New Zealand and Australian speaking tour

This talk aims to educate the audience on the important process of creating serious games, and how to handle games that engage with the sensitive and deeply personal.

Jean Leggett and Gabriella Lowgren will speak about games they have worked on and their experiences telling difficult stories. Jean covers the design of Charlaine Harris’ “The Body in Shakespeare Park,” a novel-to-game adaptation and how the development team designed narrative choices, events and characters to mindfully explore trauma, PTSD and character progression within the construct of a 2D mystery adventure game. Ella discusses Shrinking Pains, a free semi-autobiographical visual novel, and how the game was designed to foster further empathy and understanding for sufferers of anxiety and eating disorders.

Married founders Blair and Jean Leggett set out to build a new game engine specifically to help authors adapt their stories into narrative games. Over five years, they developed the platform and content, as well as taught youth to make games at camps they hosted. This talk looks at OMSG’s strategies for maximizing resources (recruiting interns, raising over $500K, accessing government grants, and developing valuable partnerships) and overcoming challenges (how to deal with difficult situations with your co-founders, staff, contractors, investors).