Meet Brenda from New York

When speaking with Brenda the first thing you will notice is how open and direct she is. Like any good lecturer she is approachable and honest, but also alters her language to accommodate those (me!) who know very little about computing. Brenda is more than a lecturer at The University of Limerick; she is one of the world's most renowned game designers and developers. In 2014 she moved from Silicon Valley to Galway. 

If you google Brenda you will find endless articles on her and the word 'influential' constantly appears. She has the longest continuous service of all females in the video games industry and she is using this experience to continue developing her own games, but also to encourage the lucky students at UL. 

When I entered her office the first thing I noticed was a meter long tray of clear crystals and dice. Dice of all sizes and colours. Without thinking I went straight towards them and picked up a dice. Little did I know that these dice were the inspiration behind her career in game making. Growing up, Brenda's mum didn't have a lot of money so she used to give Brenda ten cents to go to yard sales. All she would be able to get for that ten cents were used games that had multiple pieces missing. As they say 'necessity is the mother of invention' so Brenda bought these bit part games. As she collected them she started using parts from different games to create new games. This started her passion and inspiration for working in the world of game design and by the age of 15 she was working in Sri-tech Software as a tester on the Wizardry role playing series. Her work on that has resulted in her being named as one of the top people who changed the world of gaming. Brenda also creates analog games and her series The Mechanic is the Message has received national and international acclaim. 

Brenda now works in Romero Games with her husband John (designer and developer of the famous Doom and Quake games) and her children also get involved. Her young son Donovan is the mastermind behind Gunman Taco Truck! 

For more information on Brenda check out her website here