GDC | Polygamer

Polygamer #100: Voice actor Sarah Elmaleh

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Ken Gagne

Sarah Elmaleh is an actor and voiceover artist best known for her work in video games, including indie titles Gone Home, Read Only Memories, and Pyre, to AAA titles Final Fantasy XV, Gears 5, and Anthem. Her credits also include radio dramas and on-screen performances such as Hey Ash Whatcha Playin’?. Last year saw the debut of GameDev.World, an online game developers’ conference that Sarah co-founded and co-organized. She has most recently appeared in Night Studios’ Afterparty, released last month for the Nintendo Switch, and as the voice casting and director for The Red Lantern, coming later this year.

In this podcast interview, I ask Sarah whether it was by accident or design that she found herself in this niche career; the tools a voice actor employs in the absence of makeup, costume, or lighting; how she got into character to play Apollyon, the sister of Satan; how the experience is different working in indie games vs. AAA; which of her characters she’d like to play in a live-action movie; the ways in which GameDev.World complements GDC, and how the pandemic has affected both events; and why Mark Hamill is a great actor.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #16: Fiona Cherbak on hiring and retaining women, GDC & BostonFIG

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Ken Gagne

Fiona Cherbak is a human resources and staffing specialist with a storied career in the entertainment and games industries. At this year’s Game Developers Conference, she will moderate the panel "Turning the Tide: Hiring and Retaining Women in the Games Industry". In this exclusive preview with Polygamer, Cherbak discusses how and where in the pipeline to effect change in the industry’s gender diversity; how to create work environments that are appealing and safe for women; and whether changing an industry’s gender ratio is "disruptive".

Cherbak is also one of the founders of the annual Boston Festival of Indie Games, or BostonFIG, and shares her motivations to start this event and how it’s grown since its 2012 inception.

Download the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spoke, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #04: Sheri Graner Ray on Gender-Inclusive Game Design

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Ken Gagne

Sheri Graner Ray is a game developer with 25 years experience in the industry and credits that include games such as Ultima and Star Wars Galaxies and co-founding Women in Games International. In 2003, she published the book Gender Inclusive Game Design—Expanding the Market, on how to make games that appeal to both male and female players. In this interview, Ray explains some of the differences between how genders interact with technology, why male gamers shouldn’t see her proposals as threatening, how her book was received in an era before Facebook and Twitter, and how the market has changed since the book’s publication 11 years ago.

Watch the video below, or download the audio edition from iTunes or Stitcher.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Introduction
- Opening music is "Full Speed Ahead", part of the Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin album from OCRemix, with voiceover from Annie Lynsen
- PAX Prime 2014 schedule
- Less Than Or Equal
- Super Bonus Gaymer World
- IndieSider — combines Let’s Plays and indie game developer interviews
- GX: Everyone Games (aka GaymerX3) on Kickstarter
- Matt Conn on Patreon
Interview
- Sheri Graner Ray on Twitter
- Schell Games and Zombie Cat Studios
- 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2005)
- Women in Games International
- IGDA’s Women in Games SIG (also on Twitter)
- MentorNet: Mentor + Protégé
- Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market, by Sheri Graner Ray (Amazon link)
- Women significantly outnumber teenage boys in gamer demographics
- Hearthstone tournament explains why women aren’t allowed to play
- Female developers who race cars: Kiki Wolfkill, Jeri Ellsworth and Quinn Dunki
- Anita Sarkeesian’s Ms. Male Character
- Sheri’s upcoming appearances:
  - Game Developers Conference (GDC) (March 2-6, 2015)
  - South by Southwest (March 13—17, 2015)
  - East Coast Game Conference (April 8–9, 2015)
- Full Sail University advisory board
- Margot Comstock of Softalk keynoted KansasFest 2014
- Gamasutra interview with Dona Bailey, creator of Centipede
- Ernest Adams’ "A Call to Arms for Decent Men"

Polygamer explores issues of equality and diversity in the gaming industry. New episodes air every other Wednesday on YouTube and in iTunes and Stitcher.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:14 — 30.5MB) | Embed

Polygamer #03: Shawn Allen of NuChallenger

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Ken Gagne

Shawn Allen of NuChallenger is developing Treachery in Beatdown City, a Bad Dudes-style beat-em-up with turn-based tactical elements and a diverse cast of characters. Do games that stray from the typical “grizzled white male” protagonist risk their commercial viability? What concerns did Allen have before deciding to feature black and female heroes? Ultimately, all games provide social commentary, and Allen’s is one that reflects his New York City.

In this interview, he discusses why he left Rockstar Games, what he learned from Treachery in Beatdown City’s two Kickstarter campaigns, why minorities are underrepresented in the indie development scene despite increased access to tools and crowdfunding, his experience attending GaymerX, and how GDC and PAX East 2015 being the same weekend is bad news for anyone attending even one of the shows.

This interview is available as video on YouTube and as audio in iTunes.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Polygamer explores issues of equality and diversity in the gaming industry. New episodes air every other Wednesday on YouTube and in iTunes.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:18:04 — 41.3MB) | Embed