36 Facts About Emilia Schatz

Emilia Schatz was born on February 18,1979 and is an American video game designer best known for her work at Naughty Dog.

Emilia Schatz studied computer science at the University of North Texas, where she later worked before searching for work in the video game industry.

Emilia Schatz was hired at Terminal Reality, where she worked as a level scripter on Re-Mission, as a level designer on BlowOut and BloodRayne 2, and as a senior game designer on Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Emilia Schatz was hired at Naughty Dog in 2009, and began working early in development on Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, for which she designed several levels.

Emilia Schatz assisted with the development of The Last of Us.

Emilia Schatz was co-lead game designer for the development of The Last of Us Part II, during which she continued to lead the company's accessibility efforts.

Emilia Schatz's mother is an art teacher at an elementary school; Schatz felt that, outside of games, teaching would be her career choice.

Emilia Schatz studied computer science at Baylor University from 1997 to 1999.

Emilia Schatz used Flash to develop her own games, including one inspired by Tempest on a bootleg development environment for Game Boy Advance.

Emilia Schatz worked at the University of North Texas for almost three years as a web developer after graduating.

Emilia Schatz applied to multiple game development studios in Dallas, and in August 2002 was hired by Terminal Reality as a level scripter on Re-Mission, which aligned with her former experience with educational Flash games; she designed several levels for Re-Mission.

Emilia Schatz worked as a level designer on BlowOut and BloodRayne 2; she found the latter jarring due to the oversexualization of the lead character.

Emilia Schatz worked as a senior game designer on the canceled Demonik and Ghostbusters: The Video Game, and provided additional game design work on Kinect Star Wars.

Emilia Schatz found Ghostbusters: The Video Game "really fun to work on" but was becoming restless and felt she "wasn't making the games I always wished I could make".

Emilia Schatz had a phone interview with Naughty Dog, and was later flown out for an in-person test and interview in November 2009.

Emilia Schatz began working at the company early in development on Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, designing the French chateau level, the foot chase, and the ending's underground and collapse segments.

Emilia Schatz often referenced The Legend of Zelda when designing levels for the game, and cited Don Norman's usability engineering research in guiding the player.

Emilia Schatz participated in a panel discussion about queer identities in gaming at GaymerX in July 2014, in a panel about game design at PlayStation Experience in December 2014, and at a panel at WonderCon in April 2015.

Emilia Schatz regularly met with game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann about the game's story and overall direction.

Emilia Schatz noted the push for accessibility was initially a struggle, but they had much more support by the end of development.

Emilia Schatz designed the Scotland, Marooned, and No Escape levels, as well as some of the mechanics like rock climbing and slope sliding.

Emilia Schatz felt Uncharted 4s crunch was Naughty Dog's worst.

Emilia Schatz spoke at the Wonder Women Tech Conference in July 2016.

In 2017, Emilia Schatz was named among the 100 Most Creative People by Fast Company "for helping the gaming industry evolve".

Emilia Schatz began providing lectures in the level design course at CG Master Academy; she learned more about her own design work by breaking it down for the classes, and found the process rewarding to see the students' improvement.

Emilia Schatz sought to continue supplemental teaching work in the future to guide aspiring game developers.

Emilia Schatz was part of the leadership team for the development of The Last of Us Part II as co-lead game designer alongside Richard Cambier.

Emilia Schatz was responsible for the addition of a rainbow crosswalk and transgender flag in the Capitol Hill level of the game, and designed a queer bookstore, for which she worked with writer Halley Gross.

Emilia Schatz continued leading the studio's accessibility efforts for The Last of Us Part II, now alongside lead systems designer Matthew Gallant.

Emilia Schatz felt Uncharted 4s accessibility options were "pretty sparse" despite the praise they received, and wanted to improve upon them in The Last of Us Part II.

Emilia Schatz started working on the game's accessibility after being questioned about the options at GAconf, wanting to ensure all players could complete the game.

Emilia Schatz is working as principal game designer on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Emilia Schatz came out to Naughty Dog's head of operations and organized a plan to send a company-wide email on March 14,2014, which they coordinated with co-presidents Christophe Balestra and Evan Wells.

Emilia Schatz set up the transition so Schatz had a new email address, business cards, and company head shot when she returned the following week; her name was changed in the credits of The Last of Us Remastered.

Nervous about the response, Emilia Schatz brought in cookies made by her wife.

Emilia Schatz has a particular interest in Metroidvania games due to the exploration and discovery of secrets.