The Game Development Strategy Guide by Cheryl Platz features the perspective of 15 industry veterans with a wide variety of backgrounds: from indie games to triple A, from traditional retail to some of the industry’s biggest live-service experiences, from games that have survived for decades to games that lasted days. Player number is assigned based on the order the experts first appear in the book, which is driven by the chapter subject matter.
Don’t forget to check out the podcast episodes for the Players who agreed to join us for Enduring Play!
Check the Player Select section in the Strategy Guide to find the specific chapters in which each expert is cited.
Player 1: Cheryl Platz
Creative Director, UX Director, Producer
Cheryl Platz, author of this book, has shipped a launch title for the Nintendo DS (The Urbz: Sims in the City), games for Disney like Disney Friends DS, and world-class live service gaming experiences for Riot Games, Scopely, and The Pokémon Company International. She has also served as an adjunct faculty member teaching video game leadership at Carnegie Mellon’s Masters of Entertainment Industry Management.
Player 2: Celia Hodent
UX Strategist
Celia Hodent is a pioneer in the discipline of video game user experience. From her work organizing conferences like the Game UX Summit to her multiple books and her time as Director of UX on Fortnite, one of the world’s largest games, Celia has been consistent in both championing a scientific approach to game design and mentoring the next generation of video game user experience designers.
Player 3: Hasit Zala
Executive Director, Game Director, Director of PM
Hasit’s accomplished career spans multiple disciplines, like lead development for the Timesplitters franchise, Game Director on Homefront 2, and Director of Commerce Product Management at Riot Games.
Player 4: Danielle Lalonders
CEO, Narrative Designer, Producer
Danielle is a pioneering narrative designer and CEO of Veritable Joy Studios, where she created and published ValiDate: Struggling Singles in Your Area. Her work champions representation and pushes the interactive narrative genre forward.
Player 5: Chaka Ayana Cumberbatch
Social Media Manager
Chaka Ayana Cumberbatch is a social media manager who has worked with brands like Pokémon, Google, Sony, and Meta. She has supported incredibly successful video game campaigns, and has seen both video game platforms and games fall. She helps brands listen deeply and meet players wherever they are, from Instagram to Discord and everywhere in between.
Player 6: Whitney Beltrán
Narrative Designer
Whitney Beltrán is an award-winning narrative designer in both video game and tabletop gaming contexts. Known for her work on titles like Holovista and Bluebeard’s Bride and with studios like Hidden Path Entertainment, Beltrán has long worked to create groundbreaking, emotionally resonant, authentic gaming narrative experiences.
Player 7: Amy Kalson
Design Producer, Creative Director, Chief Product Officer
Amy Kalson has held roles in game design and production through to Creative Director and Chief Product Officer. Her work spans major brands like Maxis, Disney, PopCap, and Bad Robot Games, and includes the title Disney Friends DS which we worked on together. She currently works in VR at Meta.
Player 8: Yesenia Cisneros
Senior Producer
Yesenia is a former competitive gamer and veteran producer with traditional and live service game experience on major titles like Minecraft, Pokémon TCG Online, and Batman: Arkham City who now works as a Senior Producer for Riot Games.
Player 9: Tamara Knoss
Unicorn / Senior Technical UI Designer
Shaping game experiences since Y2K, Tamara has gathered a diverse skill set across multiple disciplines, including hand-drawn pixel animation, 3D animation, modeling, texturing, rigging, font design, art direction, and UI/UX Art/Design. Since 2019, Tamara has made her home at Wizards of the Coast as Senior Technical UI Designer on Magic: The Gathering Arena. She was Lead Artist on Disney Friends for the Nintendo DS.
Player 10: Caerie Houchins
Chief Technology Officer
Caerie was a Senior Engineering Manager for the global launch of VALORANT at Riot Games who played a critical role in the development of its anti-cheat system Vanguard, and has gone on to co-found Wicked Fox Games as their Chief Technology Officer.
Player 11:
Joseph “joemag” Magdalena
Senior Systems Designer
A specialist in prototyping and bootstrapping new game concepts, Joemag has worked on titles including Teamfight Tactics and Marvel: World of Heroes in addition to a long tenure at Blizzard working on groundbreaking games like Hearthstone.
Player 12: Stephanie Fried
Chief Marketing Officer
Stephanie Fried has spent 20 years building and leading the most innovative marketing and research teams in media. She was formerly Chief Marketing Officer at Fandom, a global entertainment brand powered by fan passion.
Player 13: Eric Kabisch
Vice President of Design
Eric’s considerable history as a design leader includes time as an early design leader at Scopely and VP of Design for Roblox. Currently VP of Design at VRChat, Eric is a pioneer in the space of user-generated content and a creative leader dedicated to creating safe, functional teams.
Player 14:
David Guiseppe Ventura
CEO and Creative Director
David worked with legendary gaming companies like iNiS and Rockstar Games before starting Ichigoichie, his studio blending insight about the Japanese market with European game design talent while shipping musical strategy games like Hexagroove: Tactical DJ.
Player 15: Carlos Figuierdo
Director, Player Trust and Safety
Carlos is a prominent pioneer in the prosocial gaming movement as co-founder of the Thriving in Games Group, Director of Player Safety for Mojang’s Minecraft, and former leader at Two Hat on Community Sift.
Special Thanks: Technical Reviewers
No non-fiction book is possible without the help of technical reviewers who share their time and talent to selflessly review the text and provide feedback on the accuracy, engagement, and alignment of the content. Eternal gratitude and bonus lives to the technical reviewers for Enduring Play: