Hi, I’m Melissa Koven – Mel is fine too. Over the years I’ve been a narrative designer, writer, game designer, product manager, data nerd, marketing manager, even a plumbing office receptionist. Sometimes many at once.
At heart, I’m a storyteller. I love storytelling at the junction of creative and technical challenges: games. And I’m always chasing the next experience that’ll make me better at it.
Based in Tucson, Arizona, I have over seven years of experience in game development, as well as a corporate marketing background across other industries.
Much of my games career has been in the narrative space, including leading a team of award-winning narrative and cinematic designers at Mighty Kingdom in Australia. I’ve worn other hats over the years, as game dev often demands. I’ve also chased my solo dreams by developing my own narrative adventure game demo, Scaredy Cat.
Are you still interested? After all that?
Well, how about what makes me come alive? I love how objects and places can breath stories as much as characters. This is expressed through my obsession of curating vintage decor, and my love to travel and experience new cities and nature.
As for hobbies, I love to read (especially fantasy, gothic mysteries and books on the search for meaning), play physical games, make puzzles, illustrate and paint, train my dog, deepen my astronomy knowledge, and listen to nerdy podcasts on topics like mindfulness and history.
Rounding it out: I hold a Masters of Data Science from The University of New South Wales and a Bachelors of Commerce with majors in Marketing and Management.