Building on a Legacy | Maria Burns Ortiz

Building on a Legacy | Maria Burns Ortiz

In episode 16 Susan talks to Global Game Jam executive director Maria Burns Ortiz about what it means to lead a veteran global community with empathy and an eye toward underrepresented creators. Drawing on her background as a journalist for outlets like ESPN, her experience co‑founding Seven Generation Games to build educational games with tribal and marginalized communities, and her first two years at the helm of GGJ, Maria shares how she works to see the organization through the perspectives of jammers in Latin America, Africa, Asia, India and beyond, how she balances legacy with necessary change, and why expanding pathways like partner jams, multilingual programs, and micro‑grants is essential if Global Game Jam is truly going to belong to the people it serves. * (00:00) - Intro * (01:53) - Introducing Maria Burns Ortiz * (03:28) - Natural Storyteller * (04:57) - From Journalism to Games * (07:36) - Making the Invisible Visible * (10:55) - Educational Games * (14:45) - 7th Generation Games * (17:06) - The Responsability of Being a Creator * (22:11) - The True Impact * (24:03) - Sponsor: The PlayStation Hero Project * (25:21) - Leading the GGJ * (33:58) - The Huge World of Games * (38:08) - GGJ as an Opportunity Creator * (43:09) - How do you do it? * (45:36) - Outro Guest Bio:  Maria Burns Ortiz is the executive director of the Global Game Jam, which organizes the world's largest game creation event, The Global Game Jam, and the world's largest youth game jam, GGJ Next. GGJ works year-round to support the growth of game development ecosystems and champion indie developers around the world. Through these efforts, GGJ reaches over 40,000 game creators across more than 100 countries annually. Previous to leading GGJ, she co-founded and was CEO of 7 Generation Games, creating educational and social impact games and the tools to make them. She led the development of 30+ games from concept to commercialization, aimed at closing educational and opportunity gaps in underserved communities, tackling topics from math proficiency to Indigenous language preservation to climate change. Maria transitioned to the games industry after a decade in media, where she was an award-winning journalist and NY Times bestselling author. She currently lives in Minneapolis with her husband and three children Find out more about Maria and the Global Game Jam! Maria's LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaburnsortiz] www.7generationgames.com www.globalgamejam.org GGJ Socials https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-game-jam https://www.instagram.com/globalgamejam https://www.facebook.com/GlobalGameJam/ Our Sponsors This episode is sponsored by the University of Miami School of Communications [https://com.miami.edu/department-of-interactive-media/] and the Knight Foundation [https://knightfoundation.org/] This episode is sponsored by The PlayStation Hero Project. https://com.miami.edu/department-of-interactive-media/https://www.playstation.com/en-in/india-hero-project [https://www.playstation.com/en-in/india-hero-project/] https://www.playstation.com/en-in/china-hero-project [https://www.playstation.com/en-in/china-hero-project/] https://www.playstation.com/en-in/mena-hero-project/ [https://www.playstation.com/en-in/mena-hero-project/]   Wishlist Big Boot Games's Meteora: The Race Against Spacetime on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1155220/METEORA/  Sign up for our Newsletter [https://z6z33k.subscribepage.io/]

Culture of Care | Amanda Asofsky

In episode 15 Susan chats with Amanda Asofsky, a senior digital product manager at Wizards of the Coast who helps steer Magic the Gathering Arena, about what it means to lead with care in a live game that never sleeps. We explore how her Dungeons and Dragons roots, a gamer family and an early game design class shaped her sense of responsibility to both players and teammates, how she navigated survivor’s guilt after layoffs by creating “Tea Time Chats” to rebuild connection at work, why she pushed for tiny joyful touches like letting players say “howdy” in game, and how she is learning to step into a bolder, more visible version of herself while still protecting her own boundaries online. * (00:00) - Intro * (01:20) - Meet Amanda Asofsky * (02:32) - What it means to be a Leader in Games * (03:48) - An Early Love for Games * (06:52) - From D&D to Making Games * (09:26) - First Internship in Games * (12:24) - Growing into the Job * (14:12) - From Big Huge Games to Wizards of the Coast * (14:47) - Survivor's Guilt * (16:43) - Tea Time Chats * (19:06) - Leadership and Joy * (20:55) - Forbes 30 under 30 * (22:53) - Wizards of the Coast & Leaning on your Network * (25:12) - The Boldest Version * (26:59) - Advise for Students * (28:21) - Choosing Fun over Safe * (32:03) - Keeping the Love of Games * (34:05) - Where to find Amanda * (35:24) - Outro Guest Bio: Amanda Asofsky is a game developer who thrives on creating new experiences. She considers herself a storyteller at heart, tracing her passion for art and games back to when she was a child. She has worked professionally on three games (DomiNations, Arcane Showdown, and Magic: The Gathering Arena) across two studios (Big Huge Games and Wizards of the Coast), and was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 for her work in Games for 2026. Additionally, she periodically gives lectures on using Game Mechanics to enhance a narrative at Dartmouth College. Her career spans Quality Assurance, Product Management, and Narrative Design/Writing. She currently works on Magic: The Gathering Arena as a Senior Digital Product Manager, living in the Baltimore area with her husband and dog. Join our Substack - https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack [https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack]

The Phoenix | Latoya Peterson

In episode 14 Susan sits down with Latoya Peterson who lives at the intersection of emerging technology and culture. In this episode, the former co founder and CXO of Glow Up Games, creator of AI in the Trap and current narrative designer at Elsewhere Entertainment talks about her “Phoenix era,” growing up as a Black girl who loved Tekken, and what it means to move from critic and journalist to game maker. She shares how Insecure: The Come Up Game wrestled with the realities of representation and scope, why AI and predictive systems need hip hop and lived experience in the loop, and how she protects her joy while being asked to explain race, gender and bias in rooms that were not built with her in mind. * (00:00) - GGJPodcastLatoyaPeterson * (03:55) - This was not made for me * (07:28) - From Gamer to Critic to Game Maker * (12:20) - Never Limited by Form * (13:56) - Forking Problems * (17:25) - Joy as a Radical Design Choice * (22:34) - Language and Design * (26:50) - AI and the Trap: Collaborative Artwork * (34:31) - Make your Own Room * (38:12) - Looking into the Future * (41:51) - Best yet to come & Where to find Latoya * (44:10) - Outro Guest Bio:  Latoya Peterson lives at the intersection of emerging technology and culture. Named one of Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 rising stars in media, she is best known for the award winning blog Racialicious.com [http://racialicious.com/] - the intersection of race and pop culture. She is currently an Expert Narrative Designer at Elsewhere Entertainment, an Activision studio working on a new IP. Previously, she was a cofounder and CXO at Glow Up Games, a game studio who created a tie-in game for HBO’s Insecure and a unique play-and-watch experience for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival called Hella Iambic. She was the Deputy Editor, Digital Innovation for ESPN's The Undefeated, an Editor-at-Large at Fusion, and the Senior Digital Producer for The Stream, a social media driven news show on Al Jazeera America. She’s been published in more than 50 publications including Wired, Teen Vogue, NPR, ESPN the Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Essence, Spin, Vibe, Marie Claire, Kotaku, The Atlantic, The American Prospect, and The Guardian. Join our Substack - https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack [https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack]

The Fine Art of Playfulness | Nick Fortugno

In episode 13 Susan sits down with  Designer and storyteller Nick Fortugno has spent more than 20 years pushing games into new spaces on screens, on streets and in the classroom. He talks about co founding studios like Rebel Monkey and Playmatics, helping define early casual and social games, creating playful public experiences through Come Out and Play, and now running the digital game program at City College in New York while designing “games about non game things for people who do not play games.” Nick reflects on pattern recognition in a fast changing industry, what it really means to treat game design as an innovative discipline, and why he believes live, physical play and community centered work will remain vital no matter how technology shifts. * (00:00) - Intro * (01:20) - Meet Nick Fortugno * (03:23) - The Wandering Path * (05:45) - From Literature to Games * (08:29) - Criticism and Philosophy * (10:03) - What it Means to be a Game Designer * (13:38) - Dinner Dashing to Success * (18:16) - Making Things that Matter * (20:34) - Making Serious Fun * (27:22) - Rebel Monkey * (30:12) - Leadership & Risk * (31:28) - Playmatics * (33:17) - The Impact of One is Many: Ephimeral Work * (37:38) - Criticism * (41:23) - Expertiese Performance * (43:21) - The Single Thread * (46:17) - Keeping it Together Guest Bio:  Nick Fortugno is Director of the Digital Game Development Program at City College of New York, leading its new game development degree, and is an entrepreneur, interactive narrative designer and game designer based in New York City.  He is a founder and principal of Playmatics (www.playmatics.com), an interactive development company. Playmatics has created a variety of digital and real-world experiences for organizations including Pro Publica, Red Bull, AMC (such as the CableFAX award winning Breaking Bad: The Interrogation), Disney, American Museum of Natural History, the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent. For the past twenty years, Fortugno has been a designer, writer and project manager on dozens of commercial and serious games, and served as lead designer on the downloadable blockbuster Diner Dash and the award-winning serious game Ayiti: The Cost of Life. Nick is a Lead Artist on the Frankenstein A.I. project (featured at the Sundance New Frontier Festival in 2018), and has worked extensively on interactive narrative projects in a variety of formats. Nick is also a co-founder of the Come Out and Play street games festival (www.comeoutandplay.org), winner of the Indiecade's 2019 Bernie DeKoven Big Fun Award and hosted in New York City and around the world since 2006, and is co-creator of the Big Urban Game for Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2003. Nick has taught game design and interactive narrative design for 20 years at institutions such as Columbia University and the Parsons School of Design, and has participated in the construction of game design and immersive storytelling curriculum. Nick holds an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design. Some of Nick's writing about interactive narrative can be found in the anthology Well-Played 1.0: Video Game, Value, and Meaning, published by ETC-Press. Find Nick's work! www.nickfortugno.com [http://www.nickfortugno.com/] https://nicholasfortugno.substack.com/ [https://nicholasfortugno.substack.com/] https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/digital-game-development [https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/digital-game-development] Join our Substack - https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack [https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack]

Beautiful Pixels | Lisette Montgomery

In episode 12 Susan sits down with Lisette Titre Montgomery, veteran art director and co founder and CEO of Cornerstone Interactive, looks back on a two decade career that spans Freakstyle, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, The Simpsons, South Park and Psychonauts 2, and forward to new ways of making games feel truly handmade again. She talks about leading teams through tricky visual problems, building Gameheads Oakland for youth from underserved communities, and using AI and emerging tools in ways that still put artists and human authored work first.  * (00:00) - Intro * (01:13) - Meet Lisette Titre-Montgomery * (05:58) - Early Years * (10:40) - Becoming a Leader * (12:19) - From EA to Double Fine * (17:24) - Keeping the Chemistry Up * (19:30) - Mentoring * (21:00) - GameHeads * (24:26) - Cornerstone Studios * (26:18) - TechTools of the Trade * (29:01) - AI * (31:39) - Roles and Skills for the Future * (36:11) - Preparing for the Future * (37:50) - Wrapping Up * (39:36) - Outro Guest Bio:   Lisette Titre-Montgomery is an Art Director who leads teams that solve complex visual challenges with consistent vision, language, and technical execution. Her career spans over twenty five years of industry experience and  14 hit game releases.  Lisette has led art studios large and small in the US, Japan, China, Australia, India, and the Philippines. Lisette has contributed to some of the industry’s highest profile games, including Tiger Woods Golf, The Simpsons, Dante’s Inferno, Dance Central 3, SIMS 4, South Park, and Transformers Age Of Extinction for Android and iOS. Her most recent project was Psychonauts 2 with Double Fine Productions. She is currently launching Cornerstone Interactive, a new studio focused on reimaging cinematic and interactive experiences. Lisette’s list of personal achievements are just as impressive. She has been featured on CNN,  invited to The White House, and a member of the US Department of State's Speakers Bureau.  Mrs Titre-Montgomery has been a featured keynote speaker at N.A.S.A., Goggle, Intel, Black Girls Code, Girls Who Code and more. She has also been named One of the Most Powerful Women in Tech by Business Insider.  Find Lisette's work! https://linktr.ee/LisetteTitre Join our Substack  [https://tinyurl.com/GGJPodcastSubstack]