Blog - The Game Development Strategy Guide

17 Mar 2026

Enduring Play S2 E3 Released: Putting Playtesting into Your Process with Steve Bromley

Enduring Play

You don't need to be a games user researcher to confront the need for playtesting in your video game. All game developers, from solopreneurs to indies to AAAs will have to put their games in front of players at some point, hoping to learn from the experience. Steve Bromley is one of the world's foremost experts on the art of video game playtesting, and for over a decade he's been mentoring future generations of games user researchers through the International Game Developers Association and his own books and classes. In this week's episode, get insight from Steve that you can…

10 Mar 2026

Enduring Play S2 E2 Released: Self-Expression, Representation, and Generational Gaming with Adanna Nedd

Enduring Play

Celebrate GDC week by listening to one of the many talented GDC speakers hitting San Francisco in 2026: Narrative designer, games writer, and games researcher Adanna Nedd brings her extensive knowledge of what's current in gaming to expand our horizons. Explore unexpected questions like: what's "friend slop" and why does it matter? What does self-expression really mean to marginalized groups in games? How is one of the current breakout games innovating in women's health? Why are some vintage consoles still getting playtime? And... what do spiders have to do with AI? While Adanna's research focuses on the experiences of players…

03 Mar 2026

Enduring Play S2 E1 Released: Powering Up Game Dev by Making Space for All with Joanie Kraut

Enduring Play

Season 2's bonus-length debut episode features a candid, constructive, and hopeful conversation with Women in Games International CEO Joanie Kraut. Recent reports indicate that 46-48% of gamers globally are women - but only one third of game developers identify as women or nonbinary, and that's still far larger than the representation numbers seen in esports. How do we break these cycles, and how can we lift up marginalized groups in gaming in a way that benefits everyone - all genders, all ethnicities, all races, all sexual orientations - with an eye towards equity? Joanie Kraut has been exploring these questions…

02 Mar 2026

Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast launches Season 2 on March 3, 2026 with a powerful lineup of community leaders

Enduring Play, Press

Host, game dev, and author Cheryl Platz launches the second season of this popular video game podcast with Joanie Kraut, CEO of Women in Games International Season 2 will bring curious, candid content that speaks directly to game devs at every stage of their career: studio, indie, full time, laid off, students, and everything in between. SEATTLE, WA, UNITED STATES, March 3, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As the video game development industry prepares to head to the annual GDC Festival of Gaming, Cheryl Platz is launching the second season of her successful podcast Enduring Play with an expanded look at what makes modern…

12 Nov 2025

Author Cheryl Platz brings The Game Development Strategy Guide guest lecture to the University of Pittsburgh’s Digital Narrative and Interactive Design program

Book, Events

On Friday, November 7 2025, Game Development Strategy Guide author Cheryl Platz visited the storied Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh to deliver an invited guest lecture on "The Modern Motivators of Play" for a packed house of students largely drawn from UPitt's groundbreaking Digital Narrative and Interactive Design program. For this lecture, Cheryl worked with program administrators to customize her academic talk with specific content for their interests to help support their use of the book in future book clubs and class discussions - specifically adding user experience content to the base Motivators of Play microtalk. To keep students engaged,…

11 Nov 2025

Game Development Strategy Guide author Cheryl Platz completes book signing and guest teaching during Carnegie Mellon University’s 125th Homecoming Weekend

Blog, Book, Events

Cheryl Platz, author of The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive, was honored to meet with many members of the Carnegie Mellon University campus community on Thursday November 6 in a full-circle moment that brought her back for a signing of her new game development book at the newly remodeled University Store. Undegraduate students, graduate students, alumni, faculty, and parents all stopped by to learn more, say hello, meet with Cheryl, and grab a signed book and in some cases a photo. After completing the book signing, Cheryl went on to co-teach a session of Interaction…

06 Nov 2025

Academic Book Tour Kicks Off at Drexel University for The Game Development Strategy Guide

Blog, Book, Events

On November 5, 2025 author Cheryl Platz expanded her book tour for the celebrated new game development book The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games That Thrive with a guest lecture at Drexel University's Entrepreneurial Game Studio. Thank you to everyone at the EGS for the great discussion and for the opportunity to spend your class with you this week! Talk topics covered Cheryl walked attendees through an interactive exploration of the Motivators of Play drawn from the microtalk first seen at the Seattle Indies SLICE conference - then moved into expanded content created specifically for extended academic…

28 Oct 2025

Game Development Strategy Guide author Cheryl Platz launches academic book tour in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh

Book, Events, Press

Veteran game developer and author Cheryl Platz is headed to Drexel University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University in early November Cheryl Platz, author of The Game Development Strategy Guide, speaks during her book tour at Design Matters Tokyo 2025 PITTSBURGH, PA, UNITED STATES, October 28, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today's students are better positioned than any other generation to leverage the power of game design and development in the professional world, but the first step is opening the door to them. Over the past 15 years, students of all ages have been raised on experiences like Minecraft and…

WILA Games and Education Industry Collider

Cheryl is honored to rejoin the Seattle Indies community to participate in a book signing and community roundtables as part of the Games and Education Industry Collider on November 10th. Tickets are required but free to the public through Eventbrite. "Join us for an evening of panels, networking, and knowledge sharing with game developers and educators from the greater Seattle area. The Collider returns Monday, November 10, 2025, at 6:00 PM at our new venue Cornish Playhouse (just across Seattle Center from PacSci). The Washington Interactive Learning Alliance (WILA) co-founded by Seattle Indies, Seattle EdTech Meetup, foundry10, and Perfect Day Games, is teaming up to bring…

BAFTA Young Game Designers Kickoff

Cheryl speaks about her career and the Game Development Strategy Guide with members of the Young Game Designers cohort virtually.