Angel Leigh McCoy is a

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

and fiction writer based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington.

Early life and education

Originally from the Midwest, Angel Leigh McCoy grew up delving into fantasy and horror novels and won her first essay contest in sixth grade. She studied French Literature at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.

Career

She is credited with published work in the

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

industry as far back as 1994. Over the years, she has designed RPG material for companies such as

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * Whi ...

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

FASA Fasa ( fa, فسا, Fasā, also Romanized as Fassa) is a city and capital of Fasa County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2016 census, its population was 110,825, in 33,379 families. Fasa is the fourth most populous city of the province. The city date ...

, and

Pinnacle Entertainment Group Pinnacle Entertainment Group is a publisher of role-playing games and wargames. History When Shane Lacy Hensley decided to create a 19th-century miniatures game he contacted Charles Ryan's company Chameleon Eclectic about publishing it. The resul ...

. In 2001, she was writing in the

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

industry for

Microsoft Game Studios Xbox Game Studios (previously known as Microsoft Studios, Microsoft Game Studios, and Microsoft Games) is an American video game publisher and part of the Microsoft Gaming division based in Redmond, Washington. It was established in March 2000, ...

, writing articles as Xbox.com correspondent Wireless Angel. She transferred to

ArenaNet ArenaNet, LLC is an American video game developer and subsidiary of NCsoft, founded in 2000 by Mike O'Brien, Patrick Wyatt and Jeff Strain and located in Bellevue, Washington. They are most notable as developers of the online role-playing ga ...

in 2007, where she was part of a team effort to make the MMORPG ''

Guild Wars 2 ''Guild Wars 2'' is a free-to-play, massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by ArenaNet and published by NCSoft. Set in the fantasy world of Tyria, the core game follows the re-emergence of Destiny's Edge, a disbanded guild ded ...

''. Her side projects have included: founding and providing creative direction for an indie game team (Games Omniverse LLC); short fiction writing; webmaster for the Horror Writers Association; producing the Wily Writers Speculative Fiction Podcast; and editing short story anthologies "Deep Cuts", and "Another Dimension Anthology".

Publications

Novella

:* ''Charlie Darwin, or the Trine of 1809'' by Nevermet Press, 2011.

Short fiction

McCoy has published short fiction in various anthologies and magazines, including: :* Ravens in the Library by Quiet Thunder :* Vile Things: Extreme Deviations of Horror by Comet Press :* Masters of Horror Anthology by Triskaideka Books :* Cobalt City Christmas by Timid Pirates Productions. :* Fear of the Dark by HorrorBound :* Growing Dread: Biopunk Visions by Timid Pirate Publishing :* Tales for Canterbury by Random Static :* ''Necrotic Tissue'', issue 14, Stygian Publications

Computer game work

McCoy worked as a game reviewer and journalist for

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. She currently works for

as lore and narrative designer on ''

''.

Role-playing game work

McCoy's work in the

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

industry includes supplements for

Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a ...

;

Earthdawn ''Earthdawn'' is a fantasy role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993. In 1999 it was licensed to Living Room Games, which produced the ''Second Edition''. It was licensed to RedBrick in 2003, who released the Classic Edition in 200 ...

;

West End Games West End Games (WEG) was a company that made Board game, board, Role-playing game, role-playing, and wargaming, war games. It was founded by Daniel Scott Palter in 1974 in New York City, but later moved to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Its product line ...

' World of

Necroscope ''Necroscope'' is the title of a series of horror novels by British author Brian Lumley. The term ''necroscope'', as defined in the series, describes someone who can communicate with the dead (coined Deadspeak later in the series). Unlike ...

;

Pinnacle Entertainment Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. was an American gambling and hospitality company. It was acquired by Penn National Gaming in 2018. At the time of acquisition, it operated sixteen casino properties, located in Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missi ...

Deadlands ''Deadlands'' is a genre-mixing alternate history role-playing game which combines the Western and horror genres, with some steampunk elements. The original game was written by Shane Lacy Hensley and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group i ...

; and

Mage: The Ascension ''Mage: The Ascension'' is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1993. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic. Magic in ''Ma ...

, Vampire: The Masquerade, Hunter: The Reckoning and Changeling: The Dreaming.

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

product line, TSR : * '' The Magic of Faerun,'' co-author; 2000 Changeling: the Dreaming product line,