[email protected]
Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was a 2016 blockbuster, and Emilia Schatz played a key role in creating it. She is responsible for big upgrades to the way the video game’s main character moves through the digital world, scaling walls and obstacles. Schatz researched these mechanics on rock-climbing jaunts with colleagues. “We talked about what it actually felt like to climb,” says the designer (who is currently working on a sequel to the postapocalyptic adventure game The Last of Us). While making Uncharted 4, she was also going through a personal evolution, physically transitioning from male to female. This makes her a rare figure in the diversity-spare gaming business, which has struggled with issues of online harassment. “The industry sort of went through an identity crisis about who we make games for, who we want to be,” says Schatz, who believes the community is entering a new era of acceptance and progressivism. She and her colleagues are working to make sure they portray minority and women characters in a fully human way. “We talk about things we never would have before,” she says.
Videos
News
Related Speakers View all
Luciana Carvalho Se
Innovation Lead at Beyond
|
|
Dominick Evans
Filmmaker, Consultant on Disability & LGBTQIA Repres...
|
|
John Romero
Video Game Designer, Developer & Programmer
|
|
Johanna Faries
Head of Call of Duty Esports at Activision Blizzard ...
|
|
Dantley Davis
Director of Product Design at Facebook
|
|
Yiying Lu
Award Winning Artist & Creative Director of Yiying Lu
|
|
Lizzie Wilson
Senior Art Director at McCann New York
|
|
Jenna Weiss-Berman
Co-Founder of Pineapple Street Media & Podcast Produ...
|
|
Elise Roy
Deaf Human Centered Designer, Former Lawyer & Human ...
|
|
Lena Waithe
Emmy Award-Winning Screenwriter, Producer & Actress
|
|
Brian Solis
Digital Analyst, Futurist & Author of "What's the Fu...
|
|
Andy Cohen
Emmy Award-Winning Host & Producer of Bravo’s "Watch...
|
|
R "Ray" Wang
Founder, Chairman & Principal Analyst at Constellati...
|
|
Matthew Ball
Managing Partner of EpyllionCo; Expert on The Metaverse
|
|
Alex Haagaard
Disability Activist & Designer
|
|
Joanna Peña-Bickley
Founder & CEO of Vibes Ai, Founder & Fellow of A.I. ...
|
|
Darren Sugg
Game Designer & Director, Creative Director at Epic ...
|
|
David Baszucki
Founder & CEO of Roblox; Entrepreneur, Engineer, & I...
|
|
Bobby Berk
Founder & Creative Director at Bobby Berk Home; Form...
|
|
Molly Wright Steenson
Design Professor, Architecture & Technology Historia...
|