Aiwen (Emily) Zhang is an Associate Systems Designer at Gearbox Entertainment, currently working on Borderlands 4. Previously, she was a Level Designer on Assassin’s Creed Jade at Tencent Games. Her past projects range from AAA open-world titles to award-nominated student work, including the Fallout 4 mod Fist to Fist and Asurya’s Embers, a first-person shooter she led with a 24-person development team, now published on Steam. Emily has received Tencent’s Open-Minded and Communications Awards. She is actively involved in the game dev community as a Board Member of IGDA Dallas and a mentor for IGDA’s global mentorship program. Her journey has been featured in The Dallas Morning News.
 

Emily holds a Master’s in Interactive Technology with Honors Nomination from SMU Guildhall and a degree in Classics (Latin specialization) from the University of Washington, where she also earned the Dean’s List and helped grow the game development club from 20 to over 100 members. A former student president and Leadership in Action awardee, Emily now supports early-career and female-identifying developers, driven by her belief that everyone deserves a strong, supportive entry into the industry. When not scripting chaos in-game, she’s figure skating, watching movies, or sipping her third cup of coffee for “research.”