The Power of Stories & Community Building | Juan Vaca - Narrative Designer @ Netflix | Ep 9

On episode 9 of Out of Play Area we sit down with one of the co-founders of the Latin X In Gaming Organization Juan Vaca an El Salvadorian / Ecuadorian American currently working as a Narrative Design Lead at Netflix. We'll go through his journey breaking into the industry, shifting from production to narrative design while at TellTale Games working on The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, Tales from the Borderland, and my personal favorite TellTale Batman. We discuss mentoring, what it's like coming from Washington DC, and making the move to California to follow his dream of becoming a game developer and the power of representation, and more.

 

Chapters:

(00:00) Who is Juan Vaca?

(06:57) Latinx in Gaming & Culture

(23:24) Creative Spaces

(35:41) DC Roots & Fallout 3

(42:04) Power of Stories

(50:10) TellTale Games

(01:09:34) Evolving from Producer to Narrative Designer

(01:21:56) Trading Industry Stories

(01:35:53) Conexion & Staying in Touch

(01:43:18) John's Final Thoughts

Episode External Resources:

Connect with Juan Vaca on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/juanvaca/

Follow Juan Vaca on Twitter-

https://twitter.com/juancow

Juan's Moby Games Credits - https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,574415/

Follow John Diaz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/elkingpin

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