Brandon holds an M.S. in Game Science and Design from Northeastern University and has a background in economics. His research, working with Dr. Bob De Schutter, focuses on designing games towards the strengths of adults aged 50+, helping to make games remain appealing across the entire lifespan. Brandon is a game designer, researcher, writer, mentor, gardener, baker, and aspiring vocalist. His current project, Restless, pushes boundaries for story-rich, narrative games by creating procedural puzzles out of the personal histories of ordinary people.
Research/Publications Highlights
Journal Articles
Lyman, B., Zhang, Y., Pearce, C., Kim, M., Harteveld, C., Chukoskie, L., & Schutter, B. D. (2025). Supporting Aging Well through Accessible Digital Games: The Supplemental Role of AI in Game Design for Older Adults (In Press) (arXiv:2506.07777). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.07777
Conference Papers
Lyman, B., Qian, Y., Barney, C., Chukoskie, L., & De Schutter, B. (2026). The Best of Both Worlds: In Pursuit of a Cost-effective and Rigorous Pattern Language Generation Paradigm (In Review). PLoP ’25: Proceedings of the 32nd Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs. Pattern Languages of Programs, People & Practices, Columbia River Gorge, WA, USA.
Qian, Y., Lyman, B., Zhang, Y., Zhang, H., Fan, H., Wilds, G., De Schutter, B., Barney, C., & Chukoskie, L. (2026). From Lab to Living Room: Creating Sustained Engagement in Cognitively Beneficial Exergames through Pattern Languages (In Review). CHI PLAY ’26: Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, York, UK.
Zhang, Y., Lyman, B., Pearce, C., Kim, M., Harteveld, C., Chukoskie, L., & Schutter, B. D. (2025). Integrating Artificial Intelligence as Assistive Technology for Older Adult Gamers: A Pilot Study (In Press) (arXiv:2506.07830). arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.07830
Lyman, B., Ebrahimi, A., Cox, J., Chan, S., Barney, C., & De Schutter, B. (2024). Cardistry: Exploring a GPT Model Workflow as an Adapted Method of Gaminiscing. Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, FDG ’24, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1145/3649921.3656984
Chan, S., Cox, J., Ebrahimi, A., Lyman, B., & Schutter, B. D. (2023). Brukel vs Brukel: Impact of Game Fidelity on Player Experience In Gaminiscing Games. 2023 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1109/CoG57401.2023.10333250
Ebrahimi, A., Lyman, B., Cox, J. E., Chan, S., & De Schutter, B. (2023a). Catch The Butterfly: A Gaminiscing Game about Immigration. 2023 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1109/CoG57401.2023.10333172
Ebrahimi, A., Lyman, B., Cox, J. E., Chan, S., & De Schutter, B. (2023b). Catch The Butterfly: Using Gaminiscing to Design a Serious Game about Immigrants. 2023 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1109/CoG57401.2023.10333237
Master’s Thesis
Lyman, B. (2024). Exploring how players’ immersion is impacted by player-AI interaction. https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/files/neu:ms37fm14s
Other Publications
Zhang, Y., Lyman, B., Pearce, C., Harteveld, C., Kim, M., Chukoskie, L., & De Schutter, B. (2025). Exploring 50+ Adults’ Gaming Experiences and AI Perceptions (Industry No. 1; p. 24). Northeastern University. Northeastern Digital Repository Service. https://doi.org/10.17760/D20794596
Departments
Interdisciplinary, Art + Design
Education
- BS, Economics, Statistics Minor, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
- MS, Game Science & Design, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Awards
- CAMD Student Grant for Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, 2025
- CAMD Student Grant for Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, 2024
- Lux. Veritas. Virtus. Academic Honors Society, 2024
- Outstanding Master’s Student Award in Teaching, CAMD, 2024
- CAMD Graduate Student Scholarship, 2022
Research Focus
- game design
- gaminiscing
- age-friendly game design
- adults aged 50+
- gerontology
- pattern languages