Mark is a Principal Lecturer in the Department of Creative Technologies in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of Portsmouth. He is course leader for BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology and BSc (Hons) Enterprise in Computer Games Technology (www.port.ac.uk/games) and also manages staff resources for the department. In 2006 he took MSc Computer Games Technology through validation.
He set up the Advanced Games Research Group at the University of Portsmouth and is the founder of Women in Games which holds yearly conferences.
Mark is engaged on a part time PhD in which he is researching ambient games. The research game Ambient Quest was first played at the 2007 Women in Games conference and can be downloaded here: Ambient Quest.
Before entering academia Mark spent 23 years working in the games industry, from 1980 to 2003, including:
Head of Design at Rebellion
Creative Director at Hollis Research Limited
Freelance Design Consultant to Electronic Arts, Sega, Microprose, Hasbro, Activision, SCI, Virtuality
Creative Partner at Focus Creative Enterprises
Director at Holografix Limited
Director at Quicksilva Limited
During this time he also wrote scripts for 2000 AD and Sonic the Comic and, for a couple of years, made holograms.
Before joining the games industry Mark worked as a mathematics teacher at Glen Eyre School, Southampton.
Mark lives in Southampton with his wife Caroline and his two teenage boys, Joe and Tom.
Contact Mark here:
Principal Lecturer/Advanced Games Research Group
Department of Creative Technologies
University of Portsmouth
Eldon Building
Winston Churchill Avenue
Portsmouth PO1 2DJ
United Kingdom
Telephone: (44) 23 9284 5468
Email: mark.eyles@port.ac.uk
Website: www.port.ac.uk/games