder on Mansion Hill: Encouraging Collaborative Group Storytelling to Improve Motivational Aspects of Literacy Using Gameplay and Arts-Based Techniques
Simone Downie.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 13056, 46-61, (2021), 10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_4
Presentations
Collaboration with AI Through Teaching and Practice in Creative Technologies
Dan Cox, Greg Corness, Simone Downie, Tony Anthony Reimer, Kristin Anne Carlson.
AI & the Humanities: An Interdisciplinary Symposium, Normal, IL, April 16, 2025
Collaboration with AI Through Teaching Practice in Creative Technologies
Christopher Lackey, Simone Downie, Kristin Anne Carlson, Dan Cox, Greg Corness.
University Teaching and Learning Symposium: Emergent Technologies, Enduring Values: Reimagining Teaching for a New Era, Normal IL, January 7, 2025
Creative Technologies - The Keynote
Kristin Anne Carlson, Rose G Marshack, Annie Sungkajun, Simone Downie.
High School Research Symposium, Normal, IL, May 1, 2023
Beyond the Text: Motivating Learners to Explore Multimodal Narrative Through Gameplay
Simone Downie.
Hayes Graduate Forum, Columbus, Ohio, March 4, 2022
Murder on Mansion Hill, A Collaborative Storytelling Game
Simone Downie.
International Conference on Entertainment Computing, Coimbra, Portugal, November 3, 2021