Designing Non-Toxic Game Communities

In this video from 2021 CIMFest, game designers and community managers discuss how to remove toxicity from game communities.

Originally scheduled for 2020 GDC, this roundtable on Designing Non-Toxic Game Communities was canceled due to the pandemic. We are so grateful to the Georgia Game Developers Association for allowing this roundtable to occur during Columbus Interactive Media Festival (CIMFest).

Participants:

• Sande Chen (moderator)
• Brad Merritt, director of game design for Cartoon Network
• Kat De Shields-Moon, PR manager for Schell Games
• Joshua Quinnett, senior community manager at Gallium Studios
• Judy Tyrer, founder of 3 Turn Productions 
• Jared Creasy, community manager at Tripwire Interactive
• Isiah Turner, lead community specialist at Hi-Rez Studios
• Kimberly Unger, Content Lead at Oculus

New and Improved Game Writing Portfolio Webinar!

Last year, I was planning to have another run of Game Writing Primer but the pandemic and subsequent lockdown made that impossible. I checked in with my former students and was delighted to hear of their successes, games, awards, job offers, start-ups, and even a pending wedding between two of them!

PlayCrafting asked me to do a Webinar, which I knew could not be the same as the popular workshop series, Game Writing Portfolio Workout.  This remote learning Webinar was informational and not that interactive. Still, from the feedback I've gathered, my students found it very useful.

There's just not many places to learn the do's and don't's of game writing portfolios.  

Since last year's Webinar, I've been asked to repeat the Webinar and to accommodate any non-East Coast people who want to attend.  I've also conducted interviews with jobseekers and hirers in order to improve the Webinar.   

If you are interested in learning the best way to prepare and present your game writing portfolio, please go here to help me with the scheduling.  I'll notify you when it's time for class.

Sande Chen is a writer and game designer with over 15 years of experience in the industry. Her writing credits include Independent Games Festival winner Terminus and the PC RPG of the Year, The Witcher, for which she was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in Videogame Writing. She is the co-author of Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform, a founding member of the IGDA Game Design SIG, and an expert in the field of educational game design.

A Day in the Life of a Game Writer

This year, when I interviewed numerous aspiring game writers and narrative designers, I discovered that many were a bit fuzzy on the actual day-to-day tasks of the job.  It was much like when people ask about game design and then find out with surprise that the actual job entails spreadsheets.  Game writers and narrative designers often look at spreadsheets too!  

There were so many questions about working within a team, interfacing with other departments, and what a person actually does on the job. 

Therefore, it's my pleasure to be interviewed by career site OwlGuru.com and shed some light on the life of a writer and game designer.

Check out the interview "Day in the Life of Game Writer Sande Chen" here!

And if that interests you, here's an older interview I did, with SciFiPulse: "Sande Chen discusses her career, teaching, and video game design."

Sande Chen is a writer and game designer with over 15 years of experience in the industry. Her writing credits include Independent Games Festival winner Terminus and the PC RPG of the Year, The Witcher, for which she was nominated for a Writers Guild Award in Videogame Writing. She is the co-author of Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform, a founding member of the IGDA Game Design SIG, and an expert in the field of educational game design.