About

 
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Timberview Productions was founded by Laura E. Hall, an artist, writer, puzzle-maker, immersive environment and narrative designer living in Portland, Oregon, where she creates video games, immersive experiences, and escape rooms.

She is a co-founder of Portland's first escape the room game company, the award-winning 60 Minutes to Escape, one of the first escape rooms in the United States, and the author of Katamari Damacy for Boss Fight Books and Planning Your Escape: Strategy Secrets to Make You an Escape Room Superstar for Simon & Schuster. She proudly serves on the board of the Portland Indie Game Squad (PIGSquad), a non-profit organization supporting game development and indie game enthusiasts in Portland.

Hall is available for print, television, podcast, and streaming interviews, or to speak at your event. She is a subject matter expert and thought leader on a variety of topics including escape the room puzzle game design and history, immersive and site-specific theater, Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), player behavior in situated gameplay, the future of virtual reality, real-world physical gameplay, and integrating narrative into real-world and digital environments and games.

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Public Speaking
2022

  • Concordia University Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) research center, “Level Up: Puzzle Design Workshop”

2021

  • Arcadia Night 2021 Microtalk

2020

  • A MAZE. Berlin – Total Digital 2020

  • LudoNarraCon

2019

  • Melbourne International Games Week, Superconductor 19, “A Sense of Adventure”

  • Narrascope

  • Game Developers Conference (GDC), “Environmental Narrative: Telling Stories in Spaces Without Saying Anything Aloud”

  • Immersive Design Summit, Narrative Panel

2018

  • Immersive Design Summit, "Environmental Narrative: Telling Stories In Spaces Without Saying Anything Out Loud"

  • Game Developers Conference (GDC), "Narrative Innovation Showcase"

  • Design Week Portland, "You + Me = Us: A Talk About Collaboration"

  • Freeplay Independent Games Festival (Melbourne), "Get In, Get Out: A Conversation on Escape Room Games"

  • Strange Tales x Wonderbly 2018

  • Location-Based Games for PIGSquad's Summer Slow Jams

  • UX Week 2018, "Caring for Players in Real World Spaces: Lessons from Escape Room Games" (August 2018)


2017

  • Game Developers Conference (GDC), "Lessons from Escape Rooms: Designing for the Real World and VR"

  • Intel Buzz Workshop for Game Developers, "Human Behavior in VR"

  • PAX Prime, "Boss Fight Books"


2016

  • Oregon Game Studies Conference

  • Alt Ctrl Workshop for PIGSquad’s Summer Slow Jams

  • GaymerX 4, "Alternate Controllers: Designing for the Real World"


2015

  • IndieCade East, "Environmental Storytelling and Real-Life Escape the Room Games"

  • IndieCade LA, "Analogue Games"

  • Portland Film Festival, "Indies Creating Immersive Stories"


2014

  • Adventure Design Group, "Spark of Resistance"