hello.
My name is Jess Rowan Marcotte. I’m a game designer, writer, and maker. Here you’ll find my portfolio, process-focused writing, some selected publications, and a list of (pretty much) every game that I’ve made since 2013.

I design all kinds of interactive experiences, from digital games to toys, to larps, to tabletop roleplaying games, to alternative controller and hybrid game work.

What unifies my design work is a general focus on queer, intersectional feminist themes and design approaches, as well as explorations of awkwardness, vulnerability, and intimacy. I try to create games that encourage people to reflect on their relationship to themselves and others.

PORTFOLIO
For a snapshot of some selected works, you can visit the PORTFOLIO section. More detailed writing about a number of projects can be found under GAMES >> SELECTED PROJECTS. For an exhaustive list of my game design work, visit GAMES >> ALL GAMES.

PROCESS WRITING
This site focuses primarily on recording my in-situ experiences with game design. A lot of the entries here form the basis of an autoethnographic study of my design practice for my doctoral project.

JESS ROWAN MARCOTTE
Jess Rowan Marcotte (they/them) is a queer mixed white-passing Mi’kmaw game designer, writer, maker, teacher, and PhD candidate currently based out of the TAG lab (Concordia University). Their research focuses on physical-digital hybrid games from an intersectional feminist perspective. They teach game studies courses and game design workshops, and co-organize the Queerness and Games Conference (QGCon). Their most recent work includes “Flip the Script!”, a hybrid puppetry game that asks players to imagine alternate presents and futures based on their personal experiences, “Sandra’s Keys”, an escape room about older adult mistreatment (B/OLD, RECAA, ACT), and “TRACES”, a hybrid game about trans experiences and time travel. Their latest work, UNLOCK. UNPACK. explores the affordances of carry-on suitcases, puzzles, and written messages as tools for self-exploration and creating intimacy between strangers who may never meet face to face.

TWITTER: @jekagames.
EMAIL ME: jess[dot]ro[dot]marcotte[at]gmail[dot]com.
PLAYTEST LIST: Tinyletter

You can also support my work by buying some of my games on itch.io here and here.