Diablo III co-creator Kevin Martens to visit SMU on Sept. 12

Kevin Martens, lead designer with Blizzard Entertainment and co-creator of the record-setting video game Diablo III, will visit SMU to discuss "Storytelling for Games" on Wednesday, September 12.

The presentation and Q&A with the University’s Master of Liberal Studies and Guildhall Master of Interactive Technology students, as well as students from the Writer’s Path, takes place 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the M Lounge of Hughes-Trigg Student Center, 3140 Dyer St., on the University's main campus. All available seats have been claimed.

As a game-design professional with a writing background, Martens' areas of expertise focus on the narrative side of game creation -- writing, storytelling methods, in-game narrative, and cinematics, among others. His most recent work is the critically acclaimed Diablo III, which shattered one-day PC game sales records in May 2012 with more than 3.5 million copies sold in 24 hours.

Prior to joining Blizzard, Martens spent nearly a decade with BioWare, where he helped create distinguished titles such as the Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age and Jade Empire.