Opening Keynote
Tuesday, October 10th, 2023 5:30pm – 6:30pm (EDT)

Tanya X. Short
Tanya X. Short is the Captain of Kitfox Games and served as the primary designer on Boyfriend Dungeon and Moon Hunters, as well as the publishing head, overseeing publishing games like Dwarf Fortress, Caves of Qud, Pupperazzi, and more. Her first job in the industry was as a production assistant in the Halo 2 marketing campaign in 2003, “ilovebees”. She is also the co-founder and co-director of Pixelles, a feminist non-profit aiming to change games culture, and has edited two textbooks with CRC Press, Procedural Generation in Game Design and Procedural Storytelling in Game Design. In 2022, she co-founded the world’s foremost annual game design retreat, Polaris.
Keynote: Work Healthy, Play Healthy
It is a common irony that game designers often feel they have fallen out of love with the playing of games; in fact, adults of every industry may feel they have no time for play at all. This talk “Work Healthy, Play Healthy” describes the playful philosophy and practices of a small but thriving independent games studio and its leadership. Drawing from twenty years of experience in the games industry, Tanya X. Short shows how regular indulgence in play and playfulness is not only essential to success and happiness, but a moral imperative and a necessary ingredient in human growth. Decrying the protestant work ethic explicitly, “Work Healthy, Play Healthy” outlines both personal and structural approaches to the pursuit of sustainable, lifelong productivity and happiness in the making of games. With this lens, as one example, the ‘fail fast’ directive of entrepreneurs becomes reinterpreted as a command to play, which always has permission to fail. Tanya X. Short emphasizes the psychological and nigh-spiritual benefits of self-directed play at every level, in all of her roles, from CEO to game designer to activist to mother. This talk provides tools for professionals of all stripes to create windows of workful play.
Important Dates:
Attendance
From September 11th, 2023 | Regular Registration |
Full Papers (Journal Articles)
Work in Progress
Perspectives on Play
Student Game Design Competition
Interactivity Track
Connections Track
Doctoral Consortium
Student Volunteer
