Getting to Knowmade: Elizabeth Plant, Community Manager
✨ Elizabeth Plant
Community Manager
Ello ello, what’s all this, then? Could it be Lizzy, the unmissable ball of energy in charge of our social content and community crusades? And even more than that? Yes, yes it is.
So, let’s not waste any time! Let’s get cracking!
Lizzy, tell us - what’s your role here at Glowmade? What are you up to day to day?
Well, I do believe I’m the Community Manager!
I chase everyone round the office for awkward 80s prom photoshoots, organise events and outreach, and proudly embody the "graphic design is my passion" frog with my little stylus and terrible posture. I get our audience excited about who we are and what we do, which is great, because I’m also pretty excited about all that too.
Now how would your parents describe your job?
Probably just "oh, she does videogames." "Something something social media," perhaps?
So what’s your origin story? What got you bringing your graphics to Glowmade?
I actually have a massive theatre background, but I've always loved gaming. Pursuing theatre design/writing (specifically) was my main passion before The Big Sick of 2020, when theatre got kinda... buggered, you know?
I worked freelance for a while as a voice actor, and still do, and took on some podcast production roles, before ending up working remotely in community management at an indie studio overseas. Remote all got a bit too much for me and my love of being round people, soooo here I am! Getting to display all my goblinery to the fine folks at Glowmade on a near daily basis.
Describe the moment that got you to pursue a career within the games industry. Don't hold back.
So, fun fact - I've been chronically ill all my life. My PS2 was always a real solace on days I was barely able to function as a kid, and I've been voice acting in Skyrim mods and indie games since I was about 17. I've frankly always been interested in how games are made, but never thought I was maths-y enough to have ANY idea how to make one - my understanding of code was (and probably still is) farcical. But by time the first big lockdown rolled round, I'd sorta had enough of beating round the bush.
Ever one to throw myself in the deep end, I resolved to make a Skyrim follower mod I actually wanted to use - tired of the sea of uninspired waifu mods, for starters. She ended up with something like 4000 lines of dialogue, three narrative quests, several other NPCs with their own voice actors, and it had all landed me a position as a lead writer and core developer on the team at Skyrim: Extended Cut. Even though my code was about as sturdy as a cream cracker, I fell in love with the process of designing interactive experiences, and I've not looked back from chasing the industry since.
Share something you love doing outside of everything video games.
Voice acting. Debatable whether or not that counts, since most of it is for games anyway. I just love letting it all out, and getting to explore myself and my emotions in a way I don't think people often get to. There's something so intimate about getting to be alone and just figure out who these characters are just with the way they sound, or the way they say things, and it's a skill I take great pride in honing over the years.
Who or what inspires you?
In a way, I think I inspire myself. Growing up I didn't have a lot of people like the woman I am now, either in my life or in the things I consumed, to look up to; someone who was queer, and ill, and unapologetically themselves.
I motivate myself to be a powerhouse, and to actually understand who I am and the meaning of what I create, because I want to be that someone, some day, for a little kid who doesn't quite know what they want to be yet or how to do it.
Share something you appreciate about yourself.
I'm one tenacious little beast. I will always, and I mean always, come back kicking. And probably screaming. Something my mum likes to joke about is how my very first headmistress, when I was about five, wrote on my end of year report that "Lizzy is a very bright and creative young girl, but if there's one thing you cannot tell her, it's 'no.'"
“Games are such a brilliant way of engaging with stories - even if the story’s just ganking friends with a hammer.”
What's the best thing about working at Glowmade?
There's just such an atmosphere of love and joy in this place. I have something to laugh about every day, and I feel so motivated to do so much more than my best for them all. Everybody is so creative, and just wants to inspire each other. It's amazing.
And I'll never ever say no to Pastry Wednesday.
What do you want from your career? What goals are you looking forward to vaulting past?
I want to really get good at understanding game creation, at being part of something that moves people and entertains and brings us together.
The goal’s to be properly hands-on with all of it, which is why I'm trying to really get up in the devs' business with all my content creation, whilst learning more about actual game dev. Some day, I hope to be a narrative designer or game writer. I've never been one for a Five Year Plan - but for now, I just love being part of the fray!
If you could have been involved in the development of ANY game, which would it be?
My soul belongs to Skyrim, and Todd knows it, but I have to go with Bloodborne. I can't even begin to say how much that game fascinates me from every single design aspect. The sound design in particular I'm just dying to dissect.
What are your top tips for someone looking to get into games?
Make things! Make things! Make things! If you've never done it before, do it now.
I thought coding was just binary beep boop nonsense for years (and still do, sorry everyone) but just playing around with something like modding wound me up where I've never been happier. You literally never know until you try, and there's so much more that goes into games than you might think - it's worth honing any skill you find inspires you, because you never know where it might come in handy.
In your opinion, who is the cutest Glowmade pet?
This feels like the forbidden question. Fortunately my dog has far too few brain cells to be offended by whatever answer I give.
I might just have to give it to Bonny, Emily's puppy. Sorry, Tuna...
There's one biscuit left in the tin and you're all eyeing it up... what is it?
Honestly, it's probably just a good old chocolate digestive. I am an absolute fiend for one or... five of those, especially if I got a coffee for some quality dunking action.
If you had to pick one game to play for the rest of your life (let's hope it never comes to that), what would it be?
Skyrim. Easy.
Especially if mods are allowed, because then I can just rinse and repeat with infinite new content that may or may not have my voice attached to it. I can make the ultimate Spiderman point meme of every character I've ever played. 10/10 gameplay experience.
What's your personal motto?
No pain au chocolat, no gain au chocolat.
I'm kidding. Though I am very proud of that one. For something sincere, I would say "words are all we have."
It's a line from the most recent audio drama of mine, and though it seems wild to use my own quote, it's one that has meant a lot to me ever since I wrote it. Stories and the drive to tell them have kept me afloat through the worst times of my life, and I truly believe they can be utterly transformative in the way they are told.
What's your guilty pleasure?
Cinnamon swirls. I’d sell my soul for one any day of the week, though I can’t imagine you’d really want it…
And that brings us to the end of it! Thank you, Lizzy - you can go back to bribing the devs into modelling our new merch now. Just make sure to make them pose like one of those French girls…
