author: Hank
Women of Game Dev
The International Women's Day is a perfect occasion to break the stereotype that only guys can work in the gaming. We would like to appreciate some ladies who worked on the most iconic titles in the history of electronic entertainment.
Table of Contents
Ikumi Nakamura
Okami. Bayonetta. The Evil Within. And that’s only a portion of Ikumi Nakamura’s portfolio as a video game developer. She started as a 3D environment artist at Capcom, where she designed levels for the aforementioned Okami. In 2006, she started her four-year-long journey at Platinum Games, where she was a pre-production concept artist for Scalebound (which was eventually cancelled) and Bayonetta (thank goodness it was not cancelled!).
She then joined ZeniMax Media and worked on both The Evil Within installments along with all DLCs as the art director. Ikumi Nakamura also worked as the creative director on GhostWire: Tokyo with its premiere still pending.
For almost a year now, she works as a freelance creative director. The only thing left for us to do is to thank her for all her work and wish all the best and good luck on the new venture!
Jade Raymond
A Canadian game producer who has actually been everywhere and seen it all. She started at Sony and was responsible for developing Sony Online Entertainment. Later, Jade moved to San Francisco and worked as a producer at EA. There, she produced The Sims Online and was responsible for implementing all the online features.
In 2004 she signed a contract with Ubisoft Toronto, where she was responsible for the creation of the Assassin’s Creed series, oversaw the development of Ubi’s first open-world proprietary engine called Anvil, and was in charge of new IPs at the time Watch Dogs premiered.
In 2015 she returned to EA to take the role of Group General Manager responsible for founding EA Motive studio and watching over Star Wars and Plants VS Zombies HD franchises. But that’s not over, as she is now a Vice President at Google heading Stadia Games and Entertainment.
Joelle Silverio
Joelle Silverio started her career as a game developer back in 2009, when she started working on SMITE at Hi-Rez Studios. After almost two years she took the job of a game designer at CCP Games and worked on an MMO based on a proprietary engine – World of Darkness, as well as EVE Online. In 2014 she moved to Tripwire Interactive and worked as a game designer on Killing Floor 2.
The experience she gathered over the years allowed her to start her new venture. In 2016, Joelle co-founded Impulse Studios LLC – and delivers visuals effects for diverse media. Way to go!
Melina Juergens
And now let’s touch another aspect of making video games for a while. Of course, there’s no denying Melina Juergens is a full-fledged video editor at Ninja Theory. But what she’s most recognizable for is the role of Senua – the protagonist of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice and the upcoming Hellblade: Senua’s Saga.
The fact that she received two awards for this (Best Performance at Los Angeles Game Awards 2017 and BAFTA Best Performer 2018) means that she knows her trade very well. You can watch a video in which Melina describes her adventure as an actress in Hellblade below.