Jess Haskins | The Game Editors

A brass holder shaped like a hand holds the Fool card from the Crowley tarot deck, depicting a smiling horned figure wearing green with arms and legs spread within a looping frame, holding symbols of the four elements and with a small tiger biting their leg.

Packing my bindle and heading to GDC next week with the spirit of the FOOL: Playfulness, curiosity, openness to adventure and new opportunities. (Leaving the cats at home, though.)

You?

Jess goes to GDC, gathers her people, and hits the books Finishing a big project, award nominations, a return to GDC, and my group for game editors starting to look real.

In issue 2 of my new personal work-life-play newsletter, Jess Verbs Nouns, I share updates on some recent award nominations, my GDC plans, and progress on my efforts to start a new networking group for game editors. Read it here: buttondown.com/jesshaskins/...

NYC Indie Games March Social · Luma This month's social will be in the Madison Square region, indoors. About 🌇🍎🎮🍻☕🍨💖 The NYC Indie Games social is a long-running monthly gathering for indie…

The March NYC Indie Games Social is tomorrow (3/4), and there are a few spots left! Details and RSVP here: luma.com/6f5t11om

Rosewater: go west, in the open air - MoeGamer Rosewater is Grundislav Games' follow-up to Lamplight City, and an excellent point-and-click adventure in its own right.

I did it! I finally got around to playing Rosewater by @grundislav.games -- and, as expected, it was a great time. Not only that, but it's quite a contrast from the other adventures I've covered recently, for various reasons. moegamer.net/2026/02/02/r...

Dear Francisco, We are thrilled to announce that your talk submission has been accepted for NarraScope 2026! Here are the details for your session: Talk Type: Standard Presentation (45 min) Title: Going Union Part 2: How Indies Can Hire Top-Tier Talent And Not Break Their Budget

Excited to announce I’ll be speaking at Narrascope this summer!

A sequel to my 2023 talk, I’ll be explaining the new tiered budget agreements and recounting my experiences with Rosewater and Foolish Mortals.

Hope she's got a planet to live on!

I do not like this gen AI
I do not like what it implies
I do not want it in my art
I do not think it makes you smart
I do not want it in my games
I do not like its goals and aims
I do not want it in my books
I do not like the way it looks
I do not like it, I don't care
I do not want it anywhere

Yesss! 😁

I'll go with "underappreciated," heh... 🙂

But that's why I'm starting a new group to bring together editors working in games (of all kinds), so we can have a place to talk about and throw a spotlight on our often shadowy work.

We're gathering here: gameeditorial.net

The March NYC Indie Games Social is Wednesday 3/4; plus a GDC meetup for game editors!

The March NYC Indie Games Social is Wednesday next week! And the following week I'll be at GDC, where I'm hosting a meetup for editorial pros in the game industry to kick off a new group I'm starting up, the Game Editorial Network. Links & details in the announcement! buttondown.com/nycindiegame...

"was incredibly helpful in drawing out the most clear and confident version of the story I wanted to tell” is both the best thing an editor could hope to hear about a project and a perfect encapsulation of what an editor actually does and why you should consider working with one for your game

Jess Haskins | Game editor and narrative designer Jess Haskins is a game editor and narrative designer living in Brooklyn. Founder of The Game Editors, providing high-quality editorial services and story consulting for game devs.

more updates, including the ongoing shape the network will take, will be shared at gameeditorial.net (or just follow @jesshaskins.bsky.social )

extremely excited for this! will be at the GDC meetup / kickoff and looking forward to meeting other editors & localizers there

Game Editorial Network Meetup @ GDC Together we're building a new network of game editors, localizers, & wordsmiths. Come join us! Monday, 3/9, 1–2:30p Near Yerba Buena Gardens gameeditorial.net Illustration of hands coming together holding coffee, pencils, tea, and phones

Calling all game editors, localizers, and wordsmiths!
I'm launching a new network just for us—and we're kicking off with a meetup at GDC!
Come join us, and spread the word!
luma.com/drbgykwm

New MOME Commissioner Announced: • On Monday, January 12, Mayor Mamdani announced the appointment of Rafael Espinal as the Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. • As Commissioner, Espinal will advance the Mamdani administration’s agenda to ensure New York City remains a place where artists and creatives can afford to live and work. Espinal will report to Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su. • Rafael Espinal is the current Executive Director of the Freelancers Union, where he has advanced the protections and rights of independent workers nationally. In 2019, there were 1.3 million freelancers — around 34% of the workforce — in New York City, many of whom work in the city’s creative industries. As Commissioner, Espinal will work closely with Mayor Zohran Mamdani to ensure that the workers who make up this industry can live in the city they have been so essential to creating. Previously, Espinal served on the New York City Council, representing Bushwick, Brownsville, Cypress Hills, and East New York. As a Council Member, he championed the rights and protections of artists and small businesses. • Current MOME Commissioner, Pat Swinney Kaufman, will be retiring after serving 30+ years working on both the State and City levels in the media and entertainment industries. She leaves behind a career spent advocating and working to make NYC a global production hub. The entire staff of MOME wishes her the best in her retirement.

Applauding MOME's new focus: from making "NYC a global production hub" to ensuring "creatives can afford to live and work" here 👏👏👏

It's always something! Thanks for the heads up.

This month's NYC Indie Games Social will be one week later than usual, on Wednesday 2/11! (Fixed link.)
buttondown.com/nycindiegame...

RSVP for the February NYC Indie Games Social Wednesday NEXT week, 2/11! ​The NYC Indie Games social is a long-running monthly gathering for indie game devs and pals of all stripes to mix and mingle in a casual, relaxed setting, every first Wednesday.

This month's NYC Indie Games Social will be one week later than usual, on Wednesday 2/11!
buttondown.com/nycindiegame...

College for All Jubilee School: Kickoff In the United States, higher education has been careening toward collapse as a result of state and federal disinvestment, institutional segregation, the erosion of academic labor…

Calling all student debtors, academic workers, and defenders of academic freedom!
On Feb 26, the Debt Collective kicks off the College for All Jubilee School, a discussion series on the fight for free public college, dignified labor conditions, academic freedom, and debt cancellation.

5 jobs I've had:
* Grocery bagger
* Pharmacy technician
* Legal proofreader
* Medical editor
* The person who comes up with the daily challenges in MS Solitaire

I am reminded of this Trekian remix by Will Burrows.

Because it's hanging on my wall.

✊

Small, free act you can do to bring some good in this world: add positive reviews to ALL you Steam games, especially the small indies. You don't need to write anything smart, just "game good" is enough. Every positive steam review tips the algorithm and helps your fav artists get more sales

It has been a while! Glad for the opportunity to reconnect. ☺️

CherryBurns - Twitch The Lazarus of Lewdness, the Crown Prince of Crass, and a silly old queen playing silly little games. I stream video games and interviews. Enjoy clumsy-typing, hodge-podge hot messes? Cherry's ya gal.

In honor of Burns Night, my friend Cherry Burns is hosting a stream today at 2pm EST featuring some pals reading poetry. I'll be sharing some postcard poems by another poet friend of mine, the talented @monostich.bsky.social . twitch.tv/CherryBurns

Cover of the Easton Press collector's edition of Moby-Dick with a whale and wave pattern embossed in gold on black and a blue ribbon bookmark

Reading/listening pairing:

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville, which I'm finally diving into as part of the Weirdosphere's six-week course Hunting the White Whale: weirdosphere.mn.co

Dark Seas ambiance by myNoise: mynoise.net/NoiseMachine...

My voice is the result of 2 decades of classical training that was interrupted by a masculine pitch shift at 35 years old. It is attached to a body that is preparing to undergo surgery that as of 1/1 is no longer covered under federal healthcare plans. I know, because I was hired for a post office job that I immediately had to quit because my benefits would not cover my hormones, either. Acting is the work I do to reconnect to who I am and where I have been. My work in Destiny 2 had moments informed by my sexual assault in 2009. My work in Hades is informed by my love of kink. When I speak about my work, I remember the lines I said, how they felt in my throat, the memories I lingered on. AI steals those from me and uses my instrument as a corpse. It evokes the image of my mother, standing in the kitchen over a chicken she slaughtered, laughing as she showed me its voice box before squeezing it. I heard it cluck, just like it was alive. And now I am that chicken, with my voice box held by someone hoping to make money while my blood is fresh on their hands. Queer performance cannot be separated from queer performers. Feeding our voices into a machine that is designed to make them statistically average robs us of the very fiber of our identity. They don't have the vocabulary or dataset necessary to properly handle this job, and I'm not interested in giving it to them.

In case anyone wants to know my feelings on AI as a queer performer outside of the enormous environmental and ethical concerns.

A Golden Wake -80% Lamplight City -40% Rosewater -25% Grundislav Games Steam Sale

The stars have aligned once again, and all of my games are discounted on Steam!

- Visit sunny Miami in the 1920s
- Solve 5 cases in an alternate history 19th century city
- Travel across the Wild Western frontier with your pals

store.steampowered.com/curator/4430...

Rosewater took the Best Art & Animation award, and tied with Foolish Mortals for second place in the Jury Award. Not a bad birthday gift!

Congrats to all the winners and nominees, and big congrats to The Drifter!