Columbus Interactive Media Festival, Sande Chen talks game design & writing

Grammy nominated writer Sande Chen, who was nominated for a Writers Guild award for her work on The Witcher game, shares her insights on game design and writing June 12 with the virtual Columbus Interactive Media Festival. Chen speaks both on game writing and designing games that attract non-toxic communities.

“Sande Chen is one of those rare people who has driven innovation both in game and narrative design,” said Andrew Greenberg, executive director of the Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA). “She is the perfect keynote for this, the fifth anniversary of the GGDA’s CIMFest.”

Chen’s keynote, “Flavored by Authenticiy: How personal experiences amplify narrative,” addresses how digital storytellers can draw on their personal touchstones to more deeply connect with and engage a broad audience. She also moderates a SIEGE roundtable on “Designing Non-Toxic Communities,” dealing with game design principles that can promote friendlier and harrassment-free communities.

Other CIMFest sessions include:

  • Winning Early Access / Stu Phelps and Jason Hillhouse
  • Irrigating The River of Content: How to make workflows that work / Ryan Kline
  • Relational Joints: Gameplay / Simon Hoffiz
  • Your Text Editor and You / Clark Chambers
  • The Quest for Social Connection / Kimmiko and Atlanta Gamer Life
  • How Live Streaming can Push the Industry Forward / The VR Girl
  • A Tale of Two Graphs: Definitive Proof that The Franchise Effect is Slightly More Powerful than the Ever-Shrinking Market Curve / Joe Cassavaugh

CIMFest starts at noon EST June 12 and runs until 7 pm. Anyone can watch the livestreamed presentations on www.youtube.com/GeorgiaGameDevs . GGDA members get access to the Association’s Discord channel to network with CIMFest speakers and other game developers.

CIMFest starts at noon EST June 12 and runs until 7 pm. Anyone can watch the livestreamed presentations on www.youtube.com/GeorgiaGameDevs . GGDA members get access to the Association’s Discord channel to network with CIMFest speakers and other game developers. CIMFest began in 2016 at Columbus State University as a celebration of game design.

Chen’s keynote broadcast is 3 pm EST, June 12, and her roundtable is at 1 pm. Livestream attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions via YouTube’s chat feature.