Media
Publications:
Documents:
Videos:
Audio/Podcasts:
Biography
An Emmy®-winning experience designer, Steve Peters has worked on some of the biggest and most innovative interactive experiences to date. He’s co-founder of No Mimes Media and hosts the StoryForward Podcast, a show about the future of entertainment.
Previously, Steve was at Google's Niantic Labs, and was VP of Experience Design at Fourth Wall Studios.
His specialties include: geolocation games, AR/VR, experiential marketing, immersive gaming, interactive creative direction, alternate reality game design, user interface design, music production, and sound design.
Steve founded the Alternate Reality Gaming Network in 2002, has guest lectured at schools including USC, Georgia Tech and Cal Arts, spoken at media conferences around the world, and projects he's worked on have won multiple awards including an Emmy®, Cannes Lions Grand Prix Awards, SXSW Web Awards, and Webby Awards.
Industry Expertise (3)
Design
Computer Gaming
Entertainment
Areas of Expertise (5)
AR / VR
Location Based Games
Game Design
Transmedia
Entertainment
Accomplishments (2)
Emmy Award (professional)
2012-09-15
Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media, Original Interactive Television Programming for Dirty Work on Rides.TV (Fourth Wall Studios).
2012 Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer's Edition (personal)
2012-01-01
Made the Guinness Book for founding the longest-running Alternate Reality Games website.
Links (2)
Languages (1)
- English
Event Appearances (39)
The World as Your Canvas: Telling Location-Based Stories
GDC 2017 San Francisco, CA
2017-02-27
Pokemon Go and AR Games
Bank of America / Merrill Lynch Investor Conference Tokyo, Japan
2016-09-12
Virtual Reality Panel
Film Com Nashville, TN
2016-02-22
ARGs Aren't Dead!
MOSO Conference 2015 Saskatoon, SK
2015-06-19
ScreenWest Interactive Media Seminar
ScreenWest Media Series Perth, Australia
2015-03-04
Experience Designers: Why Hollywood Needs More of them
Veritas University Design Summit San Jose, Costa Rica
2014-08-29
Closing Keynote
MOSO Conference 2014 Saskatoon, SK
2014-06-14
Creatively Using Social Media for your Web Series
New Media Expo 2014 Las Vegas, NV
2014-01-05
Screenings Series: Multimedia Storytelling
Digital Hollywood Content Summit Marina Del Rey, CA
2013-05-01
Keynote: Telling Compelling Brand Stories Across Media
Fuse Chicago Chicago, IL
2013-04-17
Closing Keynote
International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces Marina Del Rey, CA
2013-03-21
Mentor Session
SXSW Interactive Austin Texas
2013-03-10
Beyond Rear Vision Thinking
SPAA Conference Melbourne Australia
2012-11-12
Fourth Wall Studios Keynote
Createasphere Entertainment Technology Summit Burbank, CA
2012-11-08
How Not To Pitch Your Project
StoryWorld Conference Hollywood, CA
2012-10-19
Breaking Down the Walls
Digital Hollywood Content Summit Marina Del Rey, CA
2012-10-17
Connecting Content Across the Screens
Variety’s Multiscreen Summit Hollywood, CA
2012-09-10
How the Future Will Tell Stories
Distrito Cinema Transmedia Seminar Bogotá Colombia
2012-08-22
Guest Lecturer
University of Southern California/Annenberg School for Communication Los Angeles, CA
2012-07-30
The Evolution of Gaming Behaviors
Storyworld Conference San Francisco CA
2011-10-31
Transmedia Artists Guild: New Media Needs New Representation
SXSW Interactive Austin, TX
2011-03-13
Experience Designer: The Next-Generation Film Director?
Transmedia Victoria Melbourne Australia
2011-01-27
Keynote: The Future of Entertainment
Canal+ Annual Meeting Paris, France
2011-01-18
Transmedia in the US: Three Emerging Trends
New Media Days 2010 Copenhagen Denmark
2010-11-09
Transmedia and Alternate Reality Games
Film Independent’s 2010 Filmmaker Forum Hollywood CA
2010-10-31
Transmedia Storytelling: How the Future Will Tell Stories
From Story to Legend Utrecht, Netherlands
2010-09-27
Shattering the Fourth Wall with Social Media - How the future will tell stories
The Pixel Lab Cardiff, Wales
2010-07-04
Are ARGs Always a Promotion?
USC/UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television: Transmedia Hollywood: S/Telling the Story Los Angeles, CA
2010-03-16
The 10-Minute Transmedia Experience
SXSW Interactive Austin, TX
2010-03-14
Buzzword Watch: Transmedia SXSW
Nat’l. Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Conference Las Vegas, NV
2010-01-26
Rules of Engagement
ARGFest 2008 Boston, MA
2008-07-23
Alternative Narratives
Don’t Kill Your Darling film director’s conference Copenhagen Denmark
2009-12-07
Fireside Chat – Designing ARGs
DIY Days LA Los Angeles, CA
2009-11-19
Extending the Experience: The New Storytellers
Power to the Pixel 2009 London London, England
2009-10-14
Alternate Reality Games and You
Barcamp LA Los Angeles
2009-05-02
ARGs and Full Media Storytelling (Guest Lecturer)
California Institute of the Arts Valencia, CA
2009-04-29
You’re Living Your Own Private Branded Entertainment Experience
SXSW Interactive Austin, TX
2009-03-13
How Game Play, Social Networking and User Generated Content are Re-Shaping the Playing Field
Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2008 Cannes, France
2008-06-17
What Can the Video Games Industry Learn From Alternate Reality Games?
SXSW Interactive Austin, TX
2008-03-10
Sample Talks (1)
Transmedia: Beyond the BS
Everyone's talking about Transmedia Storytelling: What it is, what it does, and how it's the solution to all of our problems. Lots of numbers and anecdotal evidence are being bandied about, but does transmedia really engage multitasking audiences and show us the future of entertainment? Does every character need a Twitter account? Where does the hyperbole end and the entertainment revolution begin? Steve gets past the guru talk to share what really works and really doesn't.
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Moderator
- Panelist
- Workshop Leader
Fees
Articles (2)
The Engagement Paradox
Medium2016-07-11
[EDIT: This article does NOT mention Pokemon Go….] So, July is the Month of The Runner. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s the Go90 TV series that’s been in development by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for 12 years or so, where a “Runner” has to be chased down across the country by a team of Hunters for cash and prizes. It premiered on July 1st, and is LIVE, three times a day, for 30 days. Let’s stop and think about that: Three times a day. Every day. For THIRTY Days. The first thing I thought when I heard about it was “Holy crap, I’m glad I’m not on that production team! It must be hell!” They need to assemble a new episode three times a day. Every day. For thirty days. The production schedule must be nuts. Nobody can be getting any sleep. It’s madness.
Hollywood and Silicon Valley Have the Same Problem — and They Don’t Even Know It
Medium2016-06-20
So I was watching the latest episode of HBO’s Silicon Valley last night. If you haven’t seen this show, it’s a spot-on satire/comedy about a small tech startup called Pied Piper. And it’s hilarious. Because it’s true. Here’s a pitch-perfect example, where they mock Facebook’s infamous Chair Ad: In a nutshell, the startup’s new app has just launched, and they’re getting ready to celebrate their 500,000th download. But all is not well, as they realize that the real metric that means anything (Daily Active Users) is a dismal 19,000 or so. What follows is a flurry of various attempts to raise their Active User-base, which includes focus groups, hiring an ad agency, getting brand partnerships for giveaways and even hosting workshops on how to use Pied Piper. Ultimately, one of them takes the shady (but all too common) step of paying an Indian tech sweatshop to get them. It struck me that they’re trying everything except the obvious thing: Hire a Designer.
Social