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Sharang Biswas

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Sharang Biswas
Occupation(s)Game designer/writer, interactive media artist, fiction writer, journalist, and academic
Employer(s)NYU Game Center, Fordham University, Museum of the Moving Image
Notable workFeast, Avatar Legends co-writer
AwardsENNIE Awards, IndieCade, Indie Game Developer Network

Sharang Biswas is an Indian American designer/writer of tabletop role-playing games and interactive media, a writer of speculative fiction, an adjunct professor of game studies at NYU Game Center, and a freelance games journalist. His work focuses on LGBTQ and science fiction and fantasy themes. Biswas has won multiple awards for his game writing work as both a solo designer and a collaborator: one IndieCade award, four ENNIE Awards, and two Indie Game Developer Network awards. He was an Artist in Residence at the Museum of the Moving Image.

Games and interactive media design

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Biswas designed Feast, a game that takes place during a meal and uses eating as a game mechanic.[1][2] Feast was featured in an exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia.[3] Feast won the 2017 IndieCade "Dark Horse" award[4] and the 2020 "Most Innovative" Indie Game Developer Network Award.[5]

Biswas has won four ENNIE Awards for game writing: the 2024 Silver for "Best RPG Related Product" for KOBOLD Guide to Roleplaying,[6] the 2023 Gold for "Best Family Game/Product" and "Best Rules" for Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game,[7][8] and the 2023 Judges' Spotlight Award for Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco and Cosmic Horror.[9] In addition to Feast, Biswas won the 2019 Indie Game Developer Network "Most Innovative" award for Verdure.[5] An Elegy for the Hive Witches from The Gauntlet's Codex Zine was also nominated for the IGDN "Most Innovative Award," in 2020.[10] Biswas' game Hex Ed appeared in the anthology You and I: Roleplaying Games for Two, which was nominated for an IGDN "Most Innovative Award" in 2019.[11]

In 2020, Biswas co-designed a LARP adaptation of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance for the Museum of the Moving Image, using puppets and other props from the museum's exhibit of the show's character design.[12] In 2021, Biswas became an Artist in Residence at the Museum of the Moving Image.[13] He has continued to produce interactive installations for the museum.[14][15]

Biswas was co-editor with Lucian Kahn for the Pelgrane Press LARP anthology Honey & Hot Wax in 2020,[16] which was nominated for an IndieCade award and an Indie Game Developer Network award for "Game of the Year."[17][18] Biswas contributed a game to the anthology called "The Echo of the Unsaid" about sexual tension between heterosexual male college roommates.[19]

Biswas co-edited Strange Lusts, an online anthology of interactive fiction about sex and sexuality, which was published in 2021 by Strange Horizons.[20] He wrote Absolution in Brass: A Game of Guilty Steampunk Zombie-Cyborgs for Simon & Schuster's The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book.[21] He wrote an adventure in Shadow of Operations, the official one-shots book for Grant Howitt's game Spire.[22] He wrote the adventure "Who Says Witches Don't Like Chinese Food?" for the Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall scenarios book.[23] He was on the writing teams for Tanya DePass's game Into the Motherlands[24] and Green Ronin Publishing's Cthulhu Awakens.[25]

Speculative fiction

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Biswas' speculative fiction has been featured in Fantasy Magazine,[26] Lightspeed (magazine),[27][28] Nightmare Magazine,[29] and Strange Horizons.[30] Charles Payseur for Locus reviewed Biswas' short story "Season of Weddings", which was published in Lightspeed: "Biswas keeps the tone and feel of the story flirty and fun, and painting an interest­ing picture of a shared and expansive collection of pantheons all interacting, being messy, and, for all their immortality, very human. It’s delightful!"[31] Paula Guran for Locus reviewed Biswas' story "Waiting for Jonah", which was published in Nightmare Magazine: "it’s a good story that employs an unusual use of some equally unusual fairies."[32]

Academia

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As of September 2024, Biswas is an adjunct faculty member of NYU Game Center.[33] Biswas was a visiting film and media studies professor at Dartmouth College, where he co-organized a collaborative speculative fiction project between authors and Dartmouth science faculty.[34] He has also taught games studies courses at Fordham University.[35]

Biswas wrote the chapter "Sex and Game Design (Part 2): Mechanics and Verbs" in the book Passion and Play: A Guide to Designing Sexual Content in Games by Michelle Clough.[36] He wrote a 2019 article for the University of Waterloo's Games Institute about the use of live action role-playing games for building queer community.[37] He also wrote about LARP for the academic journal Analog Game Studies.[38]

While working with Tech Kids Unlimited, Biswas collaborated with researchers and autistic students to assess the potential of video game design workshops in empowering autistic youth.[39]

Biswas holds an M.A. from Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. and B.E. in Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering from Dartmouth College.[40]

Talks

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Biswas was a special guest at Flame Con 2024.[41] He was a 2024 guest of honor at Ropecon.[42] He gave a talk at the 2024 Brooklyn Book Festival about games adapted from literature.[43] He gave a talk at the Game Developers Conference about portrayals of sex in video games.[44] He spoke on the game designer panel "Playing with Identity: Tabletop Role-Playing Games and the Queer Power Self-Definition" at Flame Con 2019, discussing the impacts of queer identity on game design and play.[45]

Journalism

[edit]

Biswas also works in games journalism. Biswas has been a frequent contributor to Eurogamer.[46][47][48][49] He has also written articles for Kill Screen[50][51] and Dicebreaker.[52] He was a judge for the 2022 Dicebreaker Tabletop Awards.[53]

Personal life

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Biswas grew up in Abu Dhabi and originally emigrated to the United States to study bioengineering at Dartmouth College. He discovered game design while taking a "fun class" with the designer and games researcher Mary Flanagan to offset his engineering prerequisites.[54] Biswas is gay.[55]

Works

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Game Writing/Design Credits

Title Publisher Credits Date Ref.
Cthulhu Awakens Green Ronin Publishing Writer 2024 [56][25]
KOBOLD Guide to Roleplaying Kobold Press Author 2023 [6]
Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game Magpie Games Writer 2022 [7][8]
Moonlight on Roseville Beach: A Queer Game of Disco and Cosmic Horror R. Rook Studio Writer 2022 [9][57]
Strange Lusts Strange Horizons Co-Editor, Writer 2021 [20]
Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall Game and a Curry / Wet Ink Games Scenario Writer 2021 [23]
Honey & Hot Wax (game: The Echo of the Unsaid) Pelgrane Press Co-Editor, Writer/Designer 2020 [16]
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance LARP at Museum of the Moving Image Museum of the Moving Image Co-Designer 2020 [12]
The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book (game: Absolution in Brass: A Game of Guilty Steampunk Zombie-Cyborgs) Simon & Schuster Writer/Designer 2020 [21]
Shadow of Operations Rowan, Rook, and Decard Adventure Writer 2020 [22]
An Elegy for the Hive Witches The Gauntlet (tabletop games producer) Solo Writer/Designer 2019 [10]
A Shroud for the Seneschal The Gauntlet Solo Writer/Designer 2019 [58]
Verdure self-published Solo Writer/Designer 2018 [5]
Hex Ed (in You & I: Roleplaying Games for Two) Ginger Goat Publishing Writer/Designer 2018 [11]
Feast self-published Solo Writer/Designer 2017 [1][2]
Mad Science Foundation Cryptozoic Entertainment Co-Designer 2015 [59]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Five Cool Games From Indiecade 2017". Kotaku. 2017-10-09. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  2. ^ a b Chan, Khee Hoon (2018-02-20). "Feast and Our Personal Stories of Food". Unwinnable. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  3. ^ Phil (2017-11-29). "Tag: Proposals on Queer Play and the Ways Forward - ICA Philadelphia". Institute of Contemporary Art - Philadelphia, PA. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  4. ^ "Feast | IndieCade - International Festival of Independent Games". 2017-09-14. Archived from the original on 2017-09-14. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  5. ^ a b c "Previous Award Winners". Indie Game Developer Network. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  6. ^ a b "2024 Winners & Nominees – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  7. ^ a b Meehan, Alex (2023-08-07). "Avatar RPG, Blade Runner RPG and Vaesen snatch multiple Ennie awards at Gen Con 2023". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  8. ^ a b Carter, Chase (2021-09-08). "Avatar Legends RPG's $10m on Kickstarter changed things". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  9. ^ a b "2023 Nominees and Winners – ENNIE Awards". Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  10. ^ a b "Codex – Void (Issue #38)". www.drivethrurpg.com. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  11. ^ a b "You & I: Roleplaying Games for Two". www.drivethrurpg.com. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  12. ^ a b "Museum of the Moving Image - Visit - Calendar - LARP: Creatures of The Dark Crystal's Age of Resistance". web.archive.org. 2021-02-28. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  13. ^ "Game Play: Interview with Sharang Biswas". Museum of the Moving Image. Mar 24, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  14. ^ "Stories in Motion: An Interactive Pop-Up Art Exhibit". Museum of the Moving Image.
  15. ^ Biswas, Sharang. "An Excavation of Light". Sharang Biswas: Portfolio. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  16. ^ a b Chan, Banana (2020-12-21). "Games of the Year 2020: Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall co-creator Banana Chan". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  17. ^ Chan, Banana (2020-12-21). "Games of the Year 2020: Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall co-creator Banana Chan". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  18. ^ Carter, Chase (2021-08-11). "Indie Game Developer Network announces 2021 award nominees". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  19. ^ "Honey & Hot Wax". Pelgrane Press Ltd. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  20. ^ a b "Track Strange Lusts / Strange Loves's Kickstarter campaign on BackerTracker". BackerKit. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
  21. ^ a b Elderkin, Beth (2020-11-05). "Join a Teenage Bird Gang in This Exclusive Game Reveal From The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  22. ^ a b "Shadow Operations: A Spire One-Shots Book". Rowan, Rook and Decard. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  23. ^ a b Chan, Banana. Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall. Haunted Tales. Wet Ink Games, 2021. pp. 124
  24. ^ Carter, Chase (2021-05-20). "Tabletop RPG Into the Mother Lands is now on Kickstarter". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  25. ^ a b Carter, Chase (2022-01-20). "Green Ronin's new RPG Cthulhu Awakens will attempt to transcend cosmic horror's baked-in bigotry". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  26. ^ Puncekar, Alex (2020-12-17). "Sharang Biswas". Fantasy Magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  27. ^ Wagner, Wendy (2022-02-14). "Author Spotlight: Sharang Biswas". Lightspeed Magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  28. ^ Wagner, Wendy (2023-05-18). "When Shiva Shattered the Time-Stream". Lightspeed Magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  29. ^ Wagner, Wendy (2023-11-08). "Author Spotlight: Sharang Biswas". Nightmare Magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  30. ^ "Sharang Biswas". Strange Horizons. 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  31. ^ "Charles Payseur Reviews Short Fiction: Cast of Wonders, Lightspeed, and Hexagon". Locus Online. 2024-06-08. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  32. ^ "Paula Guran Reviews Nightmare, Heartlines Spec, and The Deadlands". Locus Online. 2024-04-01. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  33. ^ "Sharang Biswas". NYU | Game Center. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  34. ^ "Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project considers next steps for the genre". Dartmouth Speculative Fiction Project considers next steps for the genre - The Dartmouth. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  35. ^ "Coursicle – Chat with classmates". www.coursicle.com. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  36. ^ Noble, Barnes &. "Passion and Play: A Guide to Designing Sexual Content in Games|Paperback". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
  37. ^ "Possibilities for Queer Community-Building Through LARP - First Person Scholar". www.firstpersonscholar.com. 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  38. ^ "Play to Find Out What Happens: Insight Through Reflection | Analog Game Studies". 2021-06-07. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  39. ^ Gillespie-Lynch, Kristen; Grossman, Eliana; Herrell, Jessye; Riccio, Ariana; Delos Santos, Jin; Biswas, Sharang; Kofner, Bella; Dwyer, Patrick; Rosenberg, Beth; Hwang-Geddes, Lillian; Hurst, Amy; Martin, Wendy B.; Pak, Eunju; O'Brien, Sinéad; Kilgallon, Elizabeth (2023-07-31). "A participatory approach to iteratively adapting game design workshops to empower autistic youth". Frontiers in Education. 8. doi:10.3389/feduc.2023.1179548. ISSN 2504-284X.
  40. ^ Biswas, Sharang. "About Me". Sharang Biswas Portfolio. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  41. ^ Nye, Annmarie (2024-07-05). "Sharang Biswas - Special Guest". The World's Largest Queer Comic Con. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  42. ^ "Ropecon 2024 Guests of Honor Sharang Biswas and Alessandro Giovannucci". Ropenomicon (in Finnish). 2024-05-16. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  43. ^ "Played a Good Book Lately? (In Person)". Brooklyn Book Festival. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  44. ^ Farokhmanesh, Megan (March 23, 2022). "How developers are rethinking sex in video games". Axios. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  45. ^ Sendaula, Stephanie. "Highlights from Flame Con 2019". Library Journal. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  46. ^ Biswas, Sharang (2024-07-05). "From Mediterranea Inferno to Baldur's Gate 3: the queer ecstasy of monster-loving". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  47. ^ Biswas, Sharang (2021-06-29). "Hunky Dads & Voxel Flags - Video Games and Our Queer Future". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  48. ^ "Fanfiction, fan-mods, and the joy of gay fantasy". Eurogamer.net. 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  49. ^ Biswas, Sharang (2020-06-25). "Towards more speculative sex". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  50. ^ Biswas, Sharang (2016-03-01). "Videogames and the art of spatial storytelling". Kill Screen - Previously. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  51. ^ Biswas, Sharang (2016-05-20). "Why adults are drawn to teenage stories". Kill Screen - Previously. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  52. ^ Biswas, Sharang (2021-02-17). "Indie RPGs show roleplaying can - and should - be far more than Dungeons & Dragons". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  53. ^ Meehan, Alex (2022-11-24). "Meet the judges for the Tabletop Awards 2022". Dicebreaker. Retrieved 2024-09-26.
  54. ^ January-February 2022, Lauren Vespoli ’13 |. "Ahead of the Game". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  55. ^ "Sharang Biswas". Represent Me. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  56. ^ Sass, Evan. "Cthulhu Awakens RPG". Cthulhu Awakens RPG. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  57. ^ "Moonlight on Roseville Beach by R. Rook Studio". itch.io. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  58. ^ "Codex – Bone (Feb. 2019)". www.drivethrurpg.com. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  59. ^ "GTM #198 - Mad Science Foundation". www.gametrademagazine.com. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
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