Join CUE via Zoom for an exciting roundtable discussion with game creatives Jennifer Estaris ’06SOA (ustwo’s Monument Valley 3), Iesh Thapar ’17SOA (Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: Legion), and guest speaker Graham McNeill (Riot’s League of Legends). Moderated by CUE board member Peter Forbes ’21SOA, the panelists will discuss their professional career paths, approaches to narrative development for games, and thoughts on the future of the video game industry.

Jennifer Estaris ’06SOA is a game director at ustwo games (Monument Valley, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure). At ustwo, she directed Monument Valley 2's The Lost Forest, which petitions for forest protection, and is game directing the next Monument Valley. She has worked in the game industry for the past 15 years, including at SYBO, Nickelodeon, and Disney, and has spoken at a number of conferences about sustainability and climate justice in games.

Iesh Thapar ’17SOA has directed performances (voice, motion, facial capture) and written for a number of AAA video games, including IO Interactive’s highly applauded Hitman 2, Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 and Watch Dogs: Legion, collaborating with a number of celebrated creative audio teams in the UK and abroad. His short films have played at prestigious film festivals, including The BFI London Film Festival, Aspen Shortfest, and Palm Springs. Iesh is currently developing his first feature Alien Kulture, as well as voice directing another game for Capcom. 

Graham McNeill is an author, screenwriter, and game developer. He currently works for Riot Games as Principal Narrative Writer in the League of Legends IP. Graham has written a host of novels for numerous global franchises, including Blizzard Entertainment’s Starcraft universe. His novel, Empire, won the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2010, and four of his novels in Warhammer 40,000’s Horus Heresy series have gone on to become New York Times best-sellers. Most recently, Graham was on staff in the writers’ room for Arcane, an animated Netflix series set in the League of Legends universe.

Peter Forbes ’21SOA is a writer and director. His feature Dream Kingdom won the Ezra Litwak Award, Columbia University’s top screenwriting prize, and his TV pilot Deep River won best horror/thriller award at the Big Apple Film Festival. His short thesis film, The Wood Thrush, won the Alfred P. Sloan Production Award.

Participation: Please email questions for the panelists to [email protected] or submit in the chat during the Zoom, to be answered during the Q&A period, time permitting.

Date: Sunday, May 7, 2023

Start Time: 11:30AM PT / 2:30PM ET (Concluding by 1PM PT / 4PM ET)

Zoom Registration: https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpfu2sqzIrGtYjYcxJB1c5y8yy1z82NC2o#/registration