Dudi Pelesדודי פלס
00 · Start

A partial catalog of things I have written, built, taught, and created over the years.

BOK 001–0022Books
09.2026
EDU 001–0066Courses
06.2026
LEC 001–01212Lectures
04.2026
RES 001–0022Academic writing
02.2018
GME 0011Games
06.2025
APP 0011Apps
1 in progress59%06.2026
SHR 001–0022Short stories
1 in progress32%12.2024
ART 0011Digital art
08.2026

27 items in the catalog · 2 in progress

01 · BookBOK · one item
BOK · 001

The Gifting Art

Book · 2026

For as long as I can remember I've put a lot of effort into gifts. As I grew up the effort grew with me and turned into something of an obsession... so in 2023 I decided to start writing a book about creative gifts, and after three years of work it came out. "The Gifting Art" is a collection of 50 gift ideas, some I made myself, some I received, and some reached me as stories, while I was researching the subject.

The book is for anyone who loves to make and give, and in a way it was also my own way of doing both.

The book has a website of its own, which is also a creation full of surprises of itself. So go in, play with it, and if creativity and gifts are close to your heart, you're more than welcome to buy a copy.

Visit the book's site
The Gifting Art by Dudi Peles standing on a wooden table: a grey hardback, the title on the cover and coloured dots sunk into the clothThe book open at the map: coloured rectangles laid out by the rooms of the book, each with its name and the numbers of the gifts inside itA close-up of the introduction, with the headings "Gifts of the Third Kind" and "A Gift Is a Work"The key to the book's symbols: cost, difficulty, age and templates, beside a QR code and the address of the book's site
02 · TeachingEDU · two items
A Game Changers cohort on stage at the Reichman University school of entrepreneurship
EDU · 001

The Game Changers Workshop

Course · Reichman University · since 2023

In 2023 the school of entrepreneurship at Reichman university launched the "Game Changers" program, a program that intersects entrepreneurship, video games and impact. I had never come across an academic setting that drew so precisely on my skills, connections, experience and passion.

A classroom at Kibbutzim College, students at laptops facing a projected screen
EDU · 002

Games in Learning

Course · Kibbutzim College · since 2013

Video games and learning are two fields woven into one another, and happily the Technology in Education department at Kibbutzim College thought so too. Leading to a hands-on course where teachers learn about video games and about the ways they can be used in a classroom, and where the final exercise has them use a video game in the classroom themselves, for some of them, for the first time in their lives.

03 · LecturesLEC · seven items
LEC · 001

Gifts and Generative AI

Lecture · 2025

Long before my book came out I started using generative AI heavily to make gifts. In late 2025 I gave a talk about it at a conference on generative AI, where for the first time I spoke about my book in front of an audience.

The opening slide of the talk, a wrapped gift inside a colourful illustration made with generative AI
LEC · 002

The History of Video Games

Lecture · 2026

For close to 20 years I've been giving talks on the history of video games, and almost every year I update the talk because I keep being asked to give it again… every year it changes and renews itself.

The opening slide of the deck, the title above a wall of dozens of glowing game screens
LEC · 003

Video Games in Rehabilitation

Lecture · 2024

As the years went by my work with video games narrowed more and more onto impact: teaching, politics, entrepreneurship.. so when the National Institute for Neuropsychological Rehabilitation asked me in 2024 to give a talk to therapists on games and rehabilitation, I couldn't pass it up… The talk opens by taking apart the stigmas around video games and goes on to show the ways they're already being used in rehabilitation.

The opening slide of the deck, a patient in a VR headset in a rehabilitation lab lit in purple
LEC · 004

A MOOC on Games in Learning

Lecture · 2018

In 2015 I was asked to compress my whole course on games in learning into a single lesson in a MOOC that every education student at the college would take. It went well enough, so in 2018 it was produced again for Campus IL for an even wider audience.

A frame from the lesson, Dudi Peles speaking to camera beside the figure that 28.5 percent of teenagers in Israel play for over four hours a day
LEC · 005

The History of Video Games, for Kids

Lecture · 2018

When my daughter was in second grade she asked me to come to her class and give a talk. So I modified one of my talks on the history of video games for a room full of eight-year-olds. I have to say, it was an amazing experience.

The opening slide of the deck, Mario sitting on a bench playing a Nintendo Switch
LEC · 006

The Story of Games for Peace

Lecture · 2020–2025

Games for Peace, a nonprofit that brings Jewish and Arab teenagers together through video games, has been part of my life since 2013. In the years since I've told its story in front of an audience dozens of times.

The opening slide of the deck, two Minecraft characters standing together above an open landscape
LEC · 007

Games for Good

Lecture · 2021

A talk I gave at the Kavim VeMachshavot nonprofit in 2021, on the ways video games can be put to good use.

The opening slide of the deck, Mario and Luigi figurines standing hand in hand on a path
04 · Academic WritingRES · two items
RES · 001

My PhD Dissertation

Academic writing · 2013

Somewhere in 2007 I started writing a PhD dissertation, in Hebrew, about video games. In 2013, after seven years of work, I submitted it. In my dissertation I explained how and why video games developed the way they did, and in the end I proposed a theoretical model that can help explaine exactly that.

05 · The PlaygroundGME, APP, SHR, ART, BOK · six items
The game's progress map, two numbered tracks lined with task squares over a summer illustration
GME · 001

The Great Summer Game

Game · 2025

Every year, as the summer holiday comes closer, my kids ask me "are we going to play the Great Summer Game again?" For several years now the answer has been yes. The game gets more elaborate each summer, but the base stays the same: the kids do tasks through the summer, make progress, and collect points or prizes.

The logo of the Great Summer Game: Trip Edition, a burst of colour holding a skyline, a moon, a castle and palm trees, with the game's name beneath it
APP · 001

The Great Summer Game: Trip Edition

App · 2026

In the summer of 2026 our family went away on a long trip abroad and we couldn't play the Great Summer Game. My kids wanted a game anyway, so I decided to build one that fits travelling.

APP · In progress
App · being made now
Something I am building in the evenings. Not ready, so not in the catalog yet.
59%
An illustration for the story: a worker at a screen inside a hall of glowing sleep pods, an enormous clock above him
SHR · 001
Frozen Sleep
Short story · 2022
My first attempt at science fiction. Enjoy the read.
An illustration for the story: two people reaching towards an open present bursting with clocks and colour
SHR · 002
The Gift
Short story · 2024
A story about a surprising birthday present. Enjoy the read.
SHR · In progress
Short story · being made now
Something I have been working on lately. Not ready, so not in the catalog yet.
32%
A work from the collection, made with Midjourney
ART · 001
A Midjourney Collection
Digital art · since 2023
I've been working with Midjourney since 2023, and along the way I've made a few things I think are good enough to share. So if AI-generated digital art is your thing, please take a look…
The book cover: a slice of cake on a plate, a blossoming almond tree above it and roots below, drawn on a tablecloth
BOK · 002
Grandma Esther's Recipes for a Long Life
Book · 2024
For my grandmother's 100th birthday I decided to make her a special gift, and it became one of the gifts I'm most proud of. Together with my whole extended family I put together a cookbook that is also a book of memories, and, surprisingly, it holds quite a few genuinely useful recipes. So why keep it in the family?
06 · ArchiveEDU, LEC · nine items
EDU · 003
The InGame Workshop, Reichman
Course · Reichman University · 2014–2020
The InGame workshop was one of the more unusual workshops in Israel: students from a range of departments at Reichman University (back then it was called IDC), mostly computer science, communications and business, teamed up with students from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, and spent a full year building video games together, closely mentored by people from the local industry. In the workshop we barely touched software development or graphic design and focused mostly on creating working video games for the first time.
The opening slide of the InGame IDC Game Lab workshop, with a painted red bird in the sky
EDU · 004
Game Entrepreneurship Workshop, Tel Aviv University
Course · Recanati, Tel Aviv University · 2012–2017
In 2012 I started teaching a master class in the entrepreneurship and innovation program at Recanati School of Business Administration (now Coller School of Management), Tel Aviv University. It was a hands-on five-hour workshop: in the first half the students learned about the video games industry and the opportunities it offers entrepreneurs, and in the second they put together new concepts and "fought" one another in a battle of ideas where only the strongest survived.
The opening slide of the Innovation Workshop, Games and Reality, with an illustrated dinosaur at an arcade cabinet
EDU · 005
Introduction to Video Games, Visual Communication, Shenkar
Course · Shenkar · 2008–2011
In 2008 I was asked to teach in academia for the first time. I was writing the opening chapter of my dissertation at the time, a kind of general introduction to video games, and it became the backbone of this course. Over the years I taught it, the chapter shaped the course and the course shaped the chapter.
The opening slide of the Introduction to Video Games course, with a three-dimensional Space Invaders alien
EDU · 006
Game Development in AS3, Beit Berl
Course · Beit Berl · 2009–2012
In 2009 I started teaching game programming in the game design and development program at Beit Berl. I built the course over two years, with one aim: that students would learn programming principles by making games. It was taught in Action Script, a language that has all but vanished, though the principles have held up. For the second cohort, which started in 2010, I decided to gamify the course itself, and the decks attached here are from that gamified version. The course also had more advanced lessons taught by Uri Golan and Peleg Tuchman; only the lessons I created entirely myself appear here.
The opening slide of the Action Script 3.0 game development course, above a painted platform-game landscape