Jesse Schell

Jesse Schell is a game designer, author, and entrepreneur whose career encompasses theme park entertainment, academic research, and interactive technology. Before founding his own company, Schell served as creative director of the Disney Imagineering Virtual Reality Studio, where he worked as a designer, programmer, and manager on projects for Disney theme parks and DisneyQuest. He is known for designing Disney's "Toontown Online," the first massively multiplayer game for children. Schell also contributed to theme park attractions such as "Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Buccaneer Gold," which received a Thea Award.

Schell is the founder and CEO of Schell Games, a game development company based in Pennsylvania. The studio develops educational and entertainment games, including Yale Medical's "PlayForward: Elm City Stories," "HoloLAB Champions," and the "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" games, as well as entertainment titles such as the VR games "Among Us VR," the "I Expect You To Die" franchise, and "Until You Fall." "I Expect You To Die 3: Cog in the Machine" received the Best Independent Game Award at the NYX Game of the Year awards.

Schell is the author of "The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses," which earned Game Developer Magazine's "Front Line Award." The book is widely regarded as a definitive text in game design. Schell holds a faculty position as distinguished professor at the Entertainment Technology Center of Carnegie Mellon University, where he has taught the Building Virtual Worlds class, created by ETC co-founder and "The Last Lecture" author Randy Pausch.

Schell is also recognized for his "Beyond Facebook" talk at the DICE Summit, where he discussed the convergence of games and daily life. He was named one of the world's Top 100 Young Innovators by MIT Technology Review and has served as chairman of the International Game Developers Association. Schell is a frequent public speaker on the future of video games, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and robotics, examining how these technologies influence both entertainment and educational gaming. His work combines design theory with industry forecasting, establishing him as a leading voice in the global gaming industry.