Enduring Play Season 1 Episode 10:
People, Process, and Players: Human-Centered Video Game Production
How do you navigate the incredibly high stakes of video game development (even AAA video game development) without losing the fun, and your humanity along the way? Senior Producer Yesenia Cisneros helps us close out Season 1 with her signature blend of world-class production, problem solving, and people focus. All listeners will walk away inspired by techniques for more human-centered video game production along with some of our top tips for building more successful thriving games from the ground up. We touch on topics like globalization, telemetry, esports, crunch culture, planning, user experience research, the power of community, and much more. Yesenia’s iconic video gaming journey took her from video game quality assurance to her current role as Senior Producer at Riot Games with stops at studios like Brass Lion Entertainment, Signal Studios, Mojang Studios, and The Pokémon Company International along the way before landing at her current role at Riot Games. (This podcast is not affiliated nor sponsored by my current employer, TPCi nor my past and Yesenia’s present employer Riot.)
For readers of host Cheryl Platz’s new critically acclaimed book The Game Development Strategy Guide, this episode is a perfect closer to the season as we explore several of the topics from Chapter 14: Let the Right Ideas Win and Chapter 15: Failure to Thrive in addition to its relevance to chapters discussing production and business models like Chapter 2 and Chapter 13. All listeners will take something away from this podcast, but the book is a great way to expand your understanding.
Listen Now: Enduring Play Season 1 Episode 10
Episode Transcript [PDF]
Featured in this Episode
Yesenia Cisneros: Senior Producer, Riot Games
Yesenia Cisneros is a veteran video game developer with 15 years of experience leading cross-functional geographically diverse teams working on AAA titles and new IPs for globally recognized franchises such as Minecraft, Pokémon, and Batman. She is now a senior producer at Riot Games on the Teamfight Tactics team. Deeply human-focused, Yesenia is happiest when she is using her problem-solving skills in creative ways under pressure to unblock the people around her in search of the best collective outcomes.
Yesenia’s passion for video gaming cuts deep to her core, and she started her journey as an esports manager that transitioned to video game quality assurance and eventually video game production. She now brings experience with working during all phases of the development cycle, including live-services – and continues regular engagement with the video game community via opportunities like her Game Developers Conference talks.
Show Notes
Supporting Links
| Yesenia on social media | Yesenia Cisneros on LinkedIn |
| Yesenia’s Game Developers Conference talks | 2024: Leaders Working at the Heart of the Team Building a Strong Studio Culture |
| Esports History: GamerchiX | LA Times: A refuge for women in a hostile games space Escapist Magazine: GamerchiX: An interview with TriXie |
| Esports History: Frag Dolls | Wikipedia: Frag Dolls Kotaku: The Rise and Fall of the Frag Dolls |
| Stress, health, and your body | American Psychological Association citation National Institute of Health: Cortisol and Major Depressive Disorder |
| Cheryl’s first book and Opti-Pessimism | Design Beyond Devices on Amazon Design Beyond Devices on Rosenfeld Media Opti-Pessimism Keynote at Interaction Latin America Opti-Pessimism case studies on Medium |
| Globalization and Localization: Toubon Law | French Ministry bans English Gaming Terms Banned Gaming Terms |
Episode Outline
| Scene | Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Podcast Start | 1:30 | Introductions |
| Level 1 | 2:07 | Career Overview |
| Level 2 | 2:44 | From Quality Assurance to Production |
| Level 3 | 7:15 | Speedrunning the Glass Ceiling |
| Narrative Cutscene | 8:15 | Key Gaming Communities |
| Level 4 | 9:45 | Charting a career path with bold curiosity |
| Level 5 | 11:57 | The Power of Community |
| Narrative Cutscene | 14:16 | GamerChiX and Female Competitive Gaming Communities |
| Level 6 | 15:07 | Managing Through Esports |
| Level 7 | 19:10 | Who’s got your six? |
| Level 8 | 21:49 | Thoughtful and inclusive leadership |
| Level 9 | 24:14 | The high stakes of production |
| Level 10 | 24:58 | The role of mental health in game development |
| Host Commentary | 25:52 | The Consequences of chronic and long-term stress |
| Level 11 | 26:50 | A case study in empathy |
| Tutorial Module | 30:00 | The Four Horsemen |
| Level 12 | 30:48 | Building safe spaces with intention and earned trust |
| Level 13 | 32:18 | Leading with curiosity about failures to thrive |
| Level 14 | 33:58 | Prepare for the worst |
| Host Commentary | 34:45 | Nothing Goes as Planned |
| Level 15 | 35:53 | The Power of User Research |
| Level 16 | 37:47 | Keeping Up with Telemetry |
| Level 17 | 41:58 | Empathy as a Creative Problem Solving Tool |
| Host Commentary | 43:14 | Helping other people problem solve |
| Level 18 | 44:11 | The complexity of world-class IP |
| Tutorial module | 45:47 | Globalization and localization |
| Level 19 | 47:03 | Globalization as a transformative mindset |
| Level 20 | 48:53 | Localization horror stories |
| PSA Mode | 52:05 | DO NOT HARDCODE YOUR STRINGS |
| Boss Level | 53:12 | The importance of tooling |
| Final Level | 56:13 | Links and follow-up |
The Game Development Strategy Guide
Yesenia Cisneros is featured as Player 8 in Cheryl Platz’s new book, The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games that Thrive.
Use code ENDURINGPLAYS1 at RosenfeldMedia.com to get 15% off your order – and all physical orders at Rosenfeld Media receive a free ebook. Podcast Season 1 discount offer expires November 30, 2025.
DISCOUNT CODE
ENDURINGPLAYS1
