Jaden Ho

Game Developer ๐Ÿ‘พ | Scholar of East Asian Studies ๐ŸŒ| Activist and Youth Leader โœŠ๐Ÿป

Canada

About

๐ŸŒธ ๐–๐ž๐ฅ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐š๐ ๐ž, ๐ˆโ€™๐ฆ ๐‰๐š๐๐ž๐ง ๐‡๐จ! Iโ€™m a player character with diverse passions and interests, forging connections with friends who join my party, leveling up my skills with each challenge I face, and completing a bunch of quests as I play the game of life! โš”๏ธ: Master's Student in International Studies, Seoul National University ๐ŸŽฏ Current Goal: Junior Writing or Production Roles in Game Dev ๐‚๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ: ๐Ÿ‘พ ๐•๐ข๐๐ž๐จ ๐†๐š๐ฆ๐ž ๐ƒ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ŸŒŸ Producer; Narrative Designer and Writer; Audio Designer and Composer ๐Ÿ› ๏ธ Notion, Trello, Unity, RPG Maker, Twine, Reaper, Audacity, Clip Studio Paint A longtime avid gamer, my game development experience started with DMing my homebrew D&D campaign, and then did the UofAโ€™s Computer Game Development Certificate, creating tabletop and video games. Outside of school, I was a game assistant at the UofA, a fellow of Take Thisโ€™ Accelerate Program, working to advance mental health in game design, and was a participant of ESIO's Trailhead Program. Iโ€™m constantly improving my craft, having participated in various game jams and presented my games at conventions like GameCon Canada. ๐ŸŒ ๐‘๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ข๐ง ๐„๐š๐ฌ๐ญ ๐€๐ฌ๐ข๐š๐ง ๐’๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐ŸŒŸ Intercultural Androgynous Masculinities in East Asia; Self-Orientalism, Liminality, Authenticity, and Identity My undergraduate degree comprised of four years of Korean and Japanese language and EASIA cultural classes, including a graduate-level course in which I lectured and wrote a thesis. I also served as a TA for Korean classes and completed an abroad program at Yonsei University. Iโ€™ve presented my research through academic presentations and peer-reviewed publications, and am a recipient of the GKS in which I am completing my Master's degree in International Studies at SNU on liminal national identity through the lens of masculinity in East Asian cultures. โœŠ๐Ÿป ๐€๐ง๐ญ๐ข-๐‘๐š๐œ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐€๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐‹๐ž๐š๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐ŸŒŸ Anti-racism and Asian empowerment; Chinatown Revitalization; Youth Mobilization Iโ€™ve initiated and spearheaded engagement-based projects, such as the UofA's Lunar New Year Festival, and worked nationally as a cohort member of the Canadian Race Relations Foundationsโ€™ Anti-Racist Youth Lab. I have also served as a speaker on issues surrounding racism at panels and events and worked on policy-based projects as an intern for the City of Edmontonโ€™s Civic Youth Fellowship, focussing on Edmonton's Chinatown. ๐Ÿ’š ๐๐ฅ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ž๐ฅ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ž๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ง๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฆ๐ž!

Experience

  • Game Director at Self-employed
    Mar 2026 - Present ยท 5 mos

  • KGK: East Asian Studies Undergraduate Studentsโ€™ Association (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada ยท Hybrid)
    • Legacy Executive
      Jun 2024 - Feb 2026 ยท 1 yr 9 mos

      โ€ข Served as a leading advisor and provided guidance to successor teams โ€ข Assisted the President with transitions and operations of the organization โ€ข Led the organization and execution of CheriCon, the UofA's first large-scale Asian pop-culture convention which included an artist alley, maid cafe, and other cultural activities

    • President
      Mar 2022 - Jun 2024 ยท 2 yrs 4 mos

      โ€ข Oversaw and managed all operations of KGK and subsidiary Chinese, Japanese and Korean Conversation Clubs โ€ข Revitalized the club through new implementations, leading to a rise in weekly conversation club meeting attendance from about 40 to over 150 members, reflected in growth of team from 8 to 17 executives โ€ข Acted as the public figurehead by serving as the primary liaison and representative between KGK and various bodies, such as OASIS and the department of East Asian Studies for which I attended department meetings, evaluated professor candidates, and other department-related duties โ€ข Spearheaded, organized, and executed new events and programs to build capacity and grow the club. The most prolific was the KGK-hosted Lunar New Year Festival, ran in collaboration with over 30 different student groups, performers and external organizations to bring awareness to anti-Asian racism. Featured performances, food and cultural activities and games, the event drew over 1200 attendees, raised over $2500 for charity, and won the ISA and UASU Event of the Year Awards โ€ข Planned agendas, led weekly executive meetings, facilitated executive decisions and delegated tasks, ensuring deadlines are followed โ€ข Implemented new workplace practices to encourage healthy team dynamics and efficient workflow such as 30 minute executive meetings, personal check-ins and evaluations, etc. โ€ข Personally developed KGKโ€™s network by forging relationships with over 80 student groups, organizations, performers, and other stakeholders โ€ข Completed administrative duties such as reregistering the club, training all executives with self-developed training materials, revising the constitution, organizing team bonding, resolving conflict between executives, presenting and serving the student body, etc. โ€ข Engaged in all aspects of club operations, from writing and obtaining grants, completing event forms, creating social media campaigns, handling emails with liaises, running conversation clubs, and more

  • Producer at Edmonton Screen
    May 2025 - Jun 2025 ยท 2 mos

  • Accelerate Program Fellow at Take This, Inc.
    Sep 2024 - Mar 2025 ยท 7 mos

    โ€ข Attended classes taught by mental health x video games experts Dr. Kelli Dunlap and Dr. Sarah Hays on curriculum topics pertaining to the intersection between mental health and games, including mental health advocacy, ethical design, and player safety โ€ข Worked with mentor Dr. JC Lau to create a capstone emotional game centred around empathy, particularly in relation to issues of mental health in the Asian diaspora, including generational trauma and parasocial relationships โ€ข Participated in Game Developers Conference 2025 as a representative of Take This, connecting with professionals across the globe โ€ข Trained and participated in 30 educational seminars focussed on the intersectionality between games and mental health led by games and mental health experts โ€ข Worked alongside neuro-diverse, sexual and gender-diverse individuals as ambassadors of the program at conferences including the Game Developers Conference 2025 at San Francisco

  • Civic Youth Fellowship Intern at City of Edmonton
    Feb 2024 - Jul 2024 ยท 6 mos

    โ€ข Selected as one of the top 19 out of over 150 candidates to proceed with the Civic Youth Fellowship and placed in Deputy City Manager Urban Planning and Economy Kim Petrinโ€™s office โ€ข Attended training sessions to develop personal voice plans and project pitches as well as participate in open dialogues with guest speakers, councillors and DCM leaders โ€ข Pitched a 2-minute project proposal video and participated in speed pitches with 19 councillors and leaders in person, communicating key ideas, rationale and logistics โ€ข Facilitated and moderated an interview with a councillor, inquiring about her personal experience and insight on social issues โ€ข Collaborated with and discussed various social issues with fellow interns to polish project ideas โ€ข Planned and executed a policy-based project conducting jurisdictional scans of Chinatowns across Canada for the purpose of finding potential legislative solutions to implement for Edmontonโ€™s Chinatown Revitalization โ€ข Outreached and connected with Chinese organizations and anti-racist leaders across Canada to coordinate and execute the project on a national level โ€ข Interviewed individuals across different demographics and levels of society to gauge the lived experiences of those engaged in Chinatown โ€ข Conducted research to develop a policy brief delineating pre-existing issues across Chinatowns and potential solutions to implement in the Edmontonian context using the data gathered from interviews