Kate is a Massey uni Concept Design graduate, she aspires to be an artist for games or animation in the future. As an artist who is inspired by the natural world when designing illustrations and characters, she enjoys conveying goofy, lighthearted themes that have a sense of childlike wonder. Currently, during the 9-5, Kate is a Design Consultant at a tile showroom, but during the twilight hours she is wrangling the NZGF committee, while also trying to find the time to work on her own creations, play games, read, catch up with friends/family and if there’s time – eat and sleep!

Tanya Marriott is a multidisciplinary designer who works in a variety of media including interactive design and play, character and toy design, experience design and game. Her work seeks to build meaningful experiences and storytelling opportunities between digital and tangible activities.

She in an internationally recognised art doll and toy designer, member of the National Institute of American Doll Artists and an alumna of the Pictoplasma academy.

Tanya teaches concept design, toy, play and game design at Massey University, and is program leader for the new Bachelor of Concept Design. Tanya has just finished her PhD “Wild Play” An exploration in character toy play within nature.

Dana Franklin is a concept artist and VFX professional in Wellington, NZ, with a passion for fantasy worlds. She’s also a plein air artist, and sculptor who loves creating creatures. Dana has curated  ‘Non Disclosed Artist’, an industry art exhibition featuring artists across Wellington.

Hi! I’m Justin. I’m a local illustrator and concept artist. I love to spend my time learning more about culture, astronomy,  music and all things art! You can find me hunched over a piano, planning exhibitions and trying to graduate from page 5 of Claire de Lune.

Alex is a serial entrepreneur with a range of incurable, eclectic passions for all things technology, innovation, futurism, history, the human condition, and the way we form and evolve as societies. He is the Licensee of TEDxPipitea and CEO of Xequals (software dev/creative agency) and CEO of Frost Flame Games (game dev and publishing).

With a career spanning hospitality, digital production, game design, event management, innovation sector consulting and establishing start-ups, Alex has done a bit of everything with firm roots in the modern software development and creative industries.

Jorja is a Massey uni Concept Design graduate, she aspires to be an artist for films and games. She is drawn to designing stories that form connections with both creator and viewer. Currently working as a doggy day care assistant  in her spare time she is the NZGF Volunteer Manager who is wrangling portfolio building and creating and enjoying post Uni life.

Sarah is a concept designer and maker who recently graduated from Massey University. She has a passion for story telling and bringing narratives to life through physical making. Sarah is new to NZGF this year and is excited to be part of the team and bring the Play by Play conference to life!

Jenn brings structure to chaos when helping creative teams realise their vision on time, on budget, and with happy/fulfilled people. During her 15+ years in the games industry, she has shipped 8 large commercial games and over 30 small games. Jenn is multi-talented and has taken on varied game development roles. Jenn loves to bring her many passions together innovatively. For example, she created the genre-bending Edible Games Cookbook containing 13 diverse tabletop games that you have to actually eat to play. Jenn currently thrives as a production consultant for small to medium teams during all development stages.

Maya is a passionate Wellington-based artist and designer. She is currently working on her Master’s degree in Design at Massey University, looking into disability representation in video games. Maya loves to design characters and creatures that fit into the whimsical worlds they imagine. They love to create work inspired by history and the natural world, from a queer and women-centric point of view. When not engrossed in their studies, Maya likes to watch cartoons, read books (and draw fanart), and of course play games. Maya is very excited to be in the NZGF committee for the first time in 2025!

Rick is a Design Manager and the Narrative Director at PikPok, where he originated both roles. A prolific speaker, Rick has presented at NZGDC, Play by Play, Script to Screen, multiple PAXes, GenCon, The Dramatists Guild, artistic workshops, game dev meetups, and most NZ universities. Rick was a keynote speaker at FINS, New Zealand’s first games narrative conference. In the end, Rick’s work is mostly about people – helping them connect, care, and collaborate.

Josh is a game developer, producer and dad. While spending the last six years abroad, he joined game dev communities in the UK, Germany and Finland. Now back in Aotearoa, he’s here to bring that knowledge and know-how, and transform it into a fun, engaging, and exciting awards night at The Pavs in 2024. He loves hiking, travelling, learning languages and of course, making and playing games.

Thomas has been working in the games industry for over 20 years, mostly in NZ but with a few years in the UK. His day job is as a coder at Niantic, and his free time is spent trying to keep his two kids entertained.

Senior Community Manager by day, overcaffeinated Game Master by night. Aspiring “foreverGM” Josh K is celebrating his 4th year with the New Zealand Games Festival team as the new Community Outreach Manager. 

Josh is at PikPok as Senior Community Manager, having developed social campaigns and strategies for over 14 games by working with teams to provide engaging and positive social communities for fans to share and express their passion for games. 

He has been a part of the New Zealand Game Festival/Play by Play as host of the Pavs, and as a speaker fanatically sharing his passion for Dungeons and Dragons. He is enthusiastic about encouraging Aotearoa to embrace and celebrate it’s thriving game development industry, and exploring new ways to help the NZGF reach new audiences.

Sami is a programmer at PikPok in Wellington, having worked on various mobile games over the last 4 years. He loves getting involved and helping out in the local gamedev community, and is excited to be back managing events for another year of NZGF. In his free time you can find him playing roguelites, working on one of his not-quite-abandoned projects, or planning a Dungeons & Dragons session.

Blurb: Nilita is a recent Design graduate. She is currently working full time on a venue management project.In her spare time she likes drawing pixel art and making miniatures in her studio. She has a love-hate relationship playing FPS games and is a big fan of indie game soundtracks like old school Zelda and Undertale! Nilita is joining the NZGF committee for the first time as an event manager for Treat n’ Greet.

Chelsea, has always been drawn to art and creation. When not drawing or building, she’s gaming. Her passion for TV, film, and games stems from their immersive and storytelling qualities, letting her inhabit beloved characters and fantasy worlds. Almost studying Architecture, she found Concept Design, blending her love for games and film with limitless creative freedom. As a queer artist she has always strived to create work that everyone can love and showcases the diversity of our society. creating the kind of art and stories that as a young queer kid herself would have liked to see growing up. Even as an adult, she wants to be able to create stories and games that fill that gap of LGBT+ representation lacking in such media. And also just create cool shit

Florence is a Graphic Designer and Photographer. She has previously been in the committee as an exhibition manager, and has returned to draw little pictures, and stress out over moving words one pixel to the left. No wait, maybe try one pixel to the right? None of her flatmates can tell the difference between these versions any more, but they’re important differences, she promises.

In her spare time she is slowly learning the guitar, reading a scary book at night time called Ambergris, and playing Hollow Knight.

Molly is a concept designer, model maker and painter based in wellington. In 2024 Molly joins NZGC as Social Media Manager. She previously held the features editor role at Massive Magazine and has since completed her Concept Design Bachelor degree with honours. Molly has taken a special interest in environment design and has been developing models and miniatures in both 3D and traditional mediums. She is always listening to music and learned to ride a unicycle and juggle — unfortunately not yet at the same time.

Anna is a recent Media Design graduate from Victoria University of Wellington. As a first-year volunteer, she’s excited about new opportunities, experiences, sharing her skills, and meeting people in the community! In her free time, inspired by the details of her surroundings, Anna captures the magic of everyday life through photography. A big part of her interests lies in exploring new design fields and collaborating with other creatives. She dreams of opening a design studio one day, although a quiet future surrounded by cats and countryside views sounds just as tempting…

Skye is a Chinese-Singaporean artist currently based in Wellington, and a 2025 Master of Design graduate from Massey University. In their own practice they make everything from traditional drawing to digital concept design, and teaches a little on the side.

Veera is a graphic designer from Finland, currently doing her Masters at Massey in Wellington. A traveller and serial explorer, she has travelled to 25 countries, lived in four, and speaks three languages fluently. She volunteers her time for many different causes, using her media and previous social work study skills to support a good cause.

Though not a traditional gamer growing up, she has become passionate about the people and industry through game jams with her friends and husband – so much so that they named their daughter Zelda!

Michelle is an independent filmmaker/videographer, writer and Chinese brush artist based in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara. A longtime contributor of video content to NZ Games Festival since its inaugural event, they’re back once again to provide NZGF 2022 with the good video content, direct the Platformer diverse game artists showcase, and generally soak in the good vibes.

They wish they could say they didn’t often schedule their week around a certain D&D livestream and its related paraphernalia, but that would be patently untrue.