Mafalda Duarte

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT MAFALDA DUARTE

Mafalda Duarte has been running game studios since 2021, first in Lisbon, stepping up in a well establish local studio with Nerd Monkeys and then in Germany, building Telescope Game Studios from the grownd up in close colaboration with the studio founders. She has been a speaker and mentor at industry events, focusing on topics like networking, production, leadership, community building, company culture and bridging the worlds of film and video games. With a degree in Multimedia Art from the Fine Arts Faculty in Lisbon, Mafalda began her career as an Interactive Designer at the independent publisher Lêleh Land, where she developed a passion for interactivity. This passion led her to pursue a Master’s in Digital Games Design and Development at UBI, further deepening her commitment to storytelling through games. She established herself in the games industry through active community involvement and networking. Beyond her studio work, Mafalda is a Board Member of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and serves as the Chairwoman of the organisation\'s Berlin Chapter. She is also a proud ambassador for Women in Games, serving as Ambassador Coordinator, where she mentors and supports others in their roles. Her dedication to community-building led her to co-found Game Dev Lisbon after years of activism in the Portuguese game development ecosystem. She has previously worked on titles such as Out of Line, Short Games Collection, and Telescope Game Studios\' first commercial release, Lani’s Call.