Who We Are
RMGP is an interdisciplinary initiative bringing together game historians, media scholars, archivists, developers, and mobile-gaming enthusiasts to document, preserve, and interpret the evolution of mobile games and devices.
What is RMGP?
The Retro Mobile Gaming Project (RMGP) is a comprehensive archival and research initiative dedicated to documenting the history and evolution of mobile gaming. The project brings together a curated collection of early mobile games, handheld devices, platforms, and related materials from the formative years of mobile gaming.
Our Mission
We are dedicated to assembling a rigorous, structured archive of mobile games, devices, platforms, and associated media. We aim to provide researchers and practitioners with a trusted resource for studying the technological, aesthetic, and cultural dimensions of mobile gaming. Further, we hope to foster public understanding of how mobile gameplay has shaped and continues to shape culture — the interactions between hardware, software, users, and society.
Our Research Focus Areas
We concentrate our efforts around several interrelated domains:
Hardware & Runtime Histories
Documenting mobile devices, operating systems, game runtimes (J2ME, BREW, Symbian, etc.), chipsets, screen resolutions, input mechanisms, and how these influenced game design and experience.
Game & Genre Evolution
Cataloguing games by platform, year, region, input paradigm, distribution model, and examining how genres, mechanics and user communities evolved in mobile contexts.
Cultural & Regional Practices
Exploring mobile gaming across different geographies, carriers, languages, and economic models—including how mobile games functioned in pre-smartphone environments and markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Preservation & Access
Developing methods for representing, cataloguing, and providing access to legacy mobile hardware, game files, manuals, portal listings, and carrier metadata.
Interlinking Archive, Research & Play
Ensuring that archival artifacts are connected to research outputs and interactive experiences so that the history is not simply stored, but can be traversed, understood, and experienced.
Our Leadership Team
Adriana de Souza e Silva
Project Director
Adriana de Souza e Silva is Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Center for Transformative Media at Northeastern University. Her research explores how mobile and locative media technologies shape urban mobility and public space, especially in developing world contexts. Adriana’s deep interest in mobile media culture led her to co-found RMGP, where she brings a global, interdisciplinary lens to the preservation of mobile gaming heritage.
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Ragan Glover
Project Director
Ragan Glover leads the RMGP initiative as Project Director, and serves as Director of the Michigan Research and Discovery Scholars at University of Michigan. Her work focuses on the sociocultural impacts of mobile and immersive media. Ragan’s passion for uncovering overlooked mobile gaming histories in varied cultural settings has helped shape RMGP’s mission to chart mobile play’s global past.
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Logan Brown
Historian & Preservation Specialist
Logan Brown is a media historian and educator whose scholarship examines issues of power and capital in the history of video games, with a special emphasis on early American mobile games. As the project’s preservation specialist, Logan leads efforts to catalogue, contextualize, and communicate the archival artifacts gathered by RMGP, ensuring they are both accessible and meaningful for future scholarship.
Learn moreCurrent Research Assistants
Sutanuka Jashu
Ph.D. Student, Project Manager
Sutanuka Jashu is a first-year Ph.D. student studying Interdisciplinary Media and Design at Northeastern as well as one of the Center for Transformative Media's newest team members. Jashu is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and researcher whose work explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, cultural memory, and speculative spatial systems.
Arslan Parkar
Software Development
Arslan is pursuing an MS in Information Systems at Northeastern. He has experience in leading an AI-driven startup and has done impactful research projects focusing on innovative, user-centric solutions.
Shawne Laquindanum
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Shawne Laquindanum is a second-year Computer Science major involved in Barkada, Northeastern’s Filipino cultural club, and is an alum of Khoury First and the Summer Bridge Program.
Vivica Dsouza
Graduate Student, Media Innovation and Data Communication
Vivica Dsouza is a graduate student at Northeastern University studying Media Innovation and Data Communication. Her research interests include AI in journalism/communications, media technology, and data-driven storytelling.
Kannan Karthikeyan
Software Engineering Graduate Student
Kannan Karthikeyan is a software engineering graduate student at Northeastern who blends his lifelong passion for gaming with technical expertise to advance the RMGP initiative.
Chelsea Li
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Chelsea Li is a third-year student at Northeastern University, majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing and a minor in Interaction Design. Chelsea is passionate about expanding her portfolio in product and brand marketing.
Former Research Assistants
Alumni and contributors who previously served as research assistants.
Kaushik Manivannan
Software Engineering Graduate Student
Kaushik is a graduate student in Software Engineering Systems at Northeastern’s College of Engineering, driven by a passion for developing AI solutions that can make a real difference in people’s lives.
Alessandra Diaz
Research Assistant
Ale is a third-year student at Northeastern University pursuing a combined major in Business Administration and Experience Design. As a research assistant, she brings both technical expertise and creative insight to her work.
Yahan (Fiona) Wu
Dean's Honors Fellow
Fiona is a Dean's Honors Fellow pursuing a BS in Computer Science and Media Arts, contributing her technical and creative skills to the RMGP project.
Melania Diaz
Communications & Program Assistant Co-op
Melania Diaz is a third-year CAMD student majoring in Game Art and Animation. As the Center for Transformative Media co-op, she is responsible for office operations, event support, research assistance, and promotional content creation.