Writing for Horror Video Games Panel in NYC

The WGAE Video Game Writers Caucus Presents

WRITING FOR HORROR VIDEO GAMES

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Wednesday, June 17, 6:30pm

Writers Guild of America, East
250 Hudson Street, Suite 700, NYC

Join us for a lively discussion on what makes horror games so compelling in the interactive realm.  Our panel of game writers will explore how to fit story elements into a game to produce a spooky and immersive experience. Discover the writer’s role in developing horror games and learn how the player’s interactions make an impact in the process.

What writing techniques transfer well from film to games?  How do we create memorable scary moments?  Our panel will offer insights and lessons learned from working on horror games such as BIOSHOCK and DEAD SPACE.

BIOS
Matthew Weise (Moderator) is a game designer and writer. Currently an independent developer, he has created experimental games in academia as well as big-budget commercial games (AAA). He worked at Harmonix Music Systems as narrative designer on FANTASIA: MUSIC EVOLVED; more recently has freelanced as co-producer/designer on TRANSCENDENCE: ORIGINS FOR THE ALCHEMISTS / Warner Bros. Before that, he was Game Design Director of Singapore-MIT’s GAMBIT Game Lab. His experimental art game, THE SNOWFIELD, received a nomination for the 2012 Independent Games Festival. He is currently working on an unannounced independent narrative game project.

Justin Pappas is the founder of an indie game studio in Boston called Ape Law that exists to explore and experiment with games as the next great storytelling medium. He has worked as a level designer on games like BIOSHOCK: INFINITE and TOMB RAIDER  and moved onto the indie scene in 2011 as the level design lead on CHIVALRY: MEDIEVAL WARFARE, He is now the creative director/level builder/writer/designer for Ape Law's first game, ALBINO LULLABY, a horror adventure with zero jump scares and no gore.

Chuck Beaver is the Narrative Director for EA’s DICE LA studio, working on an unannounced AAA.  He’s been in the games industry for 13 years, and recently came off CALL OF DUTY: ADVANCED WARFARE as their Cinematics Producer. As the Story Producer for the DEAD SPACE franchise, he co-wrote and oversaw the entire  franchise lore: concepting, authoring, editing and policing of storylines across the console and iOS games as well as the transmedia properties, which include the animated movies, novels, graphic novels and comics. He was also heavily involved with the scriptwriting, Motion Capture sessions and voiceover work.

Alex Toplansky has been building interactive products since 2005 in roles ranging from development to production on a number of AAA and Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game franchises. Before beginning his current role as a Senior Writer for Deep Silver Volition, the studio behind award-winning franchises like SAINTS ROW and RED FACTION, Alex was the Senior Narrative Producer at Deep Silver, Volition’s parent and publisher. Alex holds a BA in Anthropology from Brandeis University and a 3d Animation Certificate from Boston University.