Name: What's So Scary About Video Games?
Start: 2025-06-15T10:00:00-0400
End: 2025-06-15T10:45:00-0400

Welcome to the premiere horror literary convention presented by the Horror Writers Association. Registration for StokerCon 2025 is now available! This year the convention is being hosted by the city of Stamford, Connecticut, at the Hilton Stamford Hotel and Executive Meeting Center. We’re taking over from June 12th through the 15th, 2025.

Sunday June 15, 2025 10:00am - 10:45am EDT

Aspen 2

Horror is a fertile ground for video game stories. Whether we are talking about survival games, story games, or action horror games, it's clear the horror golden age includes games. How does one write for a horror game, what narrative tricks and techniques work? How does narrative intersect with mechanics to create atmosphere and scares in effective ways? And what is missing from the horror genre that we should hope (or fear!) in works to come?

Moderators

Jesse Scoble

Senior Narrative Designer, Beamdog

Jesse Scoble is a Senior Narrative Designer at Beamdog Studios. Previously, he has been Chief Narrative Designer at Tencent; lead writer on HyperScape for Ubisoft; and contributed to Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Far Cry 5, AC Origins, and Watch Dogs 2. Before Ubisoft, he was lead writer... Read More →

Speakers

Todd Keisling

Author, Graphic Designer, Precipice Books / Dullington Design Co.

TODD KEISLING is the two-time Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of Devil’s Creek, Scanlines, Cold, Black & Infinite, and most recently, The Sundowner’s Dance, among several others. A pair of his earlier works were recipients of the University of Kentucky’s Oswald Research... Read More →

Maria Alexander

Maria Alexander is a produced screenwriter, games writer, virtual world designer, award-winning copywriter, prolific fiction writer, and poet. Since 1999, her stories have appeared in acclaimed publications and anthologies.Her debut novel, Mr. Wicker, won the 2014 Bram Stoker Aw... Read More →

Richard Dansky

Narrative Director, Romero Games

Richard Dansky is a 25+ year veteran of the video game industry and is widely regarded as a leading authority on game writing and narrative. He has written and narrative designed for bestselling franchises including The Division, Assassins Creed, Far Cry, and Splinter Cell. His book... Read More →

Amanda Headlee

Amanda Headlee is the author of Till We Become Monsters, This is How a Villain is Made, Madness and Greatness Can Share the Same Face, and several short stories. A devoted connoisseur of cosmic and psychological horror, Amanda can often be found unraveling the universe’s darkest... Read More →

Robert Ottone

Robert P. Ottone is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of THE TRIANGLE and is also the best-selling author of CURSE OF THE COB MAN, THE SLEEPY HOLLOW GANG, THE VILE THING WE CREATED and NOCTURNAL CREATURES.His short fiction has been collected in TEAR ME OPEN as well as HER INFERNAL... Read More →

Sunday June 15, 2025 10:00am - 10:45am EDT
Aspen 2

Convention Event

StokerCon 2025