Worcester | Polygamer

Francesca Carletto-Leon is the founder of the Diversity in Games club at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts. Currently a senior majoring in Interactive Media & Game Design (IMGD) and Professional Writing (PW), Francesca has been an activist and advocate for awareness and understanding of gender and race in games and gaming community among undergraduates. She recently returned from Japan, where she and her team developed the game Chinmoku for academic credit.

In this episode, Francesca and Ken (also a graduate of WPI’s PW program) discuss founding a diversity group among a student population of mostly white men; how to make diversity fun; the outreach and networking opportunities available to undergraduates; cultural differences in box art; and gaming culture in Japan.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, Spoke, Overcast, acast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:07:58 — 32.0MB) | Embed

Sarah Como is the Chief Operating Officer of Zephyr Workshop, developer of tabletop game A.E.G.I.S. and computer game Flora Fiora. Zephyr was born amidst Sarah’s recent education in the game design program at Becker College, which landed her on the PAX East panel "Full-Time Student, Part-Time Indie", in which she discussed juggling these dual roles. Since graduation, Sarah has become active in all aspects of Boston’s indie game scene, including working as PR manager for the Boston Festival of Indie Games (BostonFIG) and consultant for Green Door Labs.

In this episode of Polygamer, Sarah and Ken talk about the value of having a formal education in game design; the lasting appeal of board games in a digital age; best practices for Kickstarter crowdfunding; the role of geography and networking in getting your projects off the ground; and the occasional need to "lawyer up" before embarking on a new venture.

Download the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, Spoke, Overcast, acast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:12:50 — 34.2MB) | Embed

Tag Archives: Worcester

Polygamer #33: Francesca Carletto-Leon on Diversity in Gaming at WPI

Polygamer #20: Sarah Como of Zephyr Workshop