Hello, my name is Cassie! I grew up in the pacific northwest, ask me about our vampire population. When I wasn’t outside frolicking through the woods, I was inside working on the Ocarina of Time Water Temple or playing the free Putt-Putt demo that came in my cereal box.

My first foray with video games was crippling defeat at the hands of my older siblings on our Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 and playing Catz 2 on the family PC. That and hiding under the kitchen counter to watch them play Goldeneye 007 past my bedtime, I was always caught. These experiences started the foundation for my love of video games, but my first true obsession was Myst. At a young age I worked my way through the worlds and puzzles of Myst and was entranced by the story.  As I aged, I played through it again and again, eventually creating a detailed walkthrough for my own amusement. When they released Myst on the Oculus, it was surreal to immerse myself in a world I had watched in 2D my whole life.

Despite my lifetime of loving video games, I didn’t realize at first that’s where I wanted to develop my career. When I left Highschool I thought I wanted to be a therapist, and while I still find mental health to be an important conversation, I realized I could make a greater impact through storytelling. After working in the Nintendo Testing department, I made the decision to pursue a career in video games. One of my proudest accomplishments to date was my work on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and that propelled me towards a more permanent shift into the industry. I obtained a Digital Gaming and Interactive Media degree and while it taught me valuable information on video game creation, I was still more drawn to story development. I went on to pursue a bachelors in Digital Technology & Culture which flushed out my story creation skills and deepened my understanding of how to apply it in practical settings.

Through storytelling in video games, we gain the opportunity to experience life through a new lens and build connections with others. In my career I seek to utilize video games to deepen lines of communication and understanding while having fun along the way.