Cherry Thompson is a games accessibility specialist/developer with a keen focus on systems design and user experience. They have a background in photography, film production, and art. After 12 years in those fields, disability led them to adapt their skills to a new path. They’ve worked on projects of various sizes from small indies like Gambrinous (Cardpocalypse), GlitchMN (HyperDot) to AAA such as Guerrilla Games (Horizon Zero Dawn), Media Molecule (Dreams), Crystal Dynamics (Marvel’s Avengers), Ubisoft and more. Their practice includes workshops, accessibility audits and sensitivity checks followed up with design collaboration.

Cherry is also autistic, so to their complete surprise, they’ve been a successful public speaker at GDC, Microsoft Bootcamp, PAX, and internal to many studios. This was all thanks to a gentle push from their favourite GA Conf to begin speaking at their events. They have a passion for making both games and the industry inclusive of everyone. Their hobbies consist of cake eating, bird watching and adventuring with their one eyed cat, Odin. They also love to explore weird, wonderful and diverse characters and stories with tabletop role playing games.