2025 Speakers
Ashley Ruhl, Narrative Director, Broadsword Online Games
Ashley Ruhl is a Narrative Director, Narrative Designer, Cinematic Designer, and Writer, exclusively in games. Over the past 13 years she has focused on a multi-prong approach of character-driven narrative, eye-catching cinematics, and intuitive game design. Currently the Narrative Director of Star Wars: The Old Republic on the “Legacy of the Sith” expansion, Ruhl’s credits also include two additional expansions for “SWTOR”, Darksiders 3, “Remnant: From the Ashes”, and many titles from Telltale Games, including “The Walking Dead”, “Wolf Among Us”, “Tales from the Borderlands”, Batman: Enemy Within, and “Minecraft: Story Mode”. She became the first woman at Telltale to hold the titles of Episodic Director and Assistant Episodic Director, credited for Episode 3 and Episode 1 of Tales from the Borderlands respectively, and was selected for Forbes “30 under 30” list in video games in 2016. Ruhl focuses on cinematic delivery and strong emotional agency in game narrative, creating memorable moments that encourage players to be authors of their own stories.
