Pitching Perfect – Creating My Own Hallmark Christmas Movie Game

Banner image featuring a puppet pasted over a photo of a romantic couple saying " Pitching PErfect."

Every year at Christmas my friends and I try to find the most corny Christmas movies we can find. Typically these are from Hallmark, though in recent years a few Netflix films have snuck into the mix. While there’s a formula, it’s actually very hard to write one of those films. How does a business … Read morePitching Perfect – Creating My Own Hallmark Christmas Movie Game

New project: Interactive Fiction “Witch Walks”

I’m working on an interactive fiction piece called ” Witch Walks”. The story will follow a witch making a graduation journey across the island of Olice. The player will need to make decisions about how far they travel each day, when they rest and when they spend and use their mana. I’ve been toying around … Read moreNew project: Interactive Fiction “Witch Walks”

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