Women in Game Development

Videogame development is usually seen as a male dominated field; even playing videogames is often wrongly viewed as a pastime for men only. But behind the curtain, women have always played myriad important roles in gaming. From programmers to artists, designers to producers, female videogame developers endure not only the pressures of their jobs but also epic levels of harassment and hostility. Jennifer Brandes Hepler’s Women in Game Development: Breaking the Glass Level-Cap gives voice to talented and experienced female game developers from a variety of backgrounds, letting them share the passion that drives them to keep making games.

Key Features

• Experience the unique stories of nearly two dozen female game developers, from old-school veterans to rising stars.
• Understand the role of women in videogames, from the earliest days of development to the present day.
• Hear first-hand perspectives from working professionals in fields including coding, design, art, writing, community management, production and journalism.
• Get tips for how to be a better ally and make your company and teams more inclusive.
• Learn about the obstacles you face if you’re an aspiring female developer, and how to overcome them.
• Meet the human face of some of the women who have endured the industry’s worst harassment… and kept on going.

Jennifer Brandes Hepler has been in the games industry for 18 years, starting as a writer for tabletop games before joining Bioware as a senior writer on the Dragon Age series and Star Wars: The Old Republic. After two years as the lead writer on Disruptor Beam’s Game of Thrones Ascent, Jennifer is now working on serious games for Kognito Interactive, using game dialogue to teach empathy and communication skills. Jennifer has spoken on gender and game writing at GDC, Games For Change, Geek Girl Con, and EA University.