LORI HYRUP

On the Wonder Woman project for Monolith Productions (WB Games), I served multiple simultaneous functions.

In my capacity as Design Manager, I shaped and grew the design and narrative department. I went from having five design teams and three inexperienced leads to having nine design teams (player combat, NPC combat, world design, living world/sandbox content design, 3Cs, systems design, technical design, UX/UI/Accessibility design, writing narrative design), two on-going strike forces (bespoke Golden Path content and Nemesis System), and directors to oversee narrative, gameplay systems, UX, and content. By 2025, I managed a department of about 50 designers, writers, and directors, spanning two studios—Monolith Productions and Montreal.

Pulling double-duty as a design director, I oversaw the creation and construction of our world and the content that populated it, regularly directing, reviewing, and providing feedback for each point of interest, dynamic vignette, and heroic opportunity. I also wrote our project’s 300+ page GDD and our design vision presentations for Traversal, Lasso, Nemesis, Fauna, Region Balance World Experience.

A third role I simultaneously fulfilled while on Wonder Woman was that of the IP expert. Art, Narrative, Audio, Combat, World, Content, even Creative Direction—they all came to me for information about Wonder Woman. Knowing this character and universe inside and out, I not only knew information, but the intention and nuance behind the information. Sometimes it was to come up with a new idea. Sometimes it was to give them feedback on ideas they wanted to pursue. If what they wanted wasn’t in line with the IP, I generally suggested alternatives that could get them to where they wanted to be. In this capacity, I provided the team with a plethora of reference material, created our universe timeline, established our rules for Amazon technology, established the rules and uses for the resources available to Wonder Woman and the Amazons, established all of the fauna that lived on Themyscira, established depth and nuance of Amazon culture that provided the foundation of our world, and more.

While the game was announced in late 2021 as a means of attracting talent to work on the project, no game material had been released for public consumption prior to the cancellation of the project and closure of Monolith Productions. However, the legal team from Warner Bros. Discovery has provided me with the means to showcase the Wonder Woman portfolio as part of my interview process.