Expert Roundtable: Using Actors in Games

Speakers

• Marianne Hayden
  

  Marianne Hayden

  Marianne Hayden is an animator at Naughty Dog. She has worked on The Last of Us: Part I and II, Uncharted 1-4, as well as The Last of Us: Left Behind and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Marianne has worked on cinematics, IGCs (in game cinematics), and gameplay animation. She has worked at a range of studios, including Insomniac, Technicolor, Treyarch, Imagi, and Naughty Dog. Along with being a professional animator Marianne uses her theater background to direct motion capture shoots as well as act on the motion capture stage. She earned her SAG card while on maternity leave, doing stunt work for Uncharted 3. Marianne received her MFA in Film/Video: Experimental Animation from CalArts, a BFA in Acting and a BA in Visual Arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

• Noshir Dalal
  Noshir Dalal
• Samantha Gorman
  

  Samantha Gorman

  “Samantha Gorman is the co-director/founder of Tender Claws: a game/art/entertainment studio known for innovations in emerging media and a strong foundation in story. She specializes in writing for interactive media and directing digital performance/theater.

  Projects by Tender Claws have launched nearly every major immersive platform and have received industry awards and recognition. “”Virtual, Virtual Reality”” (VVR) draws on Samantha’s years of experience developing Virtual Reality: starting at a CAVE VR studio in 2002. “”VVR”” won the 2017 Google Play Award for “Best VR Experience” and Unity Awards Finalist “Best VR Game” and “Best Mobile VR” at Raindance among others. In 2018, Tender Claws partnered with Google AR/VR to release “”Tendar”” for ARCore and premiered at Sundance New Frontier. In 2019, Tender Claws partnered with Oculus for “”The Under Presents:”” a remote immersive theater game with live performers inhabiting the world from November 2019-September 2020. “”The Under”” has been up for several awards including a SXSW Gaming Award and was a finalist for a Juried Emmy Award for Innovation in Interactive Media.

  Most recently, Tender Claws has expanded the Under, to create a ticketed, live performances for Quest: “Tempest” will run daily from July 19th to the end of September 2020. In addition to running Tender Claws, Samantha is an academic who studies the history of Immersive Media. This fall she is pleased to join the faculty of CAMD, Art+Design: Games Program as an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University.”

• Sarah Elmaleh
  

  Sarah Elmaleh

  Sarah Elmaleh is an actor best known for her work in videogames – as the voice of the female Freelancer in Anthem and Raider in For Honor, as Lizzie Carmine in Gears 5, and for many indies, including Gone Home, Pyre, and Afterparty. Longtime director/co-host of the IndieCade Awards, in 2019 she also co-founded the free, multilingual online games conference gamedev.world. As a games performance consultant and labor advocate, she acts as a bridge between actors and developers to foster deeper collaboration and best practices. She is casting and voice director of the upcoming indie game Red Lantern (starring Ashly Burch), and is consulting voice producer on the recently revealed Goodbye Volcano High, from KO_OP.