Cheryl Platz is a world-renowned designer, creative director, teacher, and author whose work on emerging technologies has reached over one billion customers across multiple industries, from best-selling video games to the largest cloud, theme park, and philanthropy platforms in the world. Cheryl’s first best-selling book, Design Beyond Devices: Creating Multimodal, Cross-Device Experiences was published by Rosenfeld Media in 2020. Her second book, The Game Development Strategy Guide: Crafting Modern Video Games that Thrive includes a foreword from game design legend Jesse Schell and was given a Get It recommendation by Kirkus Reviews, who called it ‘as expansive as an open-world RPG—in a way that will resonate with industry insiders, newbie developers, and curious players alike." She also produces and hosts Enduring Play: A Game Development Podcast, which is a breakout hit in its category after two seasons. As owner and creative director of design education company Ideaplatz, LLC, Cheryl has presented her sought-after talks and workshops to global audiences in over 15 countries and five continents.

As a video game director, designer, writer, producer, or voice talent, Cheryl has contributed to or supported shipped titles including The Sims: Makin’ Magic (PC), The Sims 2 (PC, DS), The Sims Bustin’ Out (GBA/Console), The Urbz: Sims in the City (GBA/DS), Disney Friends (DS), (GBA), (GBA/DS), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (DS), BATTLETECH (2018, PC), League of Legends (PC), Teamfight Tactics (PC/Mobile), VALORANT (PC), MARVEL Strike Force (Mobile), and most recently Pokémon TCG Live (PC/Mobile). In 2024, Cheryl joined The Pokémon Company International as Creative Director, Game Studio, with an initial focus on Pokémon TCG Live. Cheryl holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction from Carnegie Mellon University where she initially studied game design at CMU’s Entertainment Technology Center, and she is now an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon’s Master of Entertainment Industry Management program in Heinz College where she teaches her popular original course ‘What Makes Us Play: The Craft of Video Games.’