Andrea Sonnenberg

Who am I as a maker-scholar?

Well, hi there. I’m a recently graduated masters student from a multidisciplinary program focused on digital media, data, and creative technology, who no longer has a to-do list longer than my SoundCloud playlists. One of my capstone projects was a cozy narrative game built in GameMaker, where books are living characters navigating a world of censorship. The story begins when the main character, a book named Book, realizes its friends are missing. The missing books—titles players may recognize as some of the most frequently challenged in North America—have vanished, and Book takes it upon itself to find its friends, following clues and talking to others along the way. While cute and cozy looking, one of the books doesn’t make it, two are found, and the other two are in a tense trial, and players are left with a cliffhanger that questions what gets silenced and why. It’s gentle in style but sharp in theme, blending comfort with critique. Through storytelling and soft aesthetics, part of my graduate research was about using games to challenge systems of exclusion in ways that feel approachable, thoughtful, and human. Currently, I am not working on any major projects or wrangling SQL tables, but I am definitely pretending I’m not rewatching Bones for the fifth time.

I received a Culinary Arts diploma from NAIT in 2014, a BA in Classics from the University of Alberta in 2021, an MA in Digital Humanities with a Specialization in Library and Information Studies from the University of Alberta and have worked in the Collection Management and Access division at the Edmonton Public Library since 2015. My academic work focused on resource sharing, data storytelling, and burning outdated systems to the ground—especially when it comes to censorship, gatekeeping, and the myth of “neutral” knowledge. That being said, I’m not here to replicate the classics; I’m here to rewrite the canon.

Who am I as a person?

Outside of school, I’m a big fan of fresh air and creating chaos. You’ll usually find me camping, swimming, digging in my garden, or dancing my heart out with friends. I love trying new restaurants, crocheting and organizing other people’s homes for fun. When I’m not knee-deep in decluttering, I’m vibing to post-hardcore and metalcore music, K-pop boy bands, and rewatching procedural crime shows, dark comedies, and nostalgic animated films.

I thrive in organized chaos, powered by caffeine, angrily fixing my car (again), and carefully timed naps. ADHD keeps things interesting, but hey, so do I. Right now, I’m in the thick of bettering myself, juggling code, critiques, and the occasional existential spiral. But honestly? I’m doing alright—and even when I’m overwhelmed, I’m still making things that matter to me.

What have I been creating?

I’ve provided quite a few examples of my research projects, paper, and maker projects in my portfolio.

I’ll just give a little snippet of my maker projects here:

The first is a visual novel called Cat Cafe Antics. It’s a super cozy and sarcasm-filled game about two friends who go to a cat cafe so the one friend can find his furrever friend. Yes, there is a talking cat. It’s amazing. I’m looking forward to continuing work on it over the next couple of months.

The second is a silly little text generator that I dubbed “Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?” It’s so fun. It spits out different names and reasons why certain people stole cookies out of the cookie jar. You know who you are. I loved making this and changing the background and text to suit my aesthetic needs, which meant that I wanted to make something silly, which means cute colours. I will also be expanding its parameters to turn it into a fun Bluesky bot. I’m really looking forward to completing the Bluesky bot and adding it into my portfolio.

The third is one of my capstone projects which I mentioned earlier in my bio. It’s a game I created in GameMaker that I titled Book’s Quest. This game is meant to elicit empathy when it comes to book censorship. I began creating Book’s Quest during a largescale book censorship movement in 2025 where Canada and the US were banning many books within public schools.