Kara Ellison began her career in the gaming industry as a GTA 4 tester before becoming a games journalist writing for publications such as Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer and The Guardian. She later moved into narrative design, becoming a senior narrative designer at Sony Santa Monica, before joining Gravity Well in 2023, a studio created by Respawn and Infinity Ward veterans Drew McCoy and John Shearing. Allison was selected for the BAFTA Breakthrough Award for her work on the VR puzzle adventure City of Ghosts from Fireproof Games.
How does it feel to be nominated for a BAFTA Breakthrough Award?
This is amazing. It was such a surprise and shock.
What benefits do you think this could provide?
I think this will help you understand what comes next. This is almost a milestone for me. I've been in this industry for over 16 years and it reminds me that you can still learn new things, grow and become someone else. All of these things are really helpful to think about because one of my biggest fears is that I get into a creative rut and stop thinking that I can learn something new.
I've also been talking to BAFTA about upgrading my leadership skills and really thinking about how I can keep the majority of our creative talent in the UK and on a sustainable footing. It's been terrible to see how many layoffs have taken place, and I'm really afraid we're going to lose a lot of our really experienced game designers. Many people have to leave the UK to find work.
One of the things I might think about in the future is reinvesting my experience and knowledge into the UK games industry and seeing young people graduate from places like Abertay University. So I was really thinking about the future and bringing back more of the experiences that I've been able to have around the world.
So you're thinking about a bigger role for the teacher?
Yes, for sure. So I'm thinking a lot about how I can reinvest and try to grow the industry here.
You mentioned layoffs, and storytelling design has been hit particularly hard in recent years, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence. What is your experience?
I think the storytelling department is usually one of the first to suffer, along with quality control and sometimes production. I think this is because people think that these rules are very interchangeable: for example, if we need a writer, we can always just replace him with another one. But this is not entirely true.
The institutional knowledge that people gain working within companies—knowledge of the tools, knowledge of the mechanics, knowledge of how things work, how to get things done—all of that is lost when you fire someone. But what's interesting about narrative design is that it's always considered expendable because it's not top-tier game design: it's not engineering or anything like that. This is a real shame because I personally believe that the story or narrative of your game, even if it's not a traditional narrative, is what actually gets people to pick up the controller again and keep playing for a longer period of time. In many cases this pushes you towards the end of the game.
What have you been working on lately? I think you advised Session at Blake Manorisn't it?
Yes, it was amazing. What an opportunity and what an incredible game. Even from those early builds, I knew right away that this would be a 10 out of 10.
I've also been working on a little game called Sleight of hand from RiffRaff Games and it's really cool. My main job is that I work for a company called Gravity welland it's a larger studio, but they haven't announced any of their projects yet.
You also worked on Void Bastards – what did your parents say when you told them you were working on a game called Void Bastards?
They weren't surprised! I was always quite a swearing child. A lot of the characters I designed for Void Bastards also swear a lot. Some of them are little Neds that come and try to attack you. But it was really fun to work with.
Obviously, you're a very accomplished writer these days, but are you personally finding it harder to get work, or are you seeing fewer people coming to you with writing assignments?
No, but I think it's rare. I don't actually know why this is the case. I think part of this is because I know a lot of people from my work as a journalist at The Guardian, PC Gamer and Rock Paper Shotgun. But I've also done a lot of work around the world. So I was working on God of War: Ragnarok and I was doing a lot of work in Seattle and Australia. Since I had an interest in traveling, it helped me expand the range of jobs I did. But obviously it's a privilege because a lot of people have kids and a mortgage – I've always rented, so within five seconds I could just drop everything and move.
So that's been a blessing for me, but I also recognize that it's a privilege and I don't think that should be the norm for getting a job in the industry. You should be able to live in a cottage in the middle of the Highlands and still work on games.
This is a controversial point, isn't it? Because some companies insist that employees come to the office now.
I mean, there are some things that are easier to accomplish in person, but I don't think those things should happen every day. Companies typically have the option to bring their employees in for a couple of weeks to do important team work and then return to working remotely. Because I think there's actually more that can be done remotely, and I think it's more productive. You have less travel time, less stress, and you don't have to pay for childcare sometimes, so that's really important to save. And I feel that happy employees make better games.
Last question: what does it mean to be a member of BAFTA? How will this help you?
I think it helps me feel connected to my peers. Because living in Dundee – even though we have a small games industry here and we talk to each other – I feel like I need a broader view of what my peers are doing and something to aspire to. BAFTA makes me feel like I'm part of a group of people who are really trying to push our medium forward and trying to do something special despite all the terrible things going on around the world.
Art gets me up in the morning. This is the reason people do their jobs, do their chores, and try to keep going because they want to know what's going to happen next in their favorite comic book, or what's going to happen in the next video game that comes out, or what's going to happen in the next episode of Pluribus. Art is something compelling that makes people feel human. And what I get from BAFTA is a sense of plurality and the idea of ​​people from all walks of life telling stories.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Find out more about the other members of the 2025 BAFTA Breakout Games panel: Kyle Banks, Stanley Baxton, Sally BeaumontAnd Mark Choi.
