While new to the board Keir is no stranger to the festival having attended since 2016. He is excited and proud to be helping out with such a special festival. Keir studied Design & Animation at Massey University, before joining the ranks of NZ game developers in 2008. He worked locally with the likes of Sidhe & Pikpok on console and mobile projects. Contributing to over 50 titles as Lead Technical Artist or subsequently as Analytics Manager.

At Weta Gameshop he helped the team explore the new realm of Mixed Reality with Dr. Grordboart’s Invaders.

Most recently Keir co-founded NZXR, a company on the forefront of developments in Augmented Reality. NZXR is working with a veritable who’s who of Augmented Reality companies world wide, from right here in Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa.

Serena (she/her) is Fijian Indian Social Innovator & Designer who serves across the social and public sector. Serena is a co-founder, experienced board director/trustee, gamer, livestreamer and community events manager for the NZ Livestream gaming community. Serena is invested in honouring our responsibilities as Tangata Tiriti and meaningful leadership and recognition from underrepresented gaming spaces.

Serena believes in the power of games to have discussions and experiences towards a just and accessible world. She loves story-led games, D&D, learning to arts & crafts and trying to invent new foods through baking experiments. Serena is a keen listener and mental health support person. Always available for chats or conversations on any topic!

Cameron is a programmer, composer, and game accessibility consultant from Wellington. They are currently working as an accessibility consultant on Wayward Strand. Cameron is also a co-founder of Accessibility Unlocked, a group that aims to advocate for and support disabled and neurodivergent game developers in Australia and New Zealand. Accessibility Unlocked was listed as one of 2020’s Game Changers by gamesindustry.biz.

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.

MB joined the board in late 2023, and is passionate about board games, tech, and the ways that great game-making can tell beautiful, complex stories. In her day job, she is a Senior Producer working in game development at CerebralFix in Ōtautahi.After a decade in leadership roles within the arts/non-profit sector, she is a self-proclaimed paperwork-nerd and brings extensive knowledge and passion for governance, policy, and risk management to the role with NZGF.  MB is currently undertaking her Masters, with a special focus on best practices of accessibility implementation in modern gaming tech.