Search Results

Albright, Scott

Title: CEO

Company: Combat Waffle Studios

 Scott Albright is the founder and CEO of Combat Waffle Studios, the team behind Ghosts of Tabor, VR’s first and best-selling extraction FPS. A veteran and former law enforcement officer, Scott has built Combat Waffle Studios into a leading force in VR gaming, pushing the boundaries of immersive survival and tactical experiences. He is also spearheading advancements in anti-cheat technology with Tomahawk Anticheat, a solution designed to combat cheaters in both VR and flat-screen gaming. In addition to Ghosts of Tabor, Scott is expanding the studio’s portfolio with Grim & Silent North, a new VR title set in a hauntingly atmospheric world, with more innovative projects on the horizon

Charlick, James

Title: Lead Artist

Company: Studio Gobo

James has been in the industry for 15 years. I started my career at Criterion games working on the need for speed franchise and a few other titles as an environment artist. He decided to take a leap, and changed companies to Studio Gobo where he continued to work as an environment artist initially on Disney Infinity. He worked his way up from Mid level, Senior and am now Lead Artist at Studio Gobo. Recently involved in the yet to be released Lego Horizon Adventures working alongside Guerrilla Games where he continued in his role as Lead Artist and been heavily involved in the artistic direction for that title.

Court, Rich

Title: Principal Artist

Company: Studio Gobo

Principal Environment Artist with over 10 years experience in industry Starting out my career at the Chinese room and gaining a huge amount of knowledge being part of a small team. I then had the opportunity to join to amazing team at Studio Gobo, getting a chance to work on some incredible projects such as For Honor And Synced off planet. leading to Lego Horizon Adventures as a principal environment artist excited to share the knowledge gained along this project and my career with others.

Dolin, Adam

Title: Writer/Narrative Designer

Company: Independent

Adam Dolin (he/him) is a freelance Writer and Narrative Designer with extensive experience in the AAA games industry. Formerly a Senior Writer and Narrative Designer at Santa Monica Studios and Guerrilla Games, and Lead Narrative Designer at Night School Studios, Adam has contributed to critically acclaimed titles such as God of War, Horizon: Forbidden West, and God of War: Ragnarok. As part of the talented narrative teams behind these games, Adam has earned accolades such as the 2019 WGA award for Outstanding Video Game Writing for God of War, along with multiple BAFTA nominations and wins. Starting his career as an intern at a voiceover studio, he worked for many years as a dialogue editor and talent coordinator, gaining valuable insights into the writing, mocap, and VO pipelines for AAA games.

Fayolle, Arnaud

Title: Game Sustainability Project Director

Company: Ubisoft

Moved by the urgency of the climate and biodiversity crises, Arnaud Fayolle shifted away from a successful career as a AAA Art Director (Forza Horizon 3 & 4, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided…) to explore how video games can be part of the solution to keep the planet livable for his children.
Leveraging his expertise of game development and his passion for environmental science, he co-founded the IGDA Climate SIG, advised the Playing for the Planet Alliance, and spoke at conferences on four continents to inspire and equip developers to discover the unique potential of their games for positive environmental impact.
Now working as Game Sustainability Project Director at Ubisoft, Arnaud’s quest is to empower and connect local environmental champions across Europe and Asia to facilitate the decarbonization of studios and the production of planet-positive content.

Francis, Chris

Title: Visual Design Lead

Company: Studio Gobo

A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Chris Francis has a background in Graphic Design and Interaction Design with extensive experience working in the video games industry in the UK, San Francisco and Canada. After 10 years at Ubisoft Toronto, he is currently working as a Visual Design Lead at Studio Gobo on LEGO Horizon Adventures. Mentor, Leader and Creative Inspirer.

Gallagher, Laura

Title: Character Artist, Founder

Company: Outgang

Laura is a veteran of the games industry, having worked almost ten years at Eidos Montreal and over two years at Guerrilla Games, in both instances up to the role of Lead Character Artist. Laura worked on blockbuster titles such as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Tomb Raider and Horizon: Forbidden West. Laura has been a character art lecturer since 2012, most prominently teaching at Centre NAD in Montreal, online for CGMA and most recently through her own platform at https://outgang.studio. Laura also regularly shares her character art experience on her Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Outgang

Gariepy, Max

Title: Senior Technical Animation Designer

Company: That's No Moon

Max Gariepy is a Senior Technical Animation Designer at That's No Moon. Max got his start in the games industry at Ubisoft Montreal before growing his skillset with the team at EA Motive as they started building the studio. Max then fulfilled a dream of his by moving to Europe where he was able to work at Guerilla on Horizon Forbidden West. Most recently, Max returned home and joined Haven, a new Sony-owned studio in Montreal.

Harris, David

Title: Product Manager

Company: Meta

David has spent a decade in product at Meta, including four years building the metaverse. Today, he leads teams focused on creator and developer monetization across MR apps and Horizon Worlds, Meta's x-platform immersive social experience. He was born and raised in the Bay Area, where he lives with his wife and toddler daughter. He's happiest on a run.

Keiren, Bryan

Title: Principal Game Tech Programmer

Company: Guerrilla

Bryan Keiren is a Principal Game Tech Programmer at Guerrilla. Over the past decade, he has contributed to the DECIMA engine's various tools and subsystems with a primary focus on DECIMA's visual programming framework. He has a passion for tools and building them into a force-multiplier. Recent projects include 'Horizon Zero Dawn' and 'Horizon Forbidden West'.

Lamprinos, Mike

Title: Product Manager

Company: Meta

Mike Lamprinos is a Product Manager at Reality Labs, overseeing Quest Developer Tooling. He leads teams developing tools such as Meta Building Blocks & Meta XR Simulator. Mike is driven by elevating the developer experience and making Horizon OS development more accessible to a wider set of developers.

Machado, Pedro

Title: Lead Game Designer

Company: Kluge Interactive

Pedro Machado is a Brazilian game designer with 14 years of experience and over 40 released games across PC, consoles, mobile, and VR. Currently a Lead Game Designer at Kluge Interactive, he oversees multiple projects, including Horizon Worlds experiences in partnership with Meta. With a strong background in creative leadership, he has led design teams and managed live service projects using data-driven design. His biggest passion is gameplay design, where he specializes in prototyping, documentation, and balancing mechanics to create engaging and well-structured game systems.

Mann, Kristen

Title: Product Manager

Company: Meta

Kristen Mann is currently a Product Manager at Meta where she spends her time thinking about Horizon Worlds and mobile. She was previously at Xbox where she led the mobile team responsible for the Xbox and Game Pass apps. She has a long career in games that has spanned a variety of publishers and developers and her credits include well-loved games such as Alan Wake, Kinectimals, Middle-Earth: Shadows of Mordor, and Guild Wars 2.

McAuley, Brad

Title: Data Scientist

Company: Meta

Brad loves to help people build things informed by data. He’s worked at Meta for the past 8 years understanding what works (and doesn’t work) on Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Gaming, & Meta Horizon Worlds. He lives in Edmonds, WA with his wife and 5 children and enjoys the party. Plays Command & Conquer, Gods of Gravity, and Paintball Playground VR and enjoys some peace and quiet every once in a while.

Rachitsky, Yelena

Title: Head of Emerging Formats

Company: Meta

Yelena Rachitsky is the Head of Emerging Formats at Meta. She and her team work on harenessing the power of GenAI to help creators build amazing experience in Horizon and the Metavers.

Russell, Adam

Title: Lead Designer

Company: Studio Gobo

Adam began his games career in 2010 as a QA tester at Realtime Worlds, before becoming game designer at a startup indie studio making Music Festivals for Facebook. After founding his own indie studio and releasing 2 games (1 browser, and 1 mobile) he joined Splash Damage in 2015 and worked on multiple projects as senior game designer, including Star Wars Hunters and an unreleased World of Tanks project. After joining Studio Gobo in 2020 as lead designer, Adam has worked on and released Synced, Redfall, and Hogwarts Legacy. He has led the level design team on his latest project; LEGO Horizon Adventures, which combines the worlds of LEGO and Horizon to create a new gaming experience that aims to bring Horizon to a brand new audience

Schoeppe, Rob

Title: CCO

Company: Accelbyte

Rob Schoeppe is the Chief Commercial Officer at AccelByte, where he leads sales and marketing efforts to assist clients in building, launching, and operating live service games. With over two decades of experience in game development technology, Rob has honed his expertise in crafting and executing go-to-market strategies, overseeing B2B sales, solution and product marketing, business development, and solutions architecture teams. Before joining AccelByte, Rob held senior executive roles at Bandai Namco, Sony, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). At AWS, he served as General Manager – Game Tech Solutions and Business Development, dedicating seven years to the gaming sector. His tenure at Bandai Namco and Sony further solidified his leadership in the gaming industry. Rob's passion for gaming is evident not only in his professional endeavors but also in his personal interests. He is an avid gamer who enjoys playing titles like "Horizon Forbidden West," "League of Legends," "PUBG," and "Fortnite." His comprehensive understanding of both the technical and commercial facets of the gaming industry positions him as a pivotal figure in driving innovation and growth at AccelByte.

Storm, Robin-Yann

Title: Product & UX for Tools

Company: Independent

Robin-Yann Storm is a freelance Tool UX & Workflow Designer. In the past he has worked as a full time Tool UX Designer in the AAA games industry on the 'Glacier 2' editor on which the Hitman series is built, where he was present for the end of Hitman 1 and the beginning of Hitman 2, and the 'Decima' editor on which the Horizon series was built, where he was present for the end of The Frozen Wilds, and the beginning of The Forbidden West. He has also consulted on Unity asset store level editors, and spent a few years working at Apple on AR creation tools such as Reality Composer and Reality Converter, which has made him well acquainted with the workflows of Pixar's USD framework. Next to that, he created and organizes the Tool Design Roundtables, talks at conferences around the world, and has contributed a chapter about Tool Design in the book 'An Architectural Approach to Level Design, Second Edition.

Thiel, Jordan

Title: Product Manager

Company: Meta

Jordan is the Product Manager for Horizon Creation Tools at Meta, where he has focused on VR development for Workrooms and Horizon Worlds for the past three years. With a decade of experience as a Product Manager and a programming background, Jordan previously led teams at Zoom and other hardware and software companies to deliver innovative solutions to market. Based in Austin, TX, he enjoys working on software projects in his free time as a solopreneur and enjoy family time with his wife and 1 year old son.

Totten, Christopher

Title: Associate Professor, Founder

Company: Kent State University/Pie for Breakfast Studios

Christopher Totten is an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of the Animation Game Design program at Kent State University. He is also an award-winning independent game designer, artist, and animator. He holds a master's degree in architecture (M.Arch) with a concentration in digital media from the Catholic University of America. Chris is a co-founder of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Arcade and a lifetime member of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). He was a member of the inaugural class for the IndieCade Horizons Faculty Excellence Awards, winning the Innovation Award for his work building an appreciation for games in the context of the arts. He has written multiple books on design, including An Architectural Approach to Level Design and World Design in 2D Action-Adventures, he is also the editor of the collected volume, Level Design: Processes and Experiences and the Level Design Practices series.

Veaner, Benjamin

Title: CEO

Company: HabitXr Consulting

Benjamin Veaner has been developing on the Horizon Worlds platform since early 2021. After winning Meta's SpringJam in 2022, he founded HabitXr Consulting. HabitXr focuses on helping studios build successful VR social content. Over the years Benjamin has contributed to dozens of projects in Horizon Worlds including projects such as 'The Office' and 'ESPN Tailgate'. HabitXr has also published their own content on the platform, and is best known for 'Plants!' and 'Bugs!'.

Vergara, Joey

Title: Technical Game Designer

Company: Meta

Joey Vergara is a Technical Game Designer at Meta focusing on GenAI creation tools for Horizon Worlds. He previously worked as a Gameplay Designer on titles like Crash Bandicoot 4, Crash Team Rumble, and Project Dragon (Everhaven). Joey also contributed to UGC tools as a Systems Designer at Rec Room. During his Games and Playable media graduate program at UC Santa Cruz, he developed the OculusVR game Dash Quasar, which was nominated for The Game Awards in 2018. Joey is dedicated to exploring new possibilities in game design and interactive experiences.

Wilson, David

Title: Lead AI/Gameplay Engineer

Company: Studio Gobo

David Wilson is a Lead AI/Gameplay Engineer who has 18 years industry experience implementing technical solutions to NPC gameplay. Working at Studio Gobo for the last 7 years, his recent career focus has been solving locomotion and behavioural requirements for quadrupeds and other non-human characters, where he led the engineering effort to implement the machine enemies of LEGO Horizon Adventures and the magical beasts of Hogwarts Legacy. Educated at the University of Sussex, he obtained a postgraduate MSc in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems. His other previous credits include For Honor, Guitar Hero Live, and the Driver franchise.

Yu, Shavonne

Title: Product Designer / Co-founder & Co-chair

Company: Meta Reality Labs / AAPI in Games SIG

Shavonne has served as a judge for BAFTA Young Game Designers, the Games for Change Student Challenge, and AACI’s Growing Up Asian in America. Her art and game studio, Player Yu, celebrates her first-generation immigrant Hong Konger-Canadian heritage and cozy gaming. She is the founding designer on Meta's Horizon Worlds Metaverse Social Equity team, launching pronouns, live captions, and wellbeing tools—including bedtime reminders and youth time limits—for hundreds of thousands of players. She also led design efforts to enhance gender equity through the promotion of cozy games on the Meta Quest Store. She serves on the Reality Labs Inclusive Product Council and co-authored the Meta MR/VR Accessibility guidelines.

Zanelli, Andrea

Title: Senior Technical Animator

Company: Studio Gobo Ltd.

Andrea Zanelli is a Technical Animator working in the video games industry. He started his career working on indie game titles like Daymare:1998 and Beyond a Steel Sky, where he developed a passion for character animation systems and cinematic workflows. He has experience with Unreal Engine, motion capture and a background in rigging. He most recently worked as Senior Technical Animator, with Studio Gobo Ltd., on tooling and pipeline development for animation and cinematics systems on LEGO Horizon Adventures.