Pieced Together Wins at the Game Connection Awards

Logo for the indie game Pieced Together

Pieced Together from Glowfrog Games has won two awards at the 2024 Game Connection Awards. I worked with the team at Glowfrog during a prototyping phase while they were participating in the Wings Elevate scheme. The team had already done a significant amount of work. I came aboard for this phase of their project to … Read morePieced Together Wins at the Game Connection Awards

Talk Slides – GDLX London – A holistic approach to narrative design

GDLX Indie Games showcase banner with the event behond.

This week I was lucky enough to present my talk ” All Together Now, a holistic approach to narrative design.” I broke down how narrative is more than just story. That strong narrative is about working together as a team and sharing inspiration. The room was full for the talks all day and the indie … Read moreTalk Slides – GDLX London – A holistic approach to narrative design

User and stories and goals for writing & narrative design – actually pretty useful

A photograph of a lot of hats for sale.

I used to really dislike writing user stories and goals in my narrative design work. Compared to colleagues working in other areas of design it felt a little odd when I was writing. But the more I use them, the more I find them useful even when writing.  Goals Goals should be the high level … Read moreUser and stories and goals for writing & narrative design – actually pretty useful

Battling Blocks with a narrative lens – Looking at Tetris with a narrative lens

Since the future of Twitter is looking a little uncertain, I’ve started archiving threads on my blog. To set the scene a narrative designer has said the magic phrase ” But everything in the game is narrative!”. A steely eyed colleague/friend/spartan looks back across the void of the birdsite. They stop, smile ( even through … Read moreBattling Blocks with a narrative lens – Looking at Tetris with a narrative lens

2019 Narrative Design Reading List

Narrative Design Reading List Header

A few weeks ago I tweeted out a list of writing and narrative design books I’ve read this year. It’s important as designers to maintain and expand our skillsets, so I thought I’d share this year’s list in the hope that it will help anyone with an interesting in writing or game design. There’s very … Read more2019 Narrative Design Reading List

The Narrative Structure of The Artful Escape

Screenshot from the Artful Escape. Depicting Francis Vendetti holding a guitar.

After having just completed the Artful Escape. I was struck by how well it’s structured. The story is linear. Mixing exploration sections, with musical platforming and performance sections. I’ve chosen to only talk about the main structural points here. There’s a lot more to see in the main game. This is a very high-level overview.(Spoilers … Read moreThe Narrative Structure of The Artful Escape

Adventure Afterlife – 20 years of Adventure games part 6 1997

For those of you who have not read any entries in this series these before, I’m playing through a couple of adventure games from each year following the release of Monkey Island 2. It’s been over a year since the last entry, a lot has happened for me personally. I had a really terrible time for … Read moreAdventure Afterlife – 20 years of Adventure games part 6 1997