{"id":145,"date":"2026-08-18T22:30:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/?p=145"},"modified":"2026-08-26T15:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T15:13:10","slug":"spotlight-awardee-karen-hsin-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/spotlight-awardee-karen-hsin-06\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight Awardee Karen Hsin \u201906"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"275\" height=\"319\" src=\"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/H6_article-image-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-120\" style=\"width:185px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/H6_article-image-1.jpg 275w, https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39\/2026\/08\/H6_article-image-1-259x300.jpg 259w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 275px) 100vw, 275px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2024, Karen Hsin (writing under the pen name Karrie [Shirou] Shao) released <em>Pacific Drive,<\/em> a supernatural driving game on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox, described as \u201cStephen King\u2019s <em>X-Files<\/em> in a station wagon.\u201d She was the game\u2019s writer and narrative designer, creating the game\u2019s main story and writing a script that explored themes about the price of pursuing science and technology at all costs, living with public and private failure and the legacy of what we leave behind as both people and scientists. The game has sold more than 1.5 million copies and was nominated for a BAFTA and a Nebula Award, one of the most prestigious science fiction writing awards. She was named a BAFTA Breakthrough talent and previously worked on <em>League of Legends<\/em> as one of the first women\u00a0to write and produce at Riot Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-mudd2021-wrapper clear footnote\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Your Nominations Welcome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hsin received AABOG\u2019s Spotlight Award for embodying Harvey Mudd\u2019s themes of innovation, leadership and impact through her work. Who do you think should be in the spotlight? <a href=\"https:\/\/hmc.kualibuild.com\/app\/66d8a05b2f7877014ac6c914\/start\">Alumni Awards Nomination Form<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2024, Karen Hsin (writing under the pen name Karrie [Shirou] Shao) released Pacific Drive, a supernatural driving game on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox, described as \u201cStephen King\u2019s X-Files in a station wagon.\u201d She was the game\u2019s writer and narrative designer, creating the game\u2019s main story and writing a script that explored themes about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145\/revisions\/246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/spring-summer-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}