Game Workers Conference May 22 - May 23, 2026 Freelancing Together: From Solo to Solidarity Anna C. Webster Andrea Saravia Pérez Alina Staten Drew Messinger-Michaels Kindra Dantone gameworkersconference.org

PANEL ANNOUNCEMENT📢

Anna C. Webster
Andrea Saravia Pérez
Alina Staten
Drew Messinger-Michaels
Kindra Dantone

Freelancers are often kept isolated, which presents a challenge when it comes to organizing. This panel explores how freelancers support each other and build collective power.

Text: The Well-Edited Game: How Professional Editing Elevates Our Medium Jess Haskins, Marissa Koors Editing is an integral part of the creative process in traditional media. But in games, editorial responsibilities are scattered across disciplines or skipped altogether. What do game editors actually do? Are editors only for narrative games? How does editing interact with other aspects of production? What should you consider before working with an editor? We’ll demystify the editorial process and make the case for including editors in every game’s development. We’ll break down the different types of editing, highlight successful interventions from past projects, and share why we believe 2026 is the year of the game editor.

Hey, I'm gonna be speaking at @narrascope.org in Albany in June! I'm delighted to team up with fellow editor Marissa Koors to dig into the hot new trend of having your game edited and how you can get in on the craze. 2026, year of the game editor!

Full schedule: narrascope.org/schedule/

it feels like such a massive concession of ground for ppl to be constantly defending "learning" and "gaining experience" as good things. like the teacher is letting their worst student stop the whole class dead every day.

Realis is the sort of incredible game of possibilities and weirdos where you can play as “what if the bird in a bowler hat from Une Semaine de Bonté was a grad student” and still encounter doomed knights, living ships, aggressive fog, sniper battles, blood magic, and surprisingly graceful moments.

surely some of you are interested in a podcast that asks "does Georgette Heyer have the fujoshi spirit?"

The world is full of ways to signal information to someone trying to navigate a space (signs, maps, architecture, informational kiosks, people giving directions), and people often wonder what to do next in their day. If done delicately enough, you can convey a lot while staying naturalistic.

NarraScope 2025 - Finding the Pixel: Information Seeking Behaviors Towards Holistic Narrative Design YouTube video by Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation

seeing @narrascope.org updates coming through, unfortunately can’t make it in person this year but a) last year’s was incredible & highly recommend attending for anyone considering it, and b) I gave a talk that people seemed to enjoy and involves Station to Station m.youtube.com/watch?v=AekY...

it’s almost passover and that means it’s time for me to share this silly Haggadah insert I made of the four children as sesame street characters as a printable PDF static1.squarespace.com/static/64418...

You can literally get one of the year's best games by joining the MinnMax Patreon at any level. Absurd deal.

Why Star Wars Zero Company is already a GOTY contender YouTube video by PC Gamer

I’m not in this, but some of my very smart and talented coworkers are. youtu.be/3-WH81_J6Go?...

Save 20% on Perfect Tides: Station to Station on Steam A narrative adventure about the momentum and whiplash of young adulthood. Explore the big city through 18-year-old Mara's eyes. Collect items, nurture ideas, and experience complex relationships while...

This is the LAST DAY to get Perfect Tides: Station to Station (AND its predecessor, Perfect Tides) for 20% off during the spring sale! ✌️

store.steampowered.com/app/2088810/...

The students are making some really remarkable work this year, from racoon roadtrip sim to abstract ecological bird puzzler to dadaist cosmonaut collage, and many more, all previewable on itch: pratt-game-arts.itch.io

it is something special how BOJ manages to capture the love, uncertainty, support, doubt, repetition into ritual, and raw feelings of being a new dad, especially when fatherhood in games is so often positioned in relation to perceived threats, violence, then regret.

enjoyed your last one a lot, would be happy to playtest this one

I'm glad the game feels so big in people's minds! But yes, in truth it's small and mighty. the reviews help a lot!

Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow's publisher still won't credit Brenda Romero The publishers behind the bestselling novel Tomorrow x3 have released a statement refusing to credit Brenda Romero's for her inspiration.

as a creative it's not hard to give proper credit to your inspiration. it's weird AF when you don't. also if you don't know about Train, fix that. www.rockpapershotgun.com/tomorrow-and...

Belltower House Artist Residency Belltower House Artist Residency is a gift of creative sanctuary in southern New Mexico.

I couldn't be more excited to announce something I've been working on for a long time -

Please welcome Belltower House Artist Residency, a multidisciplinary gift of time in my erstwhile home in southern New Mexico, now accepting applications for 2026.

belltowerhouse.org

A pixel art image of a brown-haired young woman standing at a grave with her back to us against a cloudy sky. Text at the top reads, "It's not easy being part of the world."

put off finishing it because i wanted to live with it over time, because at times it was so emotionally immediate that i needed a break, and because i didn't want it to end. but i finally finished perfect tides: station to station. masterpiece. on the shortlist of my all-time favorites.

incredible animation work in Eclipsium.

Too busy enjoying the night to take any pics of my own, but just got back the few we took helping AP carry his IGF awards...more or less reverently. (I got to hold the Seumas McNally! It's heavy!)

actually a pretty good gloss of what the consulting job is like at its best. you're, like, very specialized playtesters who the devs bring in specifically because they want to hear your stupid ideas

honestly it's been a good week for very clearly demonstrating that successful projects have skilled human narrative designers and human editors

GDC Thoughts and Prayers - Meredith Gran I’m home! Let’s see if I can zero in on the stuff I really wanna say. I was up for an award I was sure I wouldn’t win. I did not write an acceptance

I'm home and I've written a bit on my blog about post-GDC feelings:

meredithgran.com/gdc-thoughts...

been looking forward to this interview since @meredithgran.com mentioned it. it's great that it is free, but consider supporting Ranged Touch via Patreon as well. I can't think of much else currently that is consistently as interesting, entertaining, and enriching as the shows they create.

perfect tides: station to station is not directly against AI and yet is the ultimate riposte to slop: an utterly lovely, human, funny, characterful game about writing and creativity and figuring out who you are that you should all play. it moved me, & every moment I spent with it felt so worthwhile

Big Freedia Beignets & Bounce Brunch at Outside Lands 2015 YouTube video by Wendy Goodfriend

Brenda’s is great! Feel like you’d appreciate this video of Big Freedia handing out beignets mid-set that Brenda was making live at the back of the stage. m.youtube.com/watch?v=1eai...

so glad that this got written up and highly recommend everyone watch it when (if?) it goes to Youtube. @mesaanasedai.bsky.social and @criticalkitten.bsky.social gave excellent talks showing how editing can improve not only the writing in a game but the production flow & design of the entire project.

the former bookseller in me is especially delighted to see this one

REALLY proud of my team right now @allwillrise.bsky.social ❤️

A tiny team like us, (during one of the worst funding periods of indie games) handing back bloody Microsoft money shows that the power IS withing people.

We are stronger as a collective and we are embodying the games message😤