something about mary

Hello there! I write video games, books, comics, and nonfiction. I’m a Senior Writer at CD Projekt Red and teach narrative design at Indiana University. I previously worked as an Associate Narrative Director at Insomniac Games and episode lead writer at Telltale Games.

Before I worked in games full-time, I studied game design at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and was an award-winning journalist with bylines in The New York Times, Salon, and Global Post. I’ve lived all over, including Boston, Chicago, NYC, the San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, and Hyderabad, India.

When I’m not reading, writing, fussing over my kids, or playing an RPG, you’ll find me tending to an army of houseplants, trying to conquer a Great British Baking Show recipe, or running around in circles while I blare Broadway musicals.

VIDEO GAMES

  • Senior Writer for Project Orion at CD Projekt Red.

  • Associate Narrative Director for the upcoming PlayStation 5 game Marvel’s Wolverine.

  • Writer for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a 2020 PlayStation 5 launch title.

  • Lead episode writer and series writer on The Walking Dead: The Final Season for Telltale Games.

  • Writer and narrative designer for Dying Light 2, Certain Affinity (unannounced project), and Eko.

  • Writer for indie game The Great Whale Road, a 2017 turn-based RPG set in 6th-century Europe.

  • Contributed additional writing to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Telltale’s Batman: The Enemy Within.

books & comics

  • Author of Gamer Girls: 25 Women Who Built the Video Game Industry, a 2022 YA nonfiction novel.

  • Author of the short story One Normal Day in From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi (Star Wars), a 2023 anthology.

  • Author of The Soundtrack To Our Lives in The Psychgeist of Pop Culture – Taylor Swift, a 2024 anthology.

  • Writer of Godzilla Rivals v. Mothra for IDW comics.

  • Writer of several My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic issues for IDW Comics.

  • Created short stories for Read-Only Memories, an IDW Comics series set in the universe of a video game by the same name.

AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS

  • Forbes 30 Under 30 in Games 2020 and named All-Star Alumni 2021

  • BAFTA Breakthrough USA 2020, which “showcases and supports the next generation of creative talent in film, games and television” (Spider-Man: Miles Morales)

  • The Game Awards Future Class 2022 - “A collective of inspiring individuals who represent the bright, bold and inclusive future of video games”

  • Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales won or was nominated for more than 30 awards, including:

    • DICE Awards: Winner of Outstanding Achievement in Character, 4 nominations including Action Game of the Year

    • BAFTA Games Awards: 7 nominations including Achievement in Narrative and Best Game

    • SXSW Awards: Nominated for Excellence in Narrative

    • The Game Awards: 2 nominations including Best Action/Adventure Game

    • NAVGTR Awards: Winner in 4 categories including Outstanding Game - Franchise Action, and 20 nominations

  • The Walking Dead: The Final Season was nominated for a 2020 GLAAD Media Award

  • Selected as an Amplifying New Voices Scholar in 2019 by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Foundation

  • James Reston Reporting Fellow at The New York Times in 2013