Hi, my name is Aimi Watanabe

and I design games, write stories for games, and read about the game industry. My work centers around building systems and producing content that feels intentional, readable, and rewarding, while leaving space for player expression and emergent moments. After all, what's more fun than being creative? With experience across mission design, worldbuilding, and live content, I approach every feature with a proven knack for quality, scalability, and long-term player engagement.

For the past five years, I worked on Ashes of Creation as a Narrative Designer at Intrepid Studios. As part of a team of roughy 200 colleagues, I contributed to the development of a large-scale open-world MMO built around player-driven cities, dynamic content, and a peer-to-peer economy. During the early access release on Steam, I supported the live-service product by designing new quests, events, and cosmetic content tailored to the game’s evolving world and lore. Check out more details here on my project page.

As a designer, I'm driven by curiosity for how games bring people together. Some of our strongest friendships are built through games, where shared challenges, discovery, and adventure naturally create a sense of community. I love dissecting why those moments happen and designing content that makes them more likely, because the stories players tell each other are often more enduring than the content itself.