Sara Verrilli

Sara Verrilli serves as Development Director at the MIT Game Lab, bringing extensive game industry experience to academia. After leaving MIT's Course V graduate studies, she began her career at Looking Glass Technologies as QA Lead for System Shock. Her industry experience spans nearly a decade at prominent studios including Looking Glass Technologies and Irrational Games, where she contributed to eight major published titles in roles ranging from game designer to producer and QA manager. Since joining MIT in 2008, she has shaped game design education through various roles, including Quality Assurance Director and Development Director at the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, where she organized their intensive nine-week summer game development program. Currently, she teaches core game design courses at MIT including CMS.301 (Introduction to Design Methods) and CMS.611/6.073 (Creating Video Games). Her expertise extends beyond digital games to table top and live-action role-playing games, reflecting her comprehensive understanding of game design across multiple formats.