Jenova Chen, creator behind the multi award-winning student game Cloud and flOw, co-founder of thatgamecompany, is dedicated to expanding the emotional spectrum of video games and making them available for a much wider audience. And how did Jenova “make it” as an independent developer? With a lot of support and a drive for innovation.
Tamir Nadav, formerly a programmer who has marked his path out as a game designer at KingsIsle, has been involved in the industry for over 5 years with his enthusiastic networking abilities. He’s always up for an interesting conversation and pitches in with events like Women In Games International, which promotes the inclusion and advancement of women in the games industry, worldwide.
Maurine Starkey is a founding member of Westwood Studios. She has worked as an art instructor, lead artist, art director, creative director, producer and game designer for over 24 years, plus continues to paint, sculpt, storyboard, and illustrate books, paper games, and comic books. (more…)
What do you get when you put together a writer, artist, designer, academic, and activist all in one? Mary Flanagan and her work at Tiltfactor, the first academic center to focus on social activist games. We had the chance to nab up an interview with Mary all about her work and role in feminist game design. Because, yes, games can be feminist!
“Judgment day is at hand, and it’s time for a showdown with the guy downstairs to bargain for Bosco’s soul.” Just another day in the lives of Sam and Max, the popular characters debuting in a series of Telltale’s episodic games. We nabbed up Director of Design Dave Grossman for an insightful and fun interview about all the happenings over at Telltale. I mean, who wouldn’t be having fun with chumps like Strongbad to hang out with?
The depth behind the main character Kratos from the God of War series is immense. One story of many tells of how Kratos’ skin is gray because he is covered in the ashes of his family. Although this has not explicitly appeared in game content thus far, the layers of stories add to a rich background that fans gather together. And who is responsible for this level of detail? Game writer Marianne Krawczyk, who took the time to talk about her experience working on the God of War games, which are undoubtedly continuing with the currently in-development God of War 3.
So what’s it like writing for Massively Multiplayer Games? Definitely intense in research and writing. Tracy Seamster, once a quest designer for Sony Online Entertainment’s EverQuest II, has now moved on as a writer for The Agency, a merge between FPS and MMO with a modern setting. After years of medieval writing, she’s now transitioning to modern dialog and quest storylines as the game develops for PlayStation 3.
About a month ago, Notes on Game Dev started up a conversation mostly added to by members of the International Game Developers Association Women in Game Development group. The initial discussion inspired a series of interviews with women in the game industry.
First up is moboid game designer Heather Kelley for her involvement in everything from AAA next-gen console games, interactive smart toys, handheld games, to web communities for girls. Most recently, she was the Kraus Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, and Adjunct Faculty at the Entertainment Technology Center, both at Carnegie Mellon University. And by the way, on the side, she co-chairs for the IGDA Women group, whew!
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