Maddy Thorson

Maddy Thorson is a Canadian game designer and programmer best known for the precision platformer Celeste and the archery party game TowerFall. She started making games as a teenager with GameMaker, releasing small pay-what-you-want platformers such as the Jumper series in the mid-2000s, and studied computer science in Alberta before moving to Vancouver, where she made browser games and became part of the city's indie scene.

Under her label Matt Makes Games she released TowerFall in 2013 as an Ouya exclusive, followed by TowerFall Ascension in 2014, which earned more than $500,000 in its first month. In 2015 she and artist Noel Berry made Celeste Classic for PICO-8 in a four-day game jam, then expanded it into the full Celeste, released in January 2018. Celeste, a tough mountain-climbing platformer about anxiety and self-acceptance, sold more than 500,000 copies in its first year and won Best Independent Game and Games for Impact at The Game Awards 2018.

In 2019 the team reorganised as Extremely OK Games (EXOK), where Thorson took on a role as Director of R&D. EXOK announced the action game Earthblade in 2021, but cancelled it in January 2025. Thorson also creates Super Mario World romhacks and small jam projects with Berry, such as the anniversary games Celeste Classic 2 and Celeste 64. She is openly transgender and uses she/her pronouns.