User:DecafPotato/drafts/Maddy Thorson

Madeline Stephanie Thorson (born 18 March 1988; formerly Matt Thorson) is a Canadian video game developer. Under the studio Matt Makes Games, she directed and developed games such as TowerFall (2013) and Celeste (2018). Matt Makes Games was relaunched as Extremely OK Games in 2019, and is developing Earthblade (2024).

1988–2003: Early life
Madeline Stephanie Thorson was born on 18 March 1988. In the late 1990s, her mother allowed her to acquire Game-Maker, a software designed to assist in video game development. Through online communication with those also interested in game development, Thorson met Chevy Ray Johnston. Video games in the Super Mario and Donkey Kong series were noted by Thorson to have been important to her childhood, and she later cited those games as inspirations for her future work.

Throughout high school, Thorson earned money by creating small "pay what you want" downloadable games through Game-Maker. In 2004, she created the platform game Jumper. She attended the Grande Prairie Regional College in 2006 to earn a Bachelor of Science majoring in computer science, and to secure employment with a major Canadian video game development studio. During the summer, she worked at HermitWorks Entertainment in Grand Prairie, Alberta.

2013–2019: TowerFall and Celeste
On 25 June 2013, Thorson released TowerFall exclusively for the Ouya.