Women of Game Dev

Table of Contents

• Women of Game Dev
• Ikumi Nakamura
• Debra Wilson

Not that long ago, stereotypical game designers were geeky males with better to do than to create video games – well, at least to the general public. Now that the budgets devoured by single games significantly exceed those of major Hollywood blockbusters, this image has begun to change. Not many realize, though, that there are many women among the game designers – and darn successful ones, too!

Let’s take this opportunity granted by the International Women’s Day and appreciate ten ladies, who made (and continue to make) a huge difference to the gaming business. The text below is by no means any “top 10” or anything like that. Feel free to write about

Amy Henning

In the gaming business since the late 1980, when she used to work for Nintendo Entertainment System as an artist and animator. She later joined Electronic Arts for four years and worked there as a lead designer (Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City), Artist (Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf), and animator (Bard’s Tale IV – unreleased). She then moved to Crystal Dynamics where she wrote scripts for the Legacy of Kain and Soul Reaver games. She then joined forces with Naughty Dog and worked on Jak and Daxter and Uncharted series.

After that, Amy Henning rejoined EA to work on, unfortunately, eventually cancelled single-player game set in the Star Wars universe. Currently, she is the President of New Media Division at Skydance Media leading a team said to “shape the future of interactive media”. Well, sounds very promising. Also, seeing how successful are the games Amy Henning used to work on, we bet her new project will also prove innovative and very interesting.

During her career, Amy received 5 prestigious awards, including 2 Writers Guild Awards (Uncharted 2 and Uncharted 3), 2 BAFTA Awards (story award for Uncharted 2 and a special award) and also the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019’s Game Developers Choice Awards. What a gal!

Robin Hunicke

And a yet another astonishing resume. As a designer, Robin Hunicke started her gaming career at Electronic Arts and over the period of four years went from the post of game designer up to lead producer, working on, i.a. expansions to Sims 2, My Sims, and BOOM BLOX. In 2009, she became the executive producer at thatgamecompany and worked on Journey – studio’s third project which eventually became the game of the year. Impressive, most impressive.

Later, after a half-a-year long adventure at Tiny Speck Inc. (Slack), she became a Professor of Games & Office of Research at the University of California Santa Cruz. How awesome is that?

At the same time, she is the CEO of a co-founded company called Funomena, where she works on developing “experimental games”, as the company’s website describes it. You might have heard of such titles as Luna together with Luna: Moondust Garden, as well as Woorld and Stickies. In my book, they all fit under the category of experimental (and fun!) video games.

Miki Higashino

Suikoden II was – is! – a great game.

Miki Higashino deals with the musical layer of video games. Show me one person, who played first two installments of the Suikoden series and cannot remember a single score from it? Just as I thought. As an active composer since 1985, Miki Higashino has primarily worked with Konami on soundtracks for multiple games, such as the aforementioned Suikoden and Suikoden II (which she is most recognizable for), as well as 1986’s Knightmare, 1989’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (in collaboration with Mutsuhiko Izumi), 1992’s Contra III: The Alien Wars, and 2005’s 10,000 Bullets (in collaboration with Yasunori Mitsuda).

Actually, 10,000 Bullets was one of her last works, as after returning from a maternity leave she started back in 2001 and working on several soundtracks she decided to spend more time with her family. An honorable decision, and an astounding portfolio to be sure!