Cliffhanger Profile: Nahil Sharkasi

From TV to video games, Nahil Sharkasi had a unique career journey before joining Cliffhanger. Get to know more about her and her role as Executive Producer. If you would like to join our team and work with passionate individuals like Nahil, check out our open positions on our website.

Career So Far

“This is my second career. I started in TV because I love storytelling, and I love the technology behind storytelling. But it wasn't as creative or challenging as I think I was hungry for. And so I went back to school to learn technology. I wasn't super focused on games, but the program I was in was an interdisciplinary program where lots of people were working on games. And so there was a game project, a research project for The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was right in my wheelhouse coming from TV and TV news. They were looking for a producer, and I was like, “Okay, I think I know how to do that from being a TV producer.” That was my first experience working on the game team, and it was the most creative and collaborative thing I had ever experienced. So I was hooked. I hunted down every Microsoft and Xbox recruiter that came to campus and worked my network until I got a job as an associate producer at one of their internal studios working on Kinect Adventures.”

About Your Role

“Being a producer is like being in the middle of everything. You’re the hub between all these different disciplines that need to work together. I love the problem solving aspects and just the collaboration and the energy of the artists and engineers and writers and designers and everybody coming together to create something amazing. And then the other big, important part about being a producer is being the player advocate and kind of representing our audience, really understanding what they want, what they're looking for, what their expectations are. I get to meet a lot of players and fans, test stuff with them, get their feedback, and relay that back to the team. I think it's an essential part of any iterative process or innovation process – you need that oxygen. You have to always be kind of open and listening. And when you get it right and you create something that really makes people smile, there's nothing better.”

Life at Cliffhanger

“One thing that I'm so thankful for about Cliffhanger is that the studio is so experienced and so expert at what they do that I have the opportunity to learn from people every day, and work is just really pleasant and energizing because we don't waste a lot of time. People generally have good processes. Even when we're doing things for the first time, everybody's really grounded in what works and very methodical, which is kind of how my brain works as well. We've got a really good foundation to start with the super experienced folks on the team, and I think that everybody's really passionate – passionate about the innovation, passion about the IP – and really puts their energy and their best work forward.”

Thank you to Nahil for answering our questions! Make sure to visit the Careers page on our website if you’re interested in joining the Cliffhanger team!