Reloading the System

Join the game collective Reality Reload for a chance to try your luck at H1B.Life. In this narrative simulation, the chaotic unpredictability of the U.S. H-1B visa system — where chance, timing, and bureaucracy determine who stays and who is deported — is ‘reloaded’ as a playable experience.

“We are eager to share our raw methodology and the demo we are developing, as well as the challenges we encounter along the way,” writes Reality Reload.

“In an era where genuine communication feels increasingly difficult and individual voices are often erased by rigid systems, we believe games can serve as a vital medium to respond to reality and care for the individual.

As the 2026 Game Developers Conference takes over San Francisco for a week, we’re posing the question: “what realities do games reproduce — and which ones can we hack?”

Schedule

5 PM | Talk presented by H1B.Life creators Allison Yang, Yi Xie, and Ava Hu

6-8 PM | Game play and gallery access

• 

  Allison Yang is the founder and producer of Reality Reload, a studio developing narrative-driven games about power, technology, and social systems. An award-winning game designer and veteran journalist, her work has appeared in international media and reached academic, policy, museum, and public audiences. A Ford Global Fellow and Maynard Fellow, she explores how games help imagine new futures.

   

• 

  Yi Xie is a game designer and digital artist specializing in interactive media and games. Yi holds degrees in Computer Science and Cinema and Digital Media from UC Davis and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Computational Media at UC Santa Cruz. Utilizing games as a medium to explore emotions and intimacy on multiple levels, Yi aspires to challenge the boundaries of gaming and explore new avenues of artistic expression.

   

• 

  Ava Hu is a bilingual reporter specializing in data-driven and international stories. She has reported on immigration, higher education, and public records, with her work published in The Guardian, Houston Chronicle, AsAmNews, Initium Media, and Capital & Main. Hu is currently pursuing a master’s degree in data reporting at the University of California, Berkeley.

   

• Reality Reload is a game studio and civic media lab that creates narrative-driven games exploring power, technology, and social systems. Working at the intersection of games, contemporary art, and journalism, Reality Reload uses play as a way to question how real-world systems operate — and how they might be reimagined.