Meghna Jayanth is a video game writer and narrative designer. She is known for her writing on ''80 Days'' and '' Sunless Sea''. Jayanth worked at the

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before becoming a freelance writer, and has also written for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' on

women and video games The relationship between women and video games has received extensive academic and media attention. Since the 1990s, female gamers have commonly been regarded as a minority. However, industry surveys have shown that over time, the gender ratio h ...

Early life

While growing up Jayanth lived in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

, attending a total of 12 different schools. Her first gaming experiences included ''Disney's Aladdin'', ''

SimTower ''SimTower: The Vertical Empire'' (known as in Japan) is a construction and management simulation video game developed by OpenBook Co., Ltd. and published by Maxis for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh System 7 operating systems in November 1 ...

'', and '' Civilization II''. Jayanth studied English literature at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, where she directed

The Oxford Revue The Oxford Revue is a comedy group primarily featuring students from Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University, England. Founded in the early 1950s, The Oxford Revue has produced many prominent comedians, actors and satirists. The Revue wri ...

, following which she worked at the

in the department responsible for commissioning video games. Jayanth first became interested in writing for video games via online text-based roleplaying games in which she built worlds and characters. The first playable game she wrote was ''Samsara'', a choice-based narrative game set in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1757, which she has yet to finish. Jayanth is particularly interested in writing stories which explore "unexpected perspectives and unheard voices", including under-represented people and cultures.

Career

Meg Jayanth - Game Developers Conference 2017 - 02 (cropped)

Jayanth was the writer of ''80 Days'', for which she wrote a total of more than 750,000 words, contributed to the writing for ''

Horizon Zero Dawn ''Horizon Zero Dawn'' is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The plot follows Aloy, a young hunter in a world overrun by machines, who sets out to uncover her past. The ...

'', and was a writer for '' Sunless Sea''. In addition to other accolades, ''80 Days'' was nominated for a BAFTA Game Award for Story in 2014, and Meg won the UK Writers' Guild Award for Best Writing in a Video Game. In 2019 Jayanth hosted the

Independent Games Festival The Independent Games Festival (IGF) is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), the largest annual gathering of the independent video game industry. Originally founded in 1998 to promote independent video game developers, ...

awards, where she used her opening speech to encourage the video game industry to reject hatred and create a welcoming and safe environment. In May of that year, she announced the formation of a "boutique narrative label" called ''Red Queens'' alongside

Leigh Alexander Lieutenant-Colonel Leigh Arbuthnot Alexander (4 July 1898 – 28 April 1943) was a British Army officer and cricketer. Early life Alexander was the son of Major William Alexander and Ethel Rubina Arbuthnot and brother of Gilbert Alexander ...

. Jayanth was working on '' Boyfriend Dungeon'' and ''Sable''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayanth, Meg The Guardian people Video game writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People from Bangalore People from London British video game designers 21st-century Indian women writers 21st-century Indian writers 21st-century British women writers 21st-century Indian women artists 21st-century Indian artists 21st-century British women artists British people of Indian descent Women in the video game industry