Search Results
Your search for "narrative" returned the below results for sessions and speakers.
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International
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Speaker: Amanda Farough (Causeway Studios)
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Speaker: Benjamin Reeves (SC Creative Labs)
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Speaker: Nikky Armstrong (Perfect Garbage)
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Speaker: Kathleen Yin (NVIDIA)
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Speaker: Siyu Chen (Insomniac Games)
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AI
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Career, Narrative & Performance
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Speaker: Emmett Nahil (Perfect Garbage Studios)
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Narrative & Performance, Design
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Speaker: Olga Kellner (Owlcat Games)
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Track:
Narrative & Performance, Design
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All
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Speakers: Lucas Immanuel (Glootschke Games), Thomas Mackinnon (Solo), Joe Buchholz (Cobysoft Co.), Lucy Blundell (Kinmoku), Chris Kohler (Digital Eclipse / Atari), Davey Wreden (Everything Unlimited Ltd.)
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Design, Narrative & Performance
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Speaker: Eric Zimmerman (NYU Game Center)
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Design, Tabletop
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Workshop
Speakers: Toiya Kristen Finley (Schnoodle Media, LLC), Michelle Clough (Talespinners Studio), Jennifer Allaway (Independent), Matthew Weise (Freelance), Zaire Lanier (Independent)
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Track:
Narrative & Performance, Career
Audience Level:
Entry-Level
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Forum
Speaker: Mateusz Lechowski (Fumi Games)
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IP & Brand
Track:
Design, Independent Development
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Track:
Narrative & Performance, Design
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Roundtable
Speakers: Kaitlin Tremblay (Soft Rains), Alexa Ray Corriea (Independent), Jolie Menzel (Zunzun Studios)
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Track:
Narrative & Performance, Design
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Speakers: Anna C. Webster (Independent), Alexa Ray Corriea (Gearbox), Ashley Poprik (Independent), Adam Dolin (Turtle Rock Studios), Lis Moberly (The Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Games), Alice Camp (Microfun), Emma Kidwell (Independent), Stephen Rhodes (Electronic Arts), Kelsie Mhoon (Obsidian Entertainment), Sam Winkler (Geartbox Software), Sam Maggs (Critical Role), Aysha U (Independent), Nessa Cannon (Independent), Benjamin Schwartz (Microfun), April MacArthur (Gearbox Entertainment)
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Narrative & Performance
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Portfolio Review
Speaker: Jaclyn Seto (Respawn Entertainment)
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Narrative & Performance
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Lecture
Speaker: Radka Fléglová (Warhorse studios)
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Track:
Production & Team Leadership
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Lecture
Speaker: Yoshiki Kanou (lasengle,inc)
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Track:
Narrative & Performance, Design
Audience Level:
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Lecture
Speaker: Olivia van den Born (IO Interactive)
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Track:
Design
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All
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Lecture
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Track:
Culture & Sustainability, Marketing
Audience Level:
Intermediate
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Hot Topics:
International
Track:
Independent Development, Marketing
Audience Level:
Intermediate
Format:
Lecture
Speaker: Katy Kellenberg (Constellation Creative)
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Track:
Narrative & Performance, Career
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Title: Senior Writer & Narrative Designer
Company: Independent
Jennifer Allaway is a renaissance woman of interactive narrative. In 11+ years, she's written and designed for games in AAA, indie, mobile, and tabletop. Outside of her bread and butter career, she's also worked on escape rooms, LARPs, a knitting game, even a museum exhibit. Her experience may be broad, but her success comes from her specific narrative techniques. She practices sociological storytelling to use the world and societal systems to make every scene matter. Highly emotional scenes are her specialty, along with heart-wrenching relationships and romance. All in all, she makes games with big hearts.
Title: Lead Narrative Designer
Company: Magic Tavern
Writer, narrative designer, radio DJ, former US Navy submarine officer. Lead Narrative Designer for Magic Tavern's mobile F2P match-3 game "Project Makeover".
Title: Narrative Designer
Company: Perfect Garbage
Luca is a game writer and narrative designer. He is currently working as a Narrative Designer on Grave Seasons at Perfect Garbage Studios, and has worked on projects like Borderlands 4 at Gearbox Software.
Title: Co-Founder
Company: Sweet Baby Inc
Kim Beliar is the co-founder of Sweet Baby Inc where her award-winning team of writers and narrative designers help make stories better. With over 30 games shipped across AAA, indie, and solo developer projects, her team consists of storytellers who take projects to the next level.
Title: Independent Game Developer
Company: Kinmoku
"Kinmoku is the online alias of Lucy Blundell – an award-winning, disabled, independent game developer from England, who is now based in Frankfurt, Germany.
Kinmoku creates narrative-driven experiences that show players a softer side to gaming, where sincerity, introspection and human relations replace action, fantasy and power.
Kinmoku's first game – One Night Stand – was released on PC, Mac and Linux in 2016, and later reached console audiences in 2019. It explored the actions of someone thrust into an awkward 'morning-after' scenario. One Night Stand found a following amongst players, became a hit with many prolific YouTubers, and even received a nomination at the Independent Games Festival 2017 for Excellence in Narrative.
In 2023, Kinmoku released their next title – VIDEOVERSE – on PC, Mac and Linux to critical acclaim, with 90 on Metacritic and 92 on OpenCritic. VIDEOVERSE won Best Narrative at Debug Indie Game Awards 2024 and the Critics' Choice Award at Indie Cup UK 23. In 2025, VIDEOVERSE made its way onto consoles with a Japanese localisation."
Title: President
Company: Vox Point LLC
Khris (she/they) has been working in VO for games, animation, and film for over 30 years. As a founding member of the Lucasfilm Games Voice Department, she pioneered the beginning of the Games VO industry, casting, directing, and leading a team of editors to create the gold standard for voice production. She has worked on numerous Academy-Award nominated films and an Emmy-award winning animation series through Skywalker Sound, and is credited in BAFTA, VGA, Golden Joystick, and countless other award-winning titles from LucasArts, Double Fine, Ubisoft, EA, Activision, Blizzard, Telltale, and more. She most recently won a Peabody Award as the Casting & Performance Director for the game "We Are OFK." She founded the Narrative Talent Group at Ubisoft Montreal and the Voice Department at Double Fine Productions, and continues to work on multiple groundbreaking, innovative projects each year.
Title: Writer
Company: Escape Velocity Entertainment
Zoe Calamar is a game writer and narrative designer based in Southern California. She is currently working on an unannounced title Escape Velocity Entertainment and has worked on projects such as Borderlands 4 at Gearbox Software and Marvel's Wolverine at Insomniac Games.
Title: Senior Narrative Designer
Company: Microfun
Alice Camp is a writer, narrative designer and translator with over a decade of experience designing story-driven games.
Title: Narrative Designer
Company: Independent
Nessa Cannon is a video game writer and narrative designer with over six years of experience in the industry, on over a dozen shipped titles such as Borderlands 4, Date Everything!, Star Trucker, and the Endoparasitic franchise. She has spoken at GDC, Narrascope, CSU LA, and Northeastern University on interactive fiction and branching techniques. She was previously part of IGDA's Next Gen Leader program as well as Academy of Interactive Arts and Science's Amplifying New Voices cohort. She is also an avid video essay watcher and always gets ink on her hands when changing out her fountain pen.
Title: Creative & Marketing Director
Company: Lofty Sky Games
Judith Cheung is Creative & Marketing Director at Toronto's Lofty Sky Entertainment. A BIPOC woman navigating an underrepresented space in gaming, she brings over a decade of media experience and an architectural background to immersive storytelling. She won GDC Pitch 2023 and GDC Best in Play with narrative sci-fi adventure Sky of Tides. Judith brings a sharp lens on creative direction, immersive storytelling, and amplifying diverse voices in games.
Title: Game Writer, Editor, Narrative Designer
Company: Talespinners Studio
Michelle Clough is a freelance game writer, editor, and narrative designer, and a partner in the game narrative co-op Talespinners. Her work includes Destruction All-Stars, Purrfect Date, Choices, Albert Wilde: Quantum P.I., and Destiny 2. Co-founder of the IGDA Romance and Sexuality Special Interest Group and the Forum for Erotic and Romantic Interactive Media (FERIM), Michelle has been speaking at GDC since 2014 on topics related to sex, sex appeal, and sexuality in video games, and has written a book on the subject, Passion and Play: A Guide to Designing Sexual Content in Games, intended as a resource for exploring intimacy and sex in writing and game design.
Title: Lead Writer and Narrative Designer
Company: Gearbox
Alexa Ray Corriea is a writer, narrative designer, and narrative systems designer with a decade of experience. She has worked with major blockbuster IP, including Marvel, Middle-earth, and Call of Duty. Alexa is a host of the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook Podcast and works closely with several industry organizations including the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, and GDC.
Title: Lead Writer and Narrative Designer
Company: Gearbox
Alexa Ray Corriea is a writer, narrative designer, and narrative systems designer with a decade of experience. She has worked with major blockbuster IP, including Marvel, Middle-earth, and Call of Duty. Alexa is a host of the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook Podcast and works closely with several industry organizations including the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, and GDC.
Title: Founder
Company: Coquito Games
Jarory is a creative and playful game developer who specializes in narrative design, implementation, and programming. As a developer he's worked on properties such as Star Wars Jedi Survivor, Madden 20, Marvel Strike Force, and Saros. Jarory focuses on character interactions and crafting worlds in his writing. He is passionate about creating and implementing systems that blend gameplay and narrative, using gameplay to drive dialogue and worldbuilding. He also currently serves as president of the board for Global Game Jam.
Jarory has taken the skills he's fostered in AAA games to his indie studio, Coquito Game, where he leads development on Where the Chips Fall, a Balatro inspired blackjcak game, and Concrete Rose, a hip-hop inspired JRPG. Jarory inspires his colleagues and next generation developers through collaborative projects, teaching, and public speaking. His speaking engagements include GDC, DevCom, and a plethora of podcasts.
As a developer of color, he seeks to amplify minority voices through inclusive design, unique perspectives in narrative, community service, and activism. Jarory is also a community organizer for Black in Gaming (BiG) and a member of the Latinx in Gaming community. Outside of games, Jarory is an accomplished Poet, Musician, and Chef.
Title: Narrative Designer & Studio Director
Company: Split Fate Studios
Dani Dee is a Peabody and BAFTA award-winning Narrative Designer, Writer, and Studio Director with AAA, AA, and indie experience specializing in immersive worldbuilding, ensemble casts, and unforgettable payoffs.
Title: Narrative Lead
Company: Turtle Rock Studios
Adam Dolin is a narrative designer, writer, and creative consultant with 17 years in the game industry. His credits include God of War (WGA Award, BAFTA Best Narrative), God of War: Ragnarök (Game Awards Best Narrative), and Horizon: Forbidden West. He's consulted on projects for AAA and indie studios, including SEGA, Netflix, iam8bit, and is currently the narrative lead at Turtle Rock Studios.
Title: Visiting Assistant Professor of Game Design
Company: Hampshire College
Jess is a writer, game designer, and educator focused on subversive and thoughtful storytelling through interactive media. After completing a BA in English at Harvard University, they completed an MFA at the NYU Game Center and a fellowship with SUNY Buffalo's Palah Light Lab. Currently, Jess is a game design and development lecturer at University at Albany.
Erion has worked as a senior writer, editor, and narrative designer on games like Red Thread Games' Dustborn, Carnegie Hall's Tune Crafter, Six to Start's All Hands to Freedom, and Studio Chyr's Hotel Infinity. Currently, they are working with Red Thread Games on survival RPG Hello Sunshine and other unannounced projects.
Outside of work, Jess is often reading speculative fiction, watching baseball, and replaying old Harvest Moon games.
Title: Director of Production
Company: Causeway Studios
Amanda Farough is the consummate multiclasser. In addition to her work as a writer and narrative designer (The Final Cut of Lilith Cunningham, Truck-kun is Supporting me From Another World?!, Terrible Lizards, Gnaw), Amanda is a producer at Strange Scaffold (Truck-kun is Supporting me From Another World?!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown), a business analyst at her consultancy, F-Squared, co-host of the Virtual Economy podcast, and director of production at Causeway Studios' and a writer on the studio's second game, The Final Cut of Lilith Cunningham. In her personal life, Amanda is a burgeoning gardener and herbalist, solo RPG aficionado, and mother of four (including two aspiring game designers).
Title: Senior Narrative Coordinator
Company: Insomniac Games
Justin Fennessy is a Los Angeles native with 10 years of industry experience and a love of storytelling. Starting his career in Quality Assurance, Justin is now a Senior Narrative Coordinator at Insomniac Games where he focuses on delivering AAA writing and performances to players around the world.
Title: Narrative Designer, Game Writer, Editor, Consultant
Company: Schnoodle Media, LLC
Nashville native Toiya Kristen Finley, Ph.D., has been a freelancing writer and editor her entire adult life. She earned a doctorate in literature and creative writing from Binghamton University. Over her career, she has published more than 80 works of fiction, nonfiction, comics/manga, and games, and has over 20 years of experience writing in a range of genres, tones, styles, and voices. She gained editorial experience interning at Henry Holt's imprint, Owl Books. At Binghamton, she founded the literary journal Harpur Palate and served as its managing/fiction editor.
In 2011, she cofounded the Game Writing Tutorial at GDC Online with Tobias Heussner and served as an instructor in 2011 and 2012. In videogames, she has worked as a game designer, narrative designer, game writer, editor, and diversity/narrative consultant (or some combination of the five) on everything from AAA titles to mobile games to games for children to small indie projects. Recent work includes writing visual novel Siren Song (Stardust Works), copyediting for Destiny 2 (Bungie), developmental editing on Insecure: The Come Up Game (Glow Up Games), writing/editing on Ritual of Raven, writing for the Interview with the Vampire TTRPG, and editing Our Brilliant Ruin.
A presenter at conferences throughout the year, she has lectured on freelancing and storytelling and led workshops on narrative design and game design. She is a member of the IGDA Game Writing Special Interest Group's Executive Board. The Game Narrative Toolbox (CRC Press), a book on narrative design she coauthored with Jennifer Brandes Hepler, Ann Lemay, and Tobias Heussner, was published in 2015. Narrative Tactics for Mobile and Social Games: Pocket-Sized Storytelling (CRC Press), which she edited and contributed to, was published in 2019. Her latest books are Freelance Video Game Writing: The Life & Business of Digital Mercenary for Hire (2022) and Branching Story, Unlocked Dialogue: Designing and Writing Visual Novels (2023) both from CRC Press. Of late, she has been working on her own visual novel series, beginning with Incarnō: Everything Is Written.
Speaking History: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-vZf3N5I_8Nclp0dkZ1UVpBcTQ/view?usp=drive_link&resourcekey=0-Hw0yQbGXjCsqC1CiPu9lmA
Title: Realization Director
Company: Freelance
I have been kicking around the industry since 2009 across QA, Cinematics, Animation, Design & Realization - building teams, content, tech & pipelines across multiple full-cycle projects.
I work with teams to find the gaps between the team & what they're trying to build, focused on narrative presentation in all it's flavors.
Title: Producer / Designer
Company: Ironwood Studios / Co-op Kitchen / Lucky Tree Studios
Charlie Harper is a Game Designer and Producer based in the Greater Pacific Northwest. Since entering indie development in 2013, Charlie has donned numerous roles, demonstrating adaptability and a comprehensive understanding of game creation. Her journey began as a 2D artist at Whimsy Games, and most recently, they contributed to the successful launch of "Pacific Drive: Whispers in the Woods" at Ironwood Studios as Producer.
When not working at Ironwood Studios, Charlie divides their extra time between artistic duties for Co-op Kitchen and design work for Lucky Tree Studios. Over the past decade, they have cultivated a diverse skill set spanning multiple disciplines, with a particular focus on production. Harper's passion lies in pushing the boundaries of gaming, aiming to evoke new emotions, craft compelling narratives, and overcome emerging technological hurdles.
With a career marked by versatility and innovation, Charlie continues to be a dynamic force in the indie game development scene, consistently seeking to expand the medium's potential.
Title: Lead Gameplay Engineer and Designer
Company: Sucker Punch Productions
Samuel Holley is a lead gameplay programmer and designer at Sucker Punch Productions, where he co-leads a cross-disciplinary group of coders and designers developing core gameplay systems. He focuses on fantasy-fulfilling and narrative mechanics, character AI, and player experience. Samuel joined Sucker Punch in 2015. Before that, he was a software engineer at Iron Galaxy Studios. He enjoys hiking, experimental pizza, and time travel stories.
Title: Former Production Intern
Company: Blizzard Entertainment
Hudson Janow is a Game Producer and Narrative Designer who cofounded Sunday Studios. He is a queer creative, with advocacy and representation for the LGBTQ+ community at the core of his work.
Title: Senior Creative Director
Company: lasengle,inc
Yoshiki Kanou is a veteran Japanese game director with over 25 years of experience in the game industry, currently leading development and operations for the globally acclaimed mobile RPG Fate/Grand Order.
Kanou began his career in 2000 at SEGA, where he spent 15 years accumulating development expertise across a wide range of platforms, including home console, arcade, and mobile games. Starting as a software engineer on DreamCast and PlayStation 2 games, he transitioned into game design and director roles, leading high-profile arcade franchises such as OutRun2 SP, After Burner Climax, and the long-running multiplayer action title BORDER BREAK. He possesses extensive expertise spanning programming, system design, quality control, and project management.
In 2017, Kanou joined DELiGHTWORKS Inc., initially managing special live projects before stepping into the role of Development Director for Fate/Grand Order in 2018. Leading a large-scale team of over 300 developers, he oversees end-to-end game operations, narrative integration, feature enhancements, level design supervision, and production workflow optimizations. Under his leadership, the development team has successfully built and sustained a high-density "Story-First" development pipeline, aligning complex live-ops mechanics and dynamic visual presentation with rich storytelling.
Kanou holds a Master's degree in Information Sciences from Hiroshima City University and is a Certified ScrumMaster. He specializes in bridging technical implementation with creative direction, resolving complex production bottlenecks, and fostering organizational environments where narrative vision thrives.
Title: Lead Narrative Designer
Company: Constellation Creative
Katy Kellenberg is a freelance narrative designer and writer with over five years of experience building worlds, writing characters, and leading teams towards better, more engaging experiences. She currently works as Narrative Lead at Constellation Creative, VO Director at All In Tactics, Lead Narrative Designer on an unannounced project, and most recently a Narrative Designer at Unexpected Accessories. Outside of development, they're passionate about supporting the narrative design community through student mentorship and bringing in-industry narrative folks together to compare war stories. She also loves TTRPGs and has a Minecraft tattoo.
Title: Narrative Design Director
Company: Owlcat Games
With more than 9 years of experience in video game narrative design, I have advanced all the way from a junior developer to the narrative design director at Owlcat Games. My expertise lies both in crafting compelling character arks, quests, and dialogues as well as in heading the narrative production of projects and creatively managing a narrative team. I acted as narrative lead for Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader and am currently leading the narrative development of Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy. Previously, I participated in the development of Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous as a narrative designer.
Title: Senior Writer
Company: Independent
Emma Kidwell is an award-nominated writer and narrative designer based in Maryland.
Title: Game Writer
Company: Independent
Zaire Lanier is a Peabody and BAFTA winning writer and narrative designer. Best known for her work as a writer on South of Midnight, she has also worked on Subnautica: Below Zero and Gears of War: E-Day.
Title: Lead Narrative Designer & DLC Game Director
Company: Fumi Games
Mateusz Lechowski is the Lead Narrative Designer and DLC Game Director at Fumi Games, developers of MOUSE: P.I. For Hire, leading narrative design, quest design and creative direction for the studio. Mateusz has over 15 years of experience at various companies such as Draw Distance, sodigital and Drago Entertainment, across a range of design, project lead, writing and narrative roles.
Title: Associate Director of Narrative
Company: Gearbox Entertainment
April Johnson is the Associate Director of Narrative at Gearbox Software where she is equal parts storyteller and organizer of creative chaos. She works with teams to help them create engaging stories and worlds that stick with players long after the console has powered down. April's portfolio spans nine years at Gearbox and includes titles such as Borderlands 3, Borderlands 4, and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. She is also co-creator, writer, and actor in the transmedia project Borderlands: Dead ECHOS, and she co-hosts Gearbox's DevCast series, spotlighting the artists, designers, engineers, and storytellers behind the games while giving audiences a deeper look into the creative process.
Title: Senior Manager, Narrative Storytelling
Company: Critical Role
Sam Maggs is a New York Times Bestselling and Eisner-winning author of books, comics, and video games. Currently the Senior Manager of Narrative Storytelling for Critical Role, Sam has had a decade-long career in game writing and IP strategy. Sam’s game writing credits include Anthem (RIP); Call of Duty: Vanguard (Sledgehammer); Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (Gearbox); Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps (Insomniac); Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance (Tuque); and, as an IP strategist, Idle Champions and Baldur’s Gate III (Wizards of the Coast). Her game spin-off novel Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars hit the NYT list, and her comics and graphic novels include Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins, and Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas. She’s also a long-time on-air host and moderator. A Canadian in Los Angeles, she misses Coffee Crisp and bagged milk.
Title: Senior Manager, Narrative Storytelling
Company: Critical Role
Sam Maggs is a New York Times Bestselling and Eisner-winning author of books, comics, and video games. She serves as the Senior Manager of Narrative Storytelling for Critical Role's external narrative projects. Her novels include Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars and The Unstoppable Wasp: Built on Hope; she's written for games like Call of Duty: Vanguard, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, and Marvel's Spider-Man; and her comics and graphic novels include Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins, and Tell No Tales: Pirates of the Southern Seas. She is also on-air talent for networks like Dropout and the Nerdist. A Canadian in Los Angeles, she misses Coffee Crisp and bagged milk.
Title: Technical Sound Designer, Senior Sound Designer
Company: Independant
Avril Martinez is a sound designer and technical sound designer with over 8 years of experience in game audio. Their credits include Halo Campaign Evolved during their time at Arrival, and agent ability sound design and foley for VALORANT, a first-person tactical hero shooter, as well as pet, playmat, music, and skins design for Legends of Runeterra, both at Riot Games. Avril has also worked across mixed reality audio, including projects for Microsoft's HoloLens 2 and Tinker VR, a Sundance Film Festival participant. Outside of work, Avril makes leather armor for LARP and HEMA, plays D&D with friends, starts (and rarely finishes) epic narrative games, and spoils their dog nephew Tibu wherever possible.
Title: Studio Design Director
Company: Zunzun Studios
Jolie Menzel's decade of experience as a narrative designer, writer, and artist informs their holistic approach to storytelling. Beginning their career as a cinematic artist on Telltale games like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, they leveraged their passion for story in their transition to the design team on Tales from the Borderlands. Their unique ability to combine storytelling, design, and production brought them to lead cross-disciplinary teams as the lead narrative designer on Gears 5: Hivebusters at The Coalition and on South Park: The Fractured But Whole at Ubisoft.
Title: Senior Narrative Designer
Company: Obsidian Entertainment
Kelsie Mhoon is a narrative designer and game writer with a focus on RPGs and expansive branching dialogue. During her 8 years in the industry, she has worked on a number of projects including Pixelberry Studios' "Choices: Stories You Play" and most recently, Obsidian Entertainment's "The Outer Worlds 2". Based in the Pacific Northwest, she spends her free time hiking, birdwatching, and cheering on her favorite teams.
Title: Creative Lead
Company: The Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Games
Lis Moberly is the Creative Lead of 20th Century Games at The Walt Disney Company where she works with IP such as Alien, The Simpsons, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She has worked with companies such as Obsidian Entertainment, WB Avalanche, and Chuhai Labs as a game writer and narrative designer. Her work can be found in Avowed, Cursed to Golf, Hogwarts Legacy, and We Went Back, among others. In addition to her games work, Lis is a former academic and professor who continues to study critical issues facing game development including game dev burnout, feedback culture, and institutional memory.
Title: Narrative Director, Co-Founder
Company: Perfect Garbage Studios
Hailing from a haunted seaside town in Northeastern Massachusetts, Emmett Nahil is the Narrative Director and Co-founder of Perfect Garbage Studios, and the lead writer of Grave Seasons. He is also the author of FROM THE BELLY (Tenebrous Press, 2024) and LET ME OUT (Oni Press, 2023), among other scary fictions.
Title: Senior Writer
Company: Brass Lion Entertainment
Evan Narcisse is the Senior Writer at Brass Lion Entertainment, the game studio behind Wu-Tang: Rise of the Deceiver. He's worked as a screenwriter, producer, and narrative design consultant in video games, comic books, film, and TV, often focusing on the intersection of blackness and pop culture.
As a journalist and critic, he wrote for The Atlantic, Time Magazine, Kotaku, and The New York Times, in addition to teaching game journalism at New York University and appearances as an expert guest on CNN and NPR. He's also the author of the Rise of the Black Panther graphic novel, Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Atlas, and The New Day: Power of Positivity.
As a narrative design consultant, he's worked on Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Redfall, Marvel's Avengers, Gotham Knights, and the award-winning Dot's Home. He also served as story producer on the HBO Max documentary Milestone Generations, documenting the rise, fall, and rebirth of the groundbreaking black-owned comics company Milestone Media. A native New Yorker, he now lives in Austin, Texas.
Title: Games Writer, Narrative Designer & Games Researcher
Company: Independent
Adanna Nedd is a Games Writer, Narrative Designer, and Games Researcher. She has previously worked on Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To, KISS U, and other games. Her research focuses on the experiences of players of color in virtual video game environments.
Title: Lead Writer and Narrative Designer
Company: Independent
Alexa Ray Corriea is a writer, narrative designer, and narrative systems designer with a decade of experience. She has worked with major blockbuster IP, including Marvel, Middle-earth, and Call of Duty. She is currently working on several unannounced projects across games and film. Alexa is a host of the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook Podcast and mentors within the games industry, working closely with several industry organizations including the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, and GDC.
Title: Principal Writer & Strategic Consultant
Company: SC Creative Labs
Ben Reeves builds haunted starships, monster prisons, and the narrative engines that power them. A veteran storyteller with a 20-year footprint in the industry, Ben has built a career that explores the DNA of play. From his start at Marvel Comics to a 16-year tenure as a leading critical voice at Game Informer, he has evolved into an experienced narrative designer for global franchises, including Marvel's Midnight Suns and Civilization VII.
He specializes in the structural art of weaving complex lore into emotional experiences. Today, Ben serves as a narrative consultant and story architect, helping studios and brands build fictional foundations and compelling character arcs.
Title: Senior Narrative Director
Company: Electronic Arts
Stephen Rhodes is an award winning writer and narrative designer with over 16 years of game development experience working on AAA, AA, and indie titles. Alongside his work on video games, Stephen also writes for comics, TV, film, and TTRPGS. He is currently a Senior Narrative Director for Electronic Arts and is working on the Iron Man title at the EA Motive Studio in collaboration with Marvel Games.
Title: Editor
Company: Independent
Arden Ripley is a writer, editor, and localizer for games and comics. They have worked in the independent games space for over a decade, with a passion for complex, intense narrative.
Title: Senior Producer
Company: Crystal Dynamics
"Emily Robertson is a Senior Producer at Crystal Dynamics, and recently celebrated her tenth year at the company. Emily is most recently a Senior Producer on Tomb Raider: Catalyst. Prior to Tomb Raider, Emily worked on Marvel's Avengers, and at Disney Mobile on Disney Animal Kingdom Explorers and Disney Hidden Worlds. She is passionate about world building and story in video games, and has a keen eye for detail with regards to narrative and character development. Emily's love of production stems from its flexibility to allow her to explore the endless facets of game development.
Emily is shamelessly organized, and has even sent up a Trello board and Slack instance for her house."
Title: Head of Studio
Company: Plan A Collective
Tereza Roller-Sabella is Head of Studio and Partner at Plan A Collective, with over a decade inside the room on both sides of the deal, as vendor, client, and studio lead across co-development and creative production. Her background is in concept and narrative, with active research in transmedia storytelling. The framework in this talk is built from pattern recognition across years of contracts, teams, and hard conversations, not from theory. She is based in Prague.
Title: Narrative Director
Company: Broadsword Online Games
Ashley Ruhl is a narrative swiss army knife, with credits in cinematics, writing, narrative design, and voice direction. She's currently the Narrative Director on the long-running massively multiplayer online game "Star Wars: The Old Republic". Ruhl started out creating cinematics for branching cutscenes before moving into narrative direction at studios like BioWare, Telltale, and Broadsword. She blends her experience in writing, cinematics, and narrative design to create experiences that encourage players to be part of the story.
Title: Senior Narrative Designer
Company: Microfun
Books Schwartz is a professional narrative designer and game writer. They started in video games with the mobile smash hit Lifeline, and have gone on to work at places like Ubisoft Stockholm, CD Projekt, Possibility Space, Sony Santa Monica Studio, and Studio Drydock. They currently work on narrative-focused mobile games at Microfun. Prior to working in video games, they spent a decade designing and running larps at summer camps for kids and teens and in Polish castles for adults.
Title: Senior Narrative Designer
Company: Microfun
Books Schwartz is a nomadic narrative designer with experience across AAA, mobile, and indie games. They've worked on blockbuster series like The Witcher and God of War and chart-topping mobile titles like Lifeline and Gossip Harbor. Prior to working in video games, they spent a decade professionally designing larps for kids, teens, and adults.
Title: Senior Dialogue Coordinator
Company: Insomniac Games
In a career that started with music, branched into film, and ultimately found its home in video games, Matt passionately blends his creativity in audio with his deep commitment to personal growth.
Now thriving on the dialogue team at Insomniac Games, he's driven to push the boundaries of what interactive storytelling can achieve—while also empowering others to unlock their highest potential in creative spaces. When Matt isn't crafting dialogue and narrative experiences with his colleagues, you can usually find him rollerblading in large groups such as the LA Skate Hunnies and The Night Skate LA. His mission is to inspire others and create experiences that have a positive impact on people's lives.
Title: Narrative Director
Company: Soft Rains
Kaitlin Tremblay is a writer and narrative designer. They are currently the narrative director at Soft Rains, but their career has spanned indie and AAA, as well as mobile, escape rooms, and ARGs. Outside of games, Kaitlin is a published horror writer and poet, and is the author of three books on videogame storytelling, including Collaborative Worldbuilding for Video Games (CRC Press), Life Is Strange (Boss Fight Books) and Ain't No Place for a Hero: Borderlands (ECW Press).
Title: Senior Writer
Company: Independent
Aysha U. Farah is a Locus-nominated and GDC award-winning writer from Washington DC. She was recently a lead writer at Deck Nine Games, and currently freelances as an editor and narrative consultant. She has worked on a number of game series and IP, including Life is Strange, Pathologic, Magic the Gathering, Fallen London, and others. She was a contributor to the USA Today bestselling Amplitudes Anthology.
Title: Creative Director
Company: Rancho Solano Preparatory School
Carl Varnado (Moderator) is a writer, narrative designer, and cultural consultant whose credits include Need for Speed Unbound, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Street Fighter 6, and Wyld Flowers, an Apple Game of the Year. He is the former Executive Director of Black in Gaming and a steward of Black Heroes Matter, where he advocates for inclusive storytelling and industry equity.
Title: Lead Writer and Narrative Designer
Company: Independent
Anna C. Webster is an award-winning freelance writer and narrative designer based in Los Angeles. She holds a BA in English from Virginia Commonwealth University and has written for titles like Alma Stone, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, The Foglands, and other unannounced titles. She is a 2025 Hugo Award nominee, the Chair of the UVW-CWA Freelancing Committee, a panelist for the DICE Awards, and a recipient of The Game Awards "Future Class" award. Her background in the performing arts and interest in clinical psychology informs much of her approach to writing, freelancing, and team leadership. She is still at large.
Title: Writer / Narrative Designer
Company: Freelance
Matthew Weise is a writer / narrative designer whose credits include Warhammer, Disney, Warner Bros, and Netflix. Most recently he served as Principal Writer / Narrative Lead on Chaos Gate: Deathwatch, the sequel to Chaos Gate: Daemonhunters, and has consulted, written, and/or provided narrative design for a wide variety of story-driven projects over the years, including Fantasia: Music Evolved for Harmonix and Transcendence: Origins for Alcon Entertainment. Matt is also an educator, having taught narrative design for games at MIT, NYU, and Wesleyan, and a newly minted comic book writer, his first publication from Boom! Studios / Penguin Random House slated for 2027.
Title: Expert Writer
Company: Geartbox Software
Sam Winkler has worked in the games industry for 11 years, most recently as the Narrative Director on Borderlands 4.
Title: Localization Expert
Company: NVIDIA
I am a researcher, localization expert, and advocate for interactive software and games. I have worked on the localization and English dubbing of many high-profile Chinese video games, such as Honkai: Star Rail and Genshin Impact. My time on those projects has ranged from pre-dev to ready-to-ship in agile environments, ensuring that game text, UI, websites, audio, and PR posts are suitable for international audiences. I worked with voice directors, studio managers, sound engineers, voice-over talents and their agents, audio departments, narrative and design teams, other language dubbing teams, and all other departments involved in dub production. On the research side, I have conducted extensive software UX research and serious games research on the impact of software and games on health, generating critical evidence from large surveys on the role of games in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and providing actionable results to better design games for health. I have also worked as an advocate of games in areas other than entertainment. My experience in the International Game Developers' Association, Serious Game Australia New Zealand, and Simulation Australasia provided me with ample experience regarding running events, managing organizations, and interacting with various stakeholders in the field of human-computer interaction, including researchers, developers, funders, NGOs, and many others besides.