Cheryl Platz, author of The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, was honored to meet with many members of the Carnegie Mellon University campus community on Thursday November 6 in a full-circle moment that brought her back for a signing of her new game development book at the newly remodeled University Store. Undegraduate students, graduate students, alumni, faculty, and parents all stopped by to learn more, say hello, meet with Cheryl, and grab a signed book and in some cases a photo.
After completing the book signing, Cheryl went on to co-teach a session of Interaction Design Fundamentals for Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Cheryl’s degree from Carnegie Mellon is a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction, so the Interaction Design Fundamentals class was a staple of her education. On her first physical appearance in the class, Cheryl said, “I think back to the skills and lessons I learned from this class on a regular basis decades later, so I’m always honored to be able to pitch in and share my experience back to this generation of students.” During this session, students shared research insights for their fourth project of the quarter, and Cheryl teamed up with instructor Bill Lucas (a fellow former MAYA Design alumni) to help the students with research synthesis and planning for their design projects geared towards improving the experience of personal mobility devices like ebikes. After class, Cheryl stayed to sign some bookplate stickers and answer career questions from interested students.
Cheryl also had the opportunity to see her books stocked next to copies of The Last Lecture, the book published by her late Carnegie Mellon advisor and mentor Randy Pausch, which was an emotional moment. Cheryl attended the Last Lecture in person in 2007, and is visible in a few of the slides if you know where to look. As Cheryl told the CMU website team for a 2011 profile called “Happily Ever After:”
“I remember how powerful just one hour of time can be in changing the direction of someone’s life. If the time I give through these efforts does that for even just one student in the way Randy did for me, then it’s worth it.”
Cheryl Platz, Carnegie Mellon Homepage story (2011)
Cheryl Platz is an adjunct faculty member for Carnegie Mellon’s Masters of Entertainment Industry Management program, but is based in their Hollywood campus and thus this was her first return to campus since 2012. Keep scrolling for photos from Thursday’s events at Carnegie Mellon and information on grabbing The Game Development Strategy Guide for yourself or your class at a discount!
Photo Gallery: Carnegie Mellon 125th Homecoming Book Signing
Photos from Cheryl’s guest appearance at CMU’s Fall 2025 Interaction Design Fundamentals class
Get The Game Development Strategy Guide
If you’re an educator, head to https://rosenfeldmedia/academic to learn about volume discounts and the ability to get a free remote Q&A with Cheryl when purchasing books in bulk for your class.
Want to pick up the book for yourself or someone for the holidays?
Use code ENDURINGPLAYS1 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order – and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 1 discount offer expires November 30, 2025.
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