Friday, July 24, 2026 at 11 a.m. · Vancouver
When You're the Only BIPOC in the Room
I'll be moderating the roundtable session, "When You're the Only BIPOC in the Room," at East by Northwest (EXNW) in Vancouver.
Events
Talks, panels & meetups.
I speak about cultural game development, design fundamentals, building diverse teams, funding your work, and more.
Upcoming
Where to find me next
Where to find me
Regular haunt
You can usually find me at the Full Indie dev meetups!
Recent appearances
Past
ONLINE, Friday, September 19, 2025 at 9:35 a.m. Pacific / 12:35 p.m. Eastern.
Delighted to be a speaker for the Game Devs of Color Expo. My talk is called "Achievement Unlocked: Diversity Success".
This is the most hopeful DEIA talk you've ever seen! From the writer/narrative designer of Rooster, who got to feel the joy of being in the majority on a racially diverse team, bringing her best self and most vulnerable, heartfelt work to a stunning video game. In especially troubling times, it's important to celebrate a win when people of East Asian heritage got to highlight the best parts of their culture for a marketable viable product. Deb will discuss how to build and foster a racially diverse team and highlight economic benefits that make for better games and greater global market reach.
July 18-20, 2025 · East by Northwest (EXNW)
June 3, 2025 talk for Full Indie Game Dev Meetup "Scavenger Hunt Tutorial: Using Game Design Fundamentals".
Things to note when this talk about Best Tips for Funding Applications goes up on YouTube
- Thank you to Sasha Boersma and Ted Brunt – for our Sticky Brain applications, we are the dream team!
- https://steamdb.info/stats/releases/ for statistics on Steam Game Releases by Year – I was correct, it is by year
February 10, 2025
AAPI in Gaming with Deb Chantson
Want me to speak at your event?
Topics include cultural game development, game mechanics, launching a writing career, networking etiquette, and funding applications.