Ashley Poprik
Ashley "Ash" Poprik is a writer and narrative designer known for creating memorable characters, authentic dialogue, and stories that resonate with players. Ash collaborates with major studios including Disney, Marvel, and Activision. Her game credits include DESTINY 2, CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 6, CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE III, SKULLGIRLS, and MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN 2. She is working on multiple upcoming projects, which will be announced soon. Outside of gaming, Ash has published in board games, comics, and graphic novels, including the Ringo Award-winning anthology, TRANSPHORIA.
A seasoned speaker, Ash has spoken at conferences including the Game Developers Conference, Narrascope, and the Austin Film Festival, among others. She has been a guest on multiple podcasts, including the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook and The Corner of Story and Game. Ash has given many lectures for educational nonprofits in entertainment and has been honored by organizations such as The Game Awards, BAFTA, and Forbes.
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Video Games
Destiny 2
Contract Senior Narrative Designer: Expanded story and lore for the live service sci-fi fantasy game.
“No other studio is creating a live-service shooter with this kind of scale, with this much attention paid to story and encounter design and puzzles and secrets.” - PC Gamer
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Writer: Championed campaign narrative for multiple levels, contributed writing to additional levels, and wrote world-building documents.
“Best campaign I’ve played on any game in a while… Black Ops 6 did not disappoint.” - Ice T
Nominated for Narrative on the BAFTA Games 2024 Longlist
Skullgirls
Dialogue Writer: Wrote dialogue for the Beowulf Origin Story cinematics and supported actors in the VO booth.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
Writer: Contributed narrative for three levels, helped write additional levels, gave feedback on other golden path scripts, and participated in writers’ rooms.
“Like its predecessors, Modern Warfare III is a punchy military shooter with few rivals.” - Impulsegamer
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Writer Intern: Wrote barks and vignettes, drafted minor character arcs, lead narrative for a set of small missions, gave feedback on golden path scripts, and participated in writer’s rooms.
“The studio has crafted another consistently exciting rollercoaster ride and the best story of the series yet” - IGN
Nominated for Narrative at the Game Awards 2023, D.I.C.E. Award Winner for Action Game of the Year 2023, Golden Joystick Award Winner for Ultimate Game of the Year 2023
Anne & Mary’s Hunt for Booty
Creative Director: Led a multi-disciplinary team to create a 2D beat-em-up inspired by real-life events featuring pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read.Created as a Game Design MFA Thesis to understand how comedy and entertainment impact audience retention
Board Games
Marvel Mayhem
Lead Writer: Wrote all package, instruction, and card copy. Chose reference images that matched card copy for the illustrator to use.
Marvel Mayhem is a free-for-all battle-of-champions card game for 2-4 players!
Clue: Disney Villains
Lead Writer: Wrote all package, card, and instruction copy. Collaborated with Disney to choose featured villains.
Who stole the magic? Players move through each Villain's lair on the gameboard, trying to discover who stole the magic, which magical item they stole, and where they hid it.
Love is Dead
Writer: Contributed boo-tifully crafted puns for card copy.
Everyone is DYING to find their soulmate! Find your next ghoulfriend by matching ghosts that fulfill all of the Traits on their Boo cards.
Game of Life: Jurassic Park
Writer: Wrote card copy and assisted with instruction copy.
Players race around Isla Neblar, collecting Dinosaur Eggs and rescuing Park Rangers as the storm advances and dinosaurs escape.
Comics
Transphoria
Transphoria features 19 short stories about Trans/Nonbinary experiences of Gender Euphoria. “The Perfect Gender” is about two best friends who explore their unique journeys through gender identification... or lack thereof.
Best Anthology Winner at the 2025 Ringo Awards
Unnanounced Webtoon Project
WEBTOON is home to thousands of stories across 23 genres including romance, comedy, action, fantasy, and horror.
*Webtoon Original Story
Press, Podcasts, and Panels
The Corner of Story and Game (Podcast) - I returned to the podcast with host Gerald Ford for a craft-forward conversation about how fanfiction, community spaces, and “writing what you love” can build real narrative muscles for professional game work.
Austin Film Festival 2025 (Panel) - “The New Frontier: Writing Live Service Games” was a panel where other working game writers and I discussed the ins and outs of live-service game writing.
Narrascope 2025 (Lecture) - “Cringe to Career: How Fanfiction Creates Great Game Writers” is a micro-talk about how writing for a pre-established universe builds a solid foundation for working as a game writer.
The Corner of Story and Game (Podcast) - I chatted with host Gerald Ford to unpack what it means to be a narrative designer in a world where story meets system, and emotion meets production.
AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook (Podcast) - Alexa Ray Corriea, Chris Holzworth, and I chat about how we started game writing careers, how all game developers are storytellers, and the differences between writing for single-player and multiplayer narratives.
Bonfire Conversations (Podcast) - I had an amazing chat with Hamidreza about writing short films, collaborating in writer’s rooms, and creating authentic character arcs.
Austin Film Festival 2024 (Panel) - “Inside the Game Writer’s Room” and “Level Up: How to Break Into Writing for Video Games” were panels where I talked with other talented game writers about the ins and outs of being a writer in games.
Transphoria Live Event! (Interview) - Transphoria is a comic anthology that had an incredibly successful Kickstarter. Check out my interview starting at 13:25 where I talk about working with the incredibly talented team to bring this comic to life.
Game Developer’s Conference 2024 (Lecture) - “Who Are You? Building Your Profile Outside the Job” is a short talk about how to build a game development career outside of the job.
Austin Film Festival 2023 (Panel) - “Game Writing for Existing Franchises” and “Female Characters in Video Games” were panels where I talked about my personal experience with these topics while working in games.
She Became a Video Game Writer! (Interview) - I had the pleasure of speaking with Susan O’Connor about how I learned about game writing as a career and my personal journey into the game industry.
The Creative Writing Life (Podcast) - I had the honor of talking about writing for games and my experience speaking at Austin Film Festival.
The Game Awards Future Class 2022 (Honor) - Showcased as one of the game developers who “represent the bright, bold, and inclusive future for video games.”
Bold Journey: Meet Ashley Poprik (Article) - I delve deep into what writing in games is like and advise those looking to get into the discipline.
Austin Film Festival 2022 (Panel) - “Interactive Storytelling: The New Frontier” is a panel about how interactive mediums evolve and change our storytelling landscape.
Rising Stars: Meet Ashley Poprik (Article) - I talk about my journey into games and the struggles I continue to face while working in the industry.
ATX GameMakers (Article) - “So You Got the Job… Now What?” is a blog post about continuing to develop skillsets in an ever-growing and versatile industry.
Resume
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