Podcasts about video game writing

It's been an embarrassingly long time but we are BACK! Again!!! And this time we've brought returning guests Adam Dolin and Jolie Menzel to discuss breaking in, how they define narrative design, the differences between creative directors who come from narrative versus other displiclines, the three c's, can game writers exist without knowing narrative design, favorite narrative tools, what makes a good opening to a game, tutorials, letting players have choices where the results lead to them missing lots of content, bad habits they've noticed in younger writers/narrative designers, the future of the industry, pieces of media they go back to get reinvigorate/inspired, the themes they're always writing into their stories, stuff they're always editing out of their writing, how to write good dialogue, and maybe one or two other things. It's great!Our Guests on the InternetJolie's Linkedin. Adam's Linkedin and BlueSky, and his ELVTR class starts in April!Stuff We DiscussedLarian Cinematics: A Top-Down Look at Our Bottom-Up Approach in 'Baldur's Gate 3'Jolie's 3C's of Game Design PresentationTwineVisual Studio CodeHighland 2 (FYI looks like a Highland 3 launch is imminent)InkYarnSpinnerCastlevania: Symphony of the NightPentimentAgainst the StormUFO 50BalatroMagic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast The Callisto ProtocolGod of War (2018)Detroit: Become HumanThe Darkness 2Another Crab's TreasureThe Videogame Industry Does Not Exist by Brandon KeoghSonic Adventure 2Hank confronts Walter in Breaking BadBarryThe Adventures of Brisco County, JrBurn NoticeClerksDogmaNick's Dialogue PlaylistGame Narrative Summit: Building Rome in a Day: A Sociological Storytelling PrimerTomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle ZevinFuturama Commentaries Tetris ForeverListen To a MovieScript Lock BlueSkyOur Theme Music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita. The vampire sucking noise was created by Robinhood76.

Hey hey! We're back with our second episode that we recorded at this year's GDC, and it's a doozy! In a switch from how we normally do things, we brought a grab bag of simple questions to the conference and hit up people who were free, and so y'all get to see how everyone's answers differed. In our first group, we had Ben Starr (actor, Final Fantasy XVI), Alexa Ray Corriea (senior writer at Cliffhanger Games on Black Panther), Kait Tremblay (narrative director at Soft Rains), and Kelsey Beachum (writer / narrative designer). In our second group (starting at 35:21) we had Adam Dolin (writer), Kate Dollarhyde (senior narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment), and Kelsie Mhoon (senior narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment on The Outer Worlds 2). Our third group (starting at 1:19:39) had Emma Kidwell (writer at Firaxis), Nessa Cannon (game writer), and Calliope Ryder (lead producer Weta Workshop on Tales of the Shire). And we closed things out (at 1:47:33) with Chandana Ekanayake (co-founder / creative director of Outerloop Games, and director of Thirsty Suitors). Topics include: hobbies that aren't related to game development, current game of the year, favorite villains / antagonists, a time you messed up and what you learned from it, how you stay positive, games you keep returning to, favorite choice you've ever made in a game, people in this industry who did something nice for you, favorite NPCs, games you're always referencing that nobody else has ever heard of, games that made you think differently about something, first game you played where the story really affected you, what you'd force devs to change during production, games you wish you'd gotten to work on, how to get team members to read documentation, something in your process that saves a ton of time, advice for people wanting to get into game narrative,  and so SO much more it's kinda insane!!!Our Guests on the InternetGroup 1: Ben Starr, Alexa Ray Corriea, Kait Tremblay, Kelsey BeachumGroup 2: Adam Dolin, Kate Dollarhyde (wants you to play Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire), Kelsie Mhoon (wants you to play Jak 2)Group 3: Emma Kidwell (wants you to play Hindsight and Midnight Suns), Nessa Cannon (wants you to wishlist Star Trucker), Calliope Ryder (wants you to wishlist Tales of the Shire)Group 4: Chandana Ekanayake (wants you to play Thirsty Suitors)Stuff We Talked AboutPrince of Persia: The Lost CrownFinal Fantasy VII RebirthDave the DiverChants of SenaarGarden GalaxyAdvent RisingPrey - MooncrashPyre Original SoundtrackLonely Rolling Star - Katamari DamacyAquatic Ambiance - Donkey Kong CountryLiberi Fatali - Final Fantasy VIIITony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 creditsAnna Megill's Game Writing GuidesAdam's LLVTR game writing class is no longer being offered otherwise we'd link it :'[Packing Up the Rest of Your Stuff on the Last Day at Your Old ApartmentDredgeGrowthNina Freeman's GamesFull ThrottleBellatroA Short HikeLong Live the QueenGame Dev StoryOur theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

I always wondered how someone would get into the video game writing business. Today's guest is screenwriter/game development guru Robert Denton Bryant and he answers that question and so much more.Robert Denton Bryant has worked in Hollywood in marketing and production, and in video games as a publisher and a developer. He has been Executive Producer on dozens of games on platforms ranging from CD-ROMs to the iPad, including the bestselling World Championship Poker and Pinball Hall of Fame console franchises.He is the co-author (with Charles P. Schultz) of Game Testing: All in One and (with Keith Giglio) Slay the Dragon: Writing Great Video Games.Writing for the multibillion-dollar video-game industry is unlike writing for any other medium. Slay the Dragon will help you understand the challenges and offer creative solutions to writing for a medium where the audience not only demands a great story but to be a driving force within it. Aimed at traditional writers who want to learn interactive narrative as well as game creators who want to tell better, more emotionally involving stories, the book is written by two creative veterans of both Hollywood and "Nerdyhood." Through lively discussions and self-paced-exercises, Bryant and Giglio step you such topics as the:"No-act" structure of video gamesWriting great game charactersMaking gameplay emotionally meaningfulBringing your game world aliveI can't tell you what an amazing episode this is. Robert takes me down the rabbit hole of writing for video games, the business, how to break in as a writer, and a ton more. Who says you can't write for both video games and the big screen.Enjoy my conversation with Robert Denton Bryant.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.

First ep of 2024! We've got Stephen (scriptwriter and narrative designer, currently Narrative Director on Motive's untitled Iron Man project in collaboration with Marvel Games. Previously a Senior Writer on Vampyr and Greedfall, Associate Narrative Director/Lead Narrative Designer on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Lead Narrative Designer/Senior Story Designer on Call of Duty: Vanguard, Lead Scriptwriter on Immortals Fenyx Rising, Senior Scriptwriter on Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and more) and Danny (lead writer at Respawn Entertainment where he's worked on Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. Previously a lead writer on Borderlands 3, its dlc, and Borderlands 2, as well as Battleborn and one of its story operation DLCs. He was also a narrative design consultant for Eko, a story consultant for Unbound Creations, lead writer for Ansimuz Games' Elliot Quest, and writer for My Evil Twin Gaming Corp, Trendy Entertainment, and TRU Darknet) in to talk about the UT Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, accountability in writing, having the spine of the story figured out in pre-production, communicating changes that affect other departments, being custodians of story, soft skills, unlearning bad habits, getting better at pitching, building teams, their most used words, staying open to new ideas without losing sight of the vision, taking and prioritizing feedback, and letting go of your projects after they're released.Our Guests on the InternetStephen's Twitter.Danny's Website and Substack.Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.This episode was brought to you by Backlight Gem. If you're a narrative designer or writer in the world of video games, Gem is a powerful tool that empowers you to bring your stories to life by streamlining the narrative design process from ideation to release. Learn more at https://bit.ly/Gem-Script-Lock

Emily Wahlund was raised on television (in a good way), initially gravitated towards acting before realizing how important writing was to her personal creative pull. She's currently a mom who writes features, pilots and for video games.

Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they delve into a mini-masterclass on Video Game Writing with author/game writer J.S. Dewes. During  the episode, Jenny explores the ins and outs of game writing: video games as a storytelling medium, writing novels vs. games, what can make video game stories memorable, working on a development team, the importance of characters, choice and gameplay for player immersion and more. NOTE: This is part two of a two-part chat with Jenny. Click here to check out part one. SUPPORT THE SHOW: - Patreon (for exclusive bonus episodes, author readings, book giveaways and more) - Merch shop (for a selection of tees, tote bags, mugs, notebooks and more) - Subscribe to the FanFiAddict YouTube channel, where this and every other episode of the show is available in full video - Rate and review SFF Addicts on your platform of choice, and share us with your friends EMAIL US WITH YOUR QUESTIONS & COMMENTS: sffaddictspod@gmail.com ABOUT OUR GUEST: J.S. Dewes is the author of The Last Watch and The Exiled Fleet, and her new book Rubicon is out on March 28. She is also a writer at the video game studio Humanoid Games. Find Jenny on Twitter, Amazon or her personal website. ABOUT OUR HOSTS: Adrian M. Gibson is a podcaster, writer and illustrator, and is currently working on his debut novel. Find Adrian on Twitter, Instagram or his personal website. M.J. Kuhn is the author of Among Thieves, her debut novel. Find M.J. on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or her personal website. FOLLOW SFF ADDICTS: FanFiAddict Book Blog Twitter Instagram MUSIC: Intro: "Into The Grid" by MellauSFX Outro: “Galactic Synthwave” by Divion --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sff-addicts/message

Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and M.J. Kuhn as they chat with sci-fi author J.S. Dewes about her new book Rubicon, its inspirations and how it (almost) broke her, The Divide series, military science fiction, films and screenwriting, fan fiction, video games, her evolving writing process and much more. NOTE: This is part one of a two-part chat with Jenny. Stayed tuned next week for her mini-masterclass on Video Game Writing. SUPPORT THE SHOW: - Patreon (for exclusive bonus episodes, author readings, book giveaways and more) - Merch shop (for a selection of tees, tote bags, mugs, notebooks and more) - Subscribe to the FanFiAddict YouTube channel, where this and every other episode of the show is available in full video - Rate and review SFF Addicts on your platform of choice, and share us with your friends EMAIL US WITH YOUR QUESTIONS & COMMENTS: sffaddictspod@gmail.com ABOUT OUR GUEST: J.S. Dewes is the author of The Last Watch and The Exiled Fleet, and her new book Rubicon is out on March 28. She is also a writer at the video game studio Humanoid Games. Find Jenny on Twitter, Amazon or her personal website. ABOUT OUR HOSTS: Adrian M. Gibson is a podcaster, writer and illustrator, and is currently working on his debut novel. Find Adrian on Twitter, Instagram or his personal website. M.J. Kuhn is the author of Among Thieves, her debut novel. Find M.J. on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or her personal website. FOLLOW SFF ADDICTS: FanFiAddict Book Blog Twitter Instagram MUSIC: Intro: "Into The Grid" by MellauSFX Outro: “Galactic Synthwave” by Divion --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sff-addicts/message

Join us for a discussion about the gorgeous and heartwarming video game, Ori and the Blind Forest. Intro and outro music: "The Tavern by Michael Ghelfi." Proprietor's Pick: The Otherwoods by Justine Pucella Winans (January 1, 2023) Visit the Tavern: Twitter | TikTok | Discord Support us on Patreon to vote on topics and access bonus episodes.

Yeah....I dunno about this week The guys are back for the Dean McAmmond edition of the 3LPS, and a short but sweet episode we have in store As well as 3 games x league news, Listen as Tim discusses getting a Costco Card x Video Game Writing x More. Predators 3 v Senators 0 Senators 5 v Coyotes 3 Avalanche 7-0

It's the end of the year, which means it's time for us to put out a new episode and feel guilty for not releasing more this year! (We were busy, but we got lots more planned for next year!) Our guests this month are George Lockett (Senior Writer at Failbetter Games and a Narrative Consultant, Writer, and Designer at Bear Wolf Narrative. Previously the Narrative Lead on The Last Clockwinder, the Scriptwriter and Interactive Designer for BBC Earth - Micro Kingdoms: Senses, and a Contributing Writer to Where the Water Tastes Like Wine) and Mary Goodden (Senior Narrative Designer at Maze Theory currently working on Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom. Previously a Writer and Editor on Zombies, Run!, a Writer and Narrative Designer at Failbetter Games on Sunless Skies and Fallen London, a Writer on Inkle's Pendragon, and co-created Funicular Simulator 2021), and they join us to discuss how their marketing backgrounds have helped with their writing, how to make a writer's room work, advice for thinking in terms of design, what's helped maintain their writing output, what they've learned from the other writers they've worked with, giving feedback, tips for writing themselves out of problems, the best ways we can diversify the voices in the industry, how they approach working with other departments to get their needs taken care of, what their favorite narrative tools are, favorite thesauruses, what their ghosts are, and more, more, MORE!Our Guests on the InternetGeorge's Twitter, Website, and you should wishlist/check out Mask of the Rose when it comes out next yearMary's Twitter, Website, and you should wishlist/check out Peaky Blinders: The King's Ransom when it comes out next yearStuff We Talked AboutZombies, Run!TwineInkjamWriting for Games by Hannah NicklinThe “Reverse of the Spielberg Gaze”: Jordan Peele, Rian Johnson, Tony Kushner and More Talk Shop on THR's Writers RoundtableMiroMicorosft OneNoteObsidian (the notes app)Webster's 1913 Power ThesaurusWordHippoOur theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was done by Lily Nishita.

In this special episode, we invited a writer for a new Indonesian farm-sim game called Coral Island, which racked up an astounding 1.6 million dollars on Kickstarter and is now out on early access. Host Bondan Syamsu (@bondansyamsu) is joined by returning guest Sei Violette (@seiviolette) and Evan Arnoldi Sebayang (@naveidronald), a writer from Stairway Games. We discuss our favourite games, what makes Coral Island unique and Evan's personal philosophy to video game writing. Listen now and gain a unique insight into game writing with a game developer! Website: broadly-specific.com Patreon: patreon.com/broadly_specific Instagram: @broadly_specific Twitter: Broadly Films Youtube: Broadly Specific

In this, our annual Halloween episode, returning guest, novelist, horror writer, and CEO of Cold Room Entertainment David Bergantino joins us for a drink and a chat about writing for video games. In this conversation, we discuss how writing games requires non-linear "world building", making it decidedly different than writing for any other medium. We also talk about how AI-driven tools like GPT3 and Dall-E have both transformed the genre, and made great storytelling even more of a differentiator than before. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween! Drinks: Havoc Mead Psychopomp Sour Cherry Mead, 3 Floyds Brewing Company Zombie Dust Undead Pale Ale, Cellarest Beer Project Won't You Be My Neighbor Links: https://coldroomentertainment.com/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/whatbubblesup/message

We've got a unionization-heavy episode for y'all as we've got Rob (additional writer on Indivisible for Lab Zero Games, writer on Spider-Man 2 for Insomniac Games, and current co-chair of the WGAW's LGBTQ+ Writers Committee) and Andrew (writer, narrative designer, narrative director, story consultant, and more on games like Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon Call of the Mountain, Watch Dogs Legion, The Division, Prince of Persia, Fable Legends, and more) in to talk about fate meeting preparation with getting that first job, finding your voice as a writer, changing your voice for the market and work-for-hire, living in fear of “no notes,” likable characters, taking notes, the Writer's Guild (of America & Great Britain), the differences between the two with representing game writing, the similarities to the struggles of the Animation Guild writers, the growing appetite for unions in the west, why unions are necessary, favorite side characters, and creative authenticity.Our Guests on the InternetRob's Twitter and Instagram.Andrew's Twitter and website.Stuff We Talked AboutThe Writer's Guild of Great Britain Videogame GuidelinesThe Writers by Miranda BanksOur theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was done by Lily Nishita.

Somehow we're over halfway through the year, but this podcast is still going! Our guests this month are Sarah Baylus (Principal Writer at Larian Studios where she's currently working on Baldur's Gate III, and previously she wrote on Divinity: Original Sin, and its sequel Divinity: Original Sin II) and Mike Laidlaw (Chief Creative Officer at Yellow Brick Games working on an unannounced title, and previously was a creative director at Ubisoft, a Senior Creative Director on the Dragon Age franchise as well as a Lead Designer, and was the Lead Writer on Jade Empire), and they join us to discuss why Dragon Age's storytelling has struck such a chord with people (especially in game development), what they look for in a creative director, what makes a good game writer, the best ways to keep teams updated on a game's ever-evolving story, favorite software for collaboration, what's one thing they wished games delved into more often, whether their definitions of good writing and narrative design have changed over time, common mistakes they see writers making these days, favorite game writing/design experiences they've had, writing/directing nightmares, localization notes, resources they go back to a lot, things they would've changed to their favorite game narratives, the most effective narrative-based techniques they like to see being used in games to immerse the audience, and more more MORE!Our Guests on the InternetSarah has an Inactive Twitter, but Larian Studios has Baldurs Gate 3 on Early Access right now, and Larian's hiring!Mike's Twitter, and Yellow Brick Games is hiring! Stuff We Talked AboutThe Dragon Age franchiseGoogle DocsMiroJam BoardCitizen SleeperThe Stillness of the WindAn Essay on Criticism by Alexander PopeJade EmpireDivinity: Original Sin 2Understanding Show, Don't Tell: And Really Getting It by Janice HardyThe ending of TransistorThe last hour of Finaly Fantasy XIV: ShadowbringersStar Control IIMoon HuntersOur theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was done by Lily Nishita.

Brent Knowles is best known for his work at BioWare, where he was a game designer for 10 years - most of that time as a Lead Designer/Creative Director. He has also worked as project manager/director at Beamdog, as well as served as Senior Technical Lead for the Centre for Innovative Media at NAIT. These days Brent can be found furiously hammering away at tabletop game design for his own company Runic Tales Inc., crafting the upcoming Raiders of the Serpent Sea for Arcanum Worlds. He is an accomplished short story writer as well - including published work in Alberta's own OnSpec. In this episode, Brent shares tales of his time at both BioWare and Beamdog, insights into both his creative and technical processes, and what he is working on these days. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to hear more conversations with professionals in the video game, tabletop game, and fiction industries. Find Brent at: -> Website: http://blog.brentknowles.com -> Twitter: https://twitter.com/Brent_Knowles AND his new project, Raiders of the Serpent Sea, is still available for pre-order HERE Find The Corner of Story and Game: -> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storyandgame -> Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecornerofstoryandgame/ -> Twitter: https://twitter.com/StoryAndGame -> Email: gerald@storyandgame.com

An online teacher and mother-of-four creates a new learning experience that she calls “video game social clubs.” She's currently earning $4,000/month working part-time! Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week. Show notes: SideHustleSchool.com Email: team@sidehustleschool.com Be on the show: SideHustleSchool.com/questions Connect on Twitter: @chrisguillebeau Connect on Instagram: @193countries Visit Chris's main site: ChrisGuillebeau.com If you're enjoying the show, please pass it along! It's free and has been published every single day since January 1, 2017. We're also very grateful for your five-star ratings—it shows that people are listening and looking forward to new episodes.

Back in the throes of summer, we've got Corey (lead narrative designer at Silver Rain Games, writer and narrative designer on WindRush Tales, editor and social media manager of Butterfly Books, and a journalist, critic and content producer for companies such as PlayStation, Yahoo! and the Eurogamer Network) and Kelsie (narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment on Outer Worlds 2,  narrative lead for Dangers in the Motor Vortex,  lead writer for Death Carnival,  creator of It Girl, and was also a content designer at Jam City and a writer at Pixelberry Studios) here to talk about writing tests, barriers, common motifs & themes in their writing, games they wish they wrote, unexpected pieces of media that inspired them, games where they felt the most invested in the player characters, silent protagonists, things they wished game narratives delved into more often, character tropes, building characters from scratch, and more!*The views and opinions expressed by Corey do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Silver Rain Games*Our Guests on the InternetCorey's Twitter and Website.Kelsie's Twitter and Linkedin.Stuff We Talked AboutJax & Daxter seriesHades90 Day FianceSandman by Neil GaimanReturn of the Obra DinnWhat Remains of Edith FinchDragon Age: OriginsThe Activision Blizzard Diversity Space ToolOur theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was done by Lily Nishita.

Go follow Alanah Pearce! https://twitter.com/Charalanahzard If you enjoy what you hear please consider supporting this show at http://www.patreon.com/theserfs and we also stream live five days a week over at https://www.theserfs.tv/ or http://twitch.tv/theserfstv

It's a laid-back, fireside chat episode as we regale you with the stories of how we started covering video games in a freelance and hobbyist fashion. The grassroots, bootstrap DNA is sown into each of our stories.  Intro/Outro theme: Hi-Tech Evolution Recorded: Nov 7th, 2021

We're back with a new, Returnal-focused episode! Joining us are Gregory (Narrative & Cinematic Director at Housemarque  on Returnal. Also the co-founder, CEO, and Director of Convict Games, where he's made Stone and the upcoming Burn. Previously was a Senior Narrative Designer at Remedy Entertainment on Control and a narrative designer on Quantum Break) and Eevi (Senior Narrative Designer at Housemarque on Returnal, and was previously a narrative designer on Control, Quantum Break, and CrossfireX at Remedy Entertainment, and a Product Manager on Kingsbridge at Wooga) to talk about the differences in how narrative design is defined at Remedy vs Housemarque, growing pains at Housemarque with making a story-driven game like Returnal, navigating the line between challenging players too much vs not enough, telling ambiguous stories, haunting players, the relationship between narrative and sound, negotiating how much to tell players about the story, how to not re-traumatize yourself when writing something painful, and how can you make main characters as likable as your side characters.Our Guests on the InternetGregory's Twitter and Website for Convict GamesEevi's TwitterStuff We Talked AboutReturnalStoneBurnOur theme music was created by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

It's Haley's turn to make Michael play a game again, and for episode five he was tasked with beating the 2017 indie darling Night in the Woods from Infinite Fall. It's one playthrough vs. seven playthroughs, as Michael and Haley squabble about the story, characters, themes, and gameplay (or allegedly lack thereof) to decide whether it reaches the 'good game' tier all games reach for. Some might say its' a "thanksgiving dinner without the turkey', while others might say it's a masterpiece. Remember! Just because we all don't like the same games doesn't mean we don't like each other! Hug a gamer today.

For our second episode, Nancy and Ed speak with John Zuhr Platten, the creative director at Google's Niantic Labs. Over his thirty year career, John has written, designed, and developed dozens of games like Egress, St. Mercy, and both Jurrasic World Evolution 1 and 2. He's also a published author of the best-selling book on game development The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design. In this episode, Nancy and Ed speak with John regarding how he first broke into game development, the history of the games he has created, and what changes he has both seen and been a part of in the game industry.

Charis and Eugene talk about new Kotaku editor-in-chief Patricia Hernandez's letter to readers on the subject of the future of video games and video game writing. They also discuss erratic sizing within the fashion industry and the sustainability as well as psychological issues that creates. 00:04:33 Video game writing 00:24:12 Sizing issues Hello Kotaku, It's Me, Your New EIC by Patricia Hernandez How fashion's erratic sizing is fuelling a clothing waste crisis by Sophie Benson Support us at patreon.com/maekan and join our community, which includes weekly newsletters and a vibrant Discord. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/maekanitup/message

How are we almost done with May already?! It's bananas, and you know what else is bananas? Our guests for today's episode! Bahiyya (game designer, writer, and filmmaker who’s currently doing her masters in film, and is most well-known for her IGF award-winning game After Hours that will be released soon) and Son (writer who's currently the studio director and co-founder of Perfect Garbage, and director and co-founder of Chimeric Animation. They’re also a narrative designer at Silver Rain Games, and will be publishing their debut graphic novel soon, Thief of the Heights) join us to talk about writing processes, where they start when they’re creating a character, how often their stories change from what they originally planned, story structure, their greatest tools for storytelling, how they figure out their beginnings, when do they let other people see their work, whether they’re ever dissuaded by feedback, storytelling moments in games that they thought were special, silent protagonists, storytelling advice, major influences, what they’re reading/watching these days that isn’t video games, and way way more!Our Guests on the InternetBahiyya’s Twitter and Itch.io pageSon Twitter and Website, and you should check out the short film Death’s Diner, Thief of the Heights (when it's published by Harper Collins in 2022), and Love ShoreStuff We Talked AboutRain White Noise GeneratorDariaButterfly Soup PossessorBloodborneLimboFran BowDishonoredGuy RitchieCain by José SaramangoThe Catcher in the Rye by J. D. SalingerOur theme music was created by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Spring is here and so are Leslee (Design Producer on Marvel Strike Force at Scopely, previously a writer and development manager at Riot, and held a variety of narrative design and production roles at 2K and Dorian) and Cassandra (award-winning game & fiction writer who’s worked on such games as Sunless Skies, Wasteland 3, and Falcon Age)! They join us to talk about being stubborn, knowing when to stop pushing for something, writing barks, overlapping dialogue, where they start when creating characters, whether they’re plotters or pantsers, what their writing habits are, how to force yourself to start writing, how COVID has changed their habits, navigating bureaucracy, knowing when to leave your environment for a better one,  dealing with people overstepping their boundaries, and more!Our Guests on the InternetLeslee's Twitter and TiktokCassandra's Twitter and her three upcoming books are Walk Among Us, The All-Consuming World, and Nothing But Blackened TeethStuff We Talked AboutFinal Fantasy VII RemakeLife is Strange 2The Least of My Scars by Stephen Graham JonesStation Eleven by Emily St. John MandelSharp Objects by Gillian FlynnSandman Slim series by Richard KadreyOur theme music was created by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

[Warning] This episode contains explicit language and explicit themes. Listener discretion is advised. The cousins have discussed video games a lot on The Broken Shelf but they have never gone in depth about what makes video game writing unique and powerful. Even if it is a media in which you play and experience, the levels of immersion are different because of the limitless potential for styles and game play. Whether it is a beat-um-up, a RPG, or even a sports game, a story that let's you experience the move set of a character has to have a great story behind it, or at the very least, the connection and motion to make you want to move them. Spangar and Danny explore the negatives and positives or video game writing, what makes a great antagonist and protagonist, the problem with bigger is not better in RPG stories and maps, and how something as simple as "Mario" has such a long lasting longevity. Get ready for some stories from the past and some expectations of the future. ~Follow all the Legionaries on Twitter~ Danny: twitter.com/legionsarchive The Tsar: twitter.com/TsarAlexander6 Allen: twitter.com/blkydpease Spangar: twitter.com/LSFspangar ~Credits~ Original "The Broken Shelf" symbol created and published by Danny Archive. New "The Broken Shelf" symbol created by CMart Graphics - follow IG @cmartgraphics Opening Music - "To the Sun and Back" Artist - Track Tribe Provided free from YouTube Audio Library Podcast edited by Danny Archive using Audacity. Download Audacity here: www.audacityteam.org/ This podcast is fair use under U.S. copyright law because it is (1) transformative in nature, the audio is a journalistic commentary on popular media (2) uses no more of the original work than necessary for the podcast's purpose, the claimed duration is an edited clip for rhetoric, and (3) does not compete with the original work and could have no negative affect on its market. DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the materials (music/artworks). All rights belong to the original artists. If you are the content owner and want to remove it, please contact me at legionssoulfood@gmail.com. Thank you! ~Do Us A Favor~ Hey! At the time of publishing episode eighty of The Broken Shelf, the podcast became available on TuneIn, Stitcher, Google Play, and iTunes. That said, if you downloaded the podcast via anything else other than Sound Cloud, maybe check out our Sound Cloud, give us a follow, and listen to a few more of our other tracks. Sound Cloud was there from the beginning for us and no matter what the others provide it was and is our host. Thanks! Sound Cloud: @user-377177156

Happy New Year one and all! To celebrate yet another new beginning, we've brought back old guests Greg (Creative Director of Supergiant Games, and writer of Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, and Hades) and Kate (Narrative designer on Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, all of its DLC, the Outer Worlds, and was a narrative co-lead on The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon) to chat with us about working from home during COVID, work/life balance, Early Access, the keys to writing memorable shopkeepers, the beauty of em dashes, themes that they gravitate towards, working with ensemble casts, what kept them up at night the most on the last game they worked on, murder hobos, games being adapted into film/TV, collaborating with other disciplines more closely, and more, more, more!Our Guests on the InternetGreg's TwitterKate's Twitter and InstagramStuff We Talked AboutHadesThe Outer Worlds (and its DLC: Peril on Gorgon)PyreTransistorBastionResident Evil 4 (specifically this guy)UltimaNetflix's Castlevania showAnnihilation (book and movie)InsideHouse of Leaves by Mark Z. DanielewskiElric of MelniboneBig Dead Place by Nicholas JohnsonStories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (specifically the story: The Tower of Babylon)Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang (specifically the story: The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate)Our theme music was created by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

I always wondered how someone would get into the video game writing business. Today’s guest is screenwriter/game development guru Robert Denton Bryant and he answers that question and so much more.

This week the PWL crew (Alanah Pearce, Troy Baker, Mike Bithell, and Austin Wintory) get... philosophical. We discuss an article from Polygon about video game characters being moral, ethical, and if games should be 'political'. 

I always wondered how someone would get into the video game writing business. Today's guest is screenwriter/game development guru Robert Denton Bryant and he answers that question and so much more.Robert Denton Bryant has worked in Hollywood in marketing and production, and in video games as a publisher and a developer. He has been Executive Producer on dozens of games on platforms ranging from CD-ROMs to the iPad, including the bestselling World Championship Poker and Pinball Hall of Fame console franchises.He is the co-author (with Charles P. Schultz) of Game Testing: All in One and (with Keith Giglio) Slay the Dragon: Writing Great Video Games.Writing for the multibillion-dollar video-game industry is unlike writing for any other medium. Slay the Dragon will help you understand the challenges and offer creative solutions to writing for a medium where the audience not only demands a great story but to be a driving force within it. Aimed at traditional writers who want to learn interactive narrative as well as game creators who want to tell better, more emotionally involving stories, the book is written by two creative veterans of both Hollywood and "Nerdyhood." Through lively discussions and self-paced-exercises, Bryant and Giglio step you such topics as the:"No-act" structure of video gamesWriting great game charactersMaking gameplay emotionally meaningfulBringing your game world aliveI can't tell you what an amazing episode this is. Robert takes me down the rabbit hole of writing for video games, the business, how to break in as a writer, and a ton more. Who says you can't write for both video games and the big screen.Enjoy my conversation with Robert Denton Bryant.

I always wondered how someone would get into the video game writing business. Today's guest is screenwriter/game development guru Robert Denton Bryant and he answers that question and so much more.Robert Denton Bryant has worked in Hollywood in marketing and production, and in video games as a publisher and a developer. He has been Executive Producer on dozens of games on platforms ranging from CD-ROMs to the iPad, including the bestselling World Championship Poker and Pinball Hall of Fame console franchises.He is the co-author (with Charles P. Schultz) of Game Testing: All in One and (with Keith Giglio) Slay the Dragon: Writing Great Video Games.Writing for the multibillion-dollar video-game industry is unlike writing for any other medium. Slay the Dragon will help you understand the challenges and offer creative solutions to writing for a medium where the audience not only demands a great story but to be a driving force within it. Aimed at traditional writers who want to learn interactive narrative as well as game creators who want to tell better, more emotionally involving stories, the book is written by two creative veterans of both Hollywood and "Nerdyhood." Through lively discussions and self-paced-exercises, Bryant and Giglio step you such topics as the:"No-act" structure of video gamesWriting great game charactersMaking gameplay emotionally meaningfulBringing your game world aliveI can't tell you what an amazing episode this is. Robert takes me down the rabbit hole of writing for video games, the business, how to break in as a writer, and a ton more. Who says you can't write for both video games and the big screen.Enjoy my conversation with Robert Denton Bryant.

This week we're joined by Madden NFL's creative director, Mike Young (@michaelyoungCD), the director of LONGSHOT and LONGSHOT: Homecoming in a VERY SPECIAL EPISODE of Sports Anomaly. While we take a second to discuss EA's latest deal with the NFL and the return of the NHL, this episode centers on the making of Madden NFL 18's playable movie, LONGSHOT, starring two-time Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali. In this never-before-spoken-aloud exclusive, we discuss the trials, tribulations, and hilarities of co-writing the first sports video game to be nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Video Game Writing. Follow us on Twitter: @sports_anomalyPunch us in the face with a few bucks: patreon.com/sportsanomaly

Today we've got Jo (writer of games and short stories, and has written on Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Mass Effect: Andromeda, and is currently at EA working on an unannounced project) and Paula (writing lead and story editor on Neo Cab. She's also adapted Let’s Play from Webtoon into an animated series and has had her fiction and essays featured in outlets like Salon, the Austin Film Festival, and more) talking with us about masters degrees, delivering criticism, the most helpful piece of feedback they've ever received, how they like to collaborate with others, things they've appreciated in games that might go generally unnoticed, keeping track of branching stories and how to maintain consistency and pacing, when to stop writing, parody games, writing tests that best represent their skills, whether games are too focused on learning from Hollywood blockbusters, the last story that surprised them, and more!Our Guests on the InternetJo's TwitterPaula's Twitter and WebsiteStuff We Talked AboutStar Wars: The Old RepublicNeo CabDoom (2016)Portal 2TacomaThe Pomodoro TechniqueStar Wars Jedi: Fallen OrderDance Dance RevolutionPortrait of a Lady on FireThe Dark Crystal: Age of ResistanceOur theme music was created by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Happy holidays everyone! To close out the year we've got Walt (writer and creative director at New Game Plus, and has worked on games such as The Darkness, Bioshock 1 and 2, Spec Ops: The Line, and Star Wars Battlefront 2, and he’s also the author of the book Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art & Soul in Games) and Mary (currently writes at Insomniac Games, and has also written for Certain Affinity, Techland on Dying Light 2, and Telltale on the final season of The Walking Dead and Batman: The Enemy Within) joining us to talk Narrative QA, their most important collaborators, narrative band-aid experiences, storytelling that they appreciate in other games that may go unnoticed by players, making "good" and "bad" choices, emotion-oriented goals, violence-based games, not giving your characters more story than they can handle, narrative pet peeves, things they've learned by slipping up, overwriting, digital media shelf life, what game project(s) they wish they'd been a part of, how important costume design is to their writing process, writing tests, and a thing or two more that you'll just have to find out for yourself!Our Guests on the InternetWalt's Twitter, Instagram. and check out Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video GamesMary's Twitter, and check out Read Only memories #1Stuff We Talked AboutSpec Ops: The LineHellblade: Senua's SacrificeWe Are Not Heroes: Contextualizing Violence Through Narrative GDC Talk by Walt WilliamsThe Walking Dead: The Final SeasonDisco ElysiumWhen the Streaming Platform Dies, What Happens to its Shows?What Remains of Edith FinchSpider-ManNight in the WoodsStar Wars Battlefront IIAlso Max and I worked on Neo Cab and Man of Medan, two great games that came out this year, and they're totally worth checking out!Our theme music was created by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Apologies to all for the slight delay, but the wait has TOTALLY been worth it because today we've got Nicole (Senior Narrative Designer at Crystal Dynamics, and before that a Creative Director on the unreleased The Wolf Among Us: Season 2, and a writer on season 2 of Minecraft: Story Mode, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman, The Walking Dead: Michonne, Game of Thrones: Season 1, and The Wolf Among Us: Season 1) and Megan (Senior Narrative Designer Team Lead and Senior Writer on the recently-released Outer Worlds by Obsidian Entertainment, and before that she was a Senior Writer on Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and Tyranny, and a Senior Game Designer and Content Zone Lead on Wildstar for Carbine Studios) joining us to talk writing/design tests, whether narrative design and game writing should be separate jobs, the hardest things to write and design, writers' rooms, rewriting processes, where they start with constructing branching narratives, what they look for in endings as creators and whether it's different than what they look for as consumers, meaningful choices, storytelling trends they'd like to see more of, NPCs, major influences, and a great deal more!Our guests on the InternetNicole's Twitter.Megan's Twitter, Website, and check out House of Ash and Brimstone (Gatewalkers Book 1)!Stuff We Talked AboutThe Wolf Among UsBioshockAnita Blake: Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. HamiltonSabriel by Garth NixUntitled Goose GameThe Walking Dead Season 1The Outer WorldsMore than Quest Givers: Why Good Characters Matter Konsoll 2019 Talk by Molly Maloney and Eric StirpePyreGod of WarTransistorBrave Fencer MusashiApex LegendsDota 2The Snow Queen by Hans Christian AndersenThe Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers GrimmLuigi's Mansion 3Brothers - A Tale of Two SonsSchitt's CreekSpinning Silver by Naomi NovikOur theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

It's spoopy time in October and Rob and Cetine will be live on the Queering SciFi panel at LA Comic Con on Sunday Oct. 13 at 2pm! Let's discuss: BORDERLANDS 3, PUBG, UNTITLED GOOSE GAME, TINDER'S SWIPE NIGHT, RAGE 2, YOSHI'S ISLAND, SAYONARA WILD HEARTS, OVERWATCH LEAGUE FINALS: Congrats SF Shock, IT PART 2, STRANGER THINGS 4, SHAZAM!, SALEM, DOWNTON ABBEY, EUPHORIA, THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES, THE CURIOUS CREATIONS OF CHRISTINE MCCONNELL, THE SHINING, DOCTOR SLEEP, and iPHONE 11. And did you know that the Writer's Guild of America has officially removed the Video Game Writing category from the 2020 WGS Awards!? We're gonna write a letter! Also, have you noticed all of the carnival scenes in TV and film lately? It's insanity! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bitdifferentpodcast/support

Calling in from the far reaches of Los Angeles AND Toronto, Kait (currently the Team Lead Narrative Designer on Watch Dogs: Legion at Ubisoft Toronto, and formerly the Lead Writer on A Mortician’s Tale for Laundry Bear Games. She’s also written the book Ain’t No Place for a Hero: Borderlands, and is the co-director of Dames Making Games) and Sam (currently a Senior Writer at Insomniac Games, where she recently worked on the Turf Wars DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man, and formerly an Associate Writer at Bioware on Anthem. She’s also an author of books like Girl Squads and Wonder Women, and has written for comics like Captain Marvel, Star Trek, and Jem & the Holograms) join us to talk writing tests, how to give good feedback, important soft skills to have, writing processes and "muses," staying organized, things that tap and sap their creativity, what makes a good video game opening/ending, NPCs, storytelling quagmires, diverse dev teams, whether there's anything in their work that takes forever that people wouldn't expect, work/life balances, what they're consuming that isn't video games, why writing WWE fanfiction can be helpful for your game writing, major influences, and MOREEEEE! Our Guests on the Internet Kait's Twitter and Instagram, and you should follow all of the rad Watch Dogs: Legion writers and narrative designers on twitter! Sam's Twitter, Instagram, and Website, and you should check out Captain Marvel and preorder The Unstoppable Wasp. Also you should follow all of the good folks at Insomniac Games on twitter! Stuff We Talked About ASMR Hair Treatment | Mic ON Brush | Oils & Crinkle Cap What Makes a Good Video Game Ending? by Kait Tremblay Mass Effect 2 Borderlands Portal 2 God of War Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Bioshock Hellblade Observation Dames Making Games The 18-month fence hop, the six-day chair, and why video games are so hard to make by Blake Hester Chernobyl Fleabag The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss Stargate SG-1 Cleopatra 2525 Farscape Andromeda seaquest DSV Star Trek: Voyager Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

It's localization month, baby, and we've got Lola (producer at SEGA where she’s worked on Sonic Mania, and Sonic Mania Plus. She’s also a gaming consultant and has previously worked in development support at Kojima Productions LA on Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain, PR at Square Enix on games including Sleeping Dogs, Final Fantasy 13, and Kingdom Hearts, and has also worked in localization and QA at Activision Blizzard) and Scott (Localization Producer at SEGA of America, where he just finished working on Judgement, and before that worked on Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6. Was also an Associate Producer on Yakuza 0, a Senior Copyrighter and Associate Product Manager at Square Enix, a Product Manager at Level 5, and Project Lead and Editor at ATLUS) in to talk about why localization is not another word for translation, balancing standards/concepts that exist in one culture that don’t really exist in the other, mahjong, localizing tropes and archetypes that have no analogue in Western media, tone shifting differences in the East vs West, deviating from the script, the difference between a good localization and a great one, dialects, lip flaps, why your localization team should be integrated early in the process, work/life balance, and using editors in addition to translators. Our Guests on the Internet Lola's Twitter Scott's Twitter Stuff We Talked About The bizarre, true story of Metal Gear Solid's English translation by Jeremy Blaustein The Yakuza series Judgment Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

It's 2019 and we've got Molly (Lead Narrative Designer at Bad Robot Games, and previously Lead Gameplay Designer at Telltale on Guardians fo the Galaxy, Minecraft: Story Mode, Walking Dead: Season 3, Tales from the Borderlands) and Eric (Writer on Fortnite, interactive consultant for Eko, and previously a staff writer for Netflix's Trash Truck, and a writer at Telltale on Walking Dead: Season 2, Tales from the Borderlands, Minecraft: Story Mode seasons 1 & 2, and Batman: The Telltale Series) here to talk about how choose your own adventure is the dominant influence on interactive narrative at the moment, choice timers, the marriage of writing and narrative design, working relationships, players forgiving bad writing more than bad narrative design, what made Telltale work, finishing a project and feeling like you just spent a lot of time making an asset for somebody else, Bandersnatch (SPOILERS), the problem of having “good” and “bad” endings in branching narratives, fail states, making people feel like their choices matter, obfuscating branches from players, and what makes a good choice. Our Guests on the Internet Molly's Twitter. Eric's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Writing and Narrative Design: A Relationship by Eric Stirpe and Molly Maloney Still The Smartest Guy On The Hill 30 Years After Sex, Lies & Videotape: Steven Soderbergh Unravels Hollywood Chaos by Mike Fleming Jr. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters Until Dawn Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Join Dylan, Ashley, Ciaran and Cherie as they discuss the Top 5 Video Game Sub-categories the Explosion Network have given out for 2018. Those categories are the best writing, best art direction, best ongoing games, best esports title and best score.Hosts: Dylan Blight: https://twitter.com/vivaladilAshley Hobley: https://twitter.com/ashleyhobleyCiaran Marchant: https://twitter.com/YaboyRingoCherie Henriques: https://twitter.com/CheriaCornoIntro Music by: Dylan Blight

Happy holidays! We're sneaking in right before Christmas to give all of you the very special gift of Rhianna Pratchett (game writer, narrative designer, comic book writer, and former journalist. She's written on such titles as Heavenly Sword, the Overlord series, Mirror's Edge, the Mirror’s Edge comic series, the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, the sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, and the Tomb Raider: The Beginning comic series) AND Jill Murray (Lead Writer and Narrative Designer for AAA games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed Liberation, and AC Freedom Cry, winner of the WGA award for game writing in 2013, and previously published two YA novels with Random House of Canada. She is currently the Narrative Director for an unannounced indie project, as well as working on Boyfriend Dungeon with Kitfox Games, and writing an episode of Later Daters for Bloom Digital) AND Cara Ellison (former games journalist and current game writer, narrative designer, and screenwriter. She served as a narrative consultant on Dishonored 2, produced and designed the TV show Last Commanders for CBBC, and is currently a narrative designer on Media Molecule's Dreams, and Void Bastards by BlueManchu Games), who've joined us to talk prime writing hours, freelancing advice, how to network (and how NOT to), game writing agents, negotiating for yourself, being a narrative paramedic, red flags to watch out for on potential jobs, what they wish more people knew about the kind of work they do, skills to have that are unique for working in AAA, how to handle when people are constantly telling you that your work isn't good, being aware of studio politics, writing mistakes/failures that they've learned from, the state of the industry, worldbuilding, and a few other things that you'll just have to find out yourself! Our Guests on the Internet Rhianna's Twitter and Website. Jill's Twitter, Website, and Instagram. Cara's Twitter, Facebook, and Website. Stuff We Talked About Kitfox Games Writing for Videogames - Writers' Guild of Great Britain Game Workers Unite UK Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Freelancing! Blessing or curse? Today Laura (writer and editor of such games as Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, Frog Fractions 2, Swan Hill, You Got This, Brutadon!, The Brigand’s Story, and more, and is currently an editor at Riot Games.) and Cat (writer and narrative designer of video games and narrative fiction, who's worked on titles such as Invasion, Pathologic 2, What Isn't Saved (Will Be Lost), Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, and the forthcoming Leader of the Pack) join us to talk about that independent life with topics like how to find work, what to look for in contracts, rates, renegotiating, the importance of maintaining a social media presence, whether you should go to festivals, why you maybe shouldn't go to the Write Zone at GDC, and non-freelancer stuff like how to match another writer's voice, reflective choices and how to make strong ones, how to give a player the feeling that their decisions have an impact on a story (especially when the story isn't actually changing at all), writing mistakes, the importance of editing, getting feedback, and I dunno, a few more things. Our Guests on the Internet Laura's Twitter and Website Cat's Twitter and Website Stuff We Talked About The parser game scene from the Tom Hanks movie Big Slug-In-Hand Tavern Twitter Bot The Writers' Guild of Great Britain Videogames Guidelines DoContract Game Writers Facebook Group Where the Water Tastes Like Wine Successful Reflective Choices in Interactive Narrative by Cat Manning Planescape Torment With Those We Love Alive Invasion Sub-Q American Vandal Brendan Patrick Hennessy Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

In this episode, The Prof (@ProfPlaysGames) and The Dev (@summerspeak) discuss the ways in which video game writing can be so good. Then they discuss the games they're playing: No Man's Sky, Hollow Knight, and Halo 5.

This week we run through some indie games such as Pode from the team at Henchman & Goon. We also finally play through the incredibly funny adventure RPG West of Loathing. Both of these games are now on the Switch so naturally we had to give them a go. In our gaming news, we talk about the Guild Wars 2 writer controversy, some new remakes in the business and Steam's most played games. This week we have an exciting new interview with writer Danny Gallagher. Danny Gallagher has written for the Jackbox Party Pack series contributing to Lie Swatter, Trivia Murder Party and Bracketeering. He also recently co-wrote the latest game from Snap Finger Click called Awkward. It's a new party game that fits the name...it's awkward. We also dive into his story such as how he got into video game writing and where he's going next. Learn more about Danny on Twitter @thisisdannyg. Check out video clips of our discussion every week over at youtube.com/theinnergamer. Show Notes: 1:00 - Pode 8:51 - West of Loathing 19:23 - Gaming News 44:11 - Danny Gallagher Interview: Writer for Jackbox Party Pack and Awkward 1:27:40 - Upcoming Video Game Releases The Inner Gamer is a podcast built for the casual gamer. Your weekly dose of video game news, reviews, opinions and discussions every Tuesday. Like what you hear? Share our podcast with your friends! Also be sure and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave us a review! You can find all of our social channels at theinnergamer.net. If you have any questions or suggestions please reach out to us at hello@theinnergamer.net. Credits: "Blue Groove Deluxe" by BlueFoxMusic on audiojungle.net Woman Announcer - Arie Guerra; Actress

Welcome to episode 28 of Slow Day Radio! This episode was recorded on location at The Roost restaurant and lounge in Wellsboro, PA. Join us for fun, interaction, and our usual dorky activities. This week's feature includes the Patch Notes (our weekly gaming news update) - this week we discuss the inaugural season of the Overwatch League. We also include our 5-Minute-Review of Ultimate Chicken Horse, The Main Quest (our main topic of discussion about video game writing and writers), and Community Shout-Outs! We love hearing from you! Be sure to like & comment on Facebook.com/SlowDayRadio or tweet us @SlowDayRadio!

David Varela joins us to discuss his career with video games such as Zombie Run, and how he made it.

2017's coming to a close and who better to spend it with than Halley (writer, actress, currently co-writing The Last of Us: Part II, and has written on the TV shows Banshee, Westworld, and Emerald City) and Graham (writer, director, sound designer, currently writing and directing Rapid Eye, and has co-written Until Dawn, Until Dawn Rush of Blood, and Hidden Agenda)! They join us to talk moving from TV to games, writing solo vs with a partner, staring at the ceiling being work, pacing for the player's time, garbage passes, Steven Soderbergh’s Mosaic and his thoughts on video games, what makes something a game vs an interactive experience, how everyone is gaming literate now, lining up performances in a modular narrative, writing and recording out of order, trusting your actors and going easy on those parentheticals (unless you’re making a modular narrative), fan expectations, fan fiction, getting the audience to trust you, writing exposition, story burritos, characters saying their feelings, and challenging your audience. Note: This episode has spoilers for Inside. Halley said she played a Game Gear game called Gems, but she wants you to know that she actually meant to say Columns. Halley was right about Playwright’s Horizons. Our Guests on the Internet Halley's Twitter. Graham's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Mosaic Steven Soderbergh on Filmmaking, the Weinstein Scandal, and Why You Shouldn’t Call Mosaic a Video Game by Matt Zoller Seitz The Three Levels of Dialogue Woodcutters from Fiery Ships Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Samantha (narrative designer at ArenaNet, and previously a writer and narrative designer on titles such as SumoBoy, Fallout: Lonestar, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Mass Effect Andromeda) and Brooke (writer and narrative designer on The Gardens Between, Paperback and Florence) call in to talk about breaking into the industry, binging the Mass Effect trilogy, writing processes, why character should be the plot, trying to get a story across without using text or speech, creating well-rounded characters, transitioning from a literary writer to a narrative designer, writing for MMOs and the writing process working on The Old Republic, episodic and 100+ hour narratives, special difficulty modes for people who just want to experience the story in a game, NOT being able to kiss Nick Valentine in Fallout 4, different approaches to storytelling within Bioware, career advice and tips for breaking into the industry, and oh man so much more it's crazy. Our Guests on the Internet Samantha's Twitter. Brooke's Twitter and Website. Stuff We Talked About HULK PRESENTS CHARACTER TREES by Film Crit Hulk The Gardens Between The Writer Between: Thieving Literary Plot to Design Game Narrative by Brooke Maggs Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Michael (writer at Night School Studio, and previously a lead writer at Telltale Games on The Walking Dead - A New Frontier, Batman, Minecraft: Story Mode, and Tales from the Borderlands) and Laura (playwright, TV writer, and game writer, winner of several awards for her plays, including the Wasserstein Prize, writer on Get Shorty, Grace and Frankie, Season 3 of Telltale's The Walking Dead, and Minecraft: Story Mode) join us to talk about moving between theatre, TV, and video games, switching fonts and other strategies when you're narratively stuck, the best times to write, jumping from selling shoes to Telltale, player agency, approaching storytelling differently for different IP, Night School’s storytelling philosophy, story being an endlessly renewable resource, work-life balance, giving the illusion of choice to players, making choices feel big, responding to players while making episodic content, and the need for more character moments in AAA. Our Guests on the Internet Michael's Twitter. Laura's Twitter and Website. Stuff We Talked About Dental Society Midwinter Meeting by Laura Jacqmin Video Games Are Destroying the People Who Make Them by Jason Schreier Tales from the Borderlands: The Oral History by Duncan Fyfe Thimbleweed Park Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Kirk and Jason start things off by talking about the SNES Classic, Danganronpa V3, and Divinity: Original Sin 2. Then it's time for news (31:36) about the voice actors strike ending, toxicity in gaming, and Assassin's Creed: Origins getting a tourist mode. Then, prolific writer Tom Bissell joins the show (47:26) to talk about how his opinions have evolved as he moved from game criticism to writing video games, why it's so hard to write games, and how even the best plans can go horribly wrong.

Ashly (actress, writer, and singer, who's acted in such games as Borderlands 2, Mortal Kombat X, Life is Strange, and Horizon Zero Dawn, and has written for Rocket Jump, Adventure Time, and Glitch Techs) and Kate (writer of speculative fiction, with her stories appearing in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Gamut, and Lamplight, and currently the co-Editor in Chief of the online magazine Strange Horizons as well as a narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment working on Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire) are here to talk fan fiction, writing processes, letting your work breathe vs brute forcing it, whether games need their stories to be great or not, dealing with bad notes, voice acting and having too much or too little info to work with when you go into the booth, staying true to an IPs voice while also bringing your own, writing as a fan, ways to handle the problem of crafting stories when players might not be paying attention to/remembering key information, making players feel helpless, and much more! Our Guests on the Internet Ashly's Twitter, Website, and OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes. Kate's Twitter and Website. Stuff We Talked About The Science and Entertainment Exchange Hey Ash Whatcha Playin? Codex Writers' Group Fueling the 'Pyre' With Supergiant Games' Greg Kasavin Epistle 3 Jam (Half-Life 3 Game Jam) Epistle 3 by Marc Laidlaw Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Kim (scriptwriter at Ubisoft, co-author of the novel "Pure Steele", and co-host of the weekly podcast, "The Sexiest Podcast") and Harrison ( game designer at Telltale on seasons 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: 400 Days, and co-creator of Tales from the Borderlands. Recently a world designer at Hangar 13 on Mafia 3) are here to talk about whether modern games leave enough to the player’s imagination, introducing a New Game Minus feature, if you have a lot of money, you can’t afford faith (from a corporate level), the weirdness of Earthbound, feeling obligated to share lore because you have it instead of holding it back, studios valuing plot logic over emotional logic between characters, open world design problems, giving players more verbs, being able to ask for help more in games, making choices explicit to players, too many twists, and the need for lower stakes. Our Guests on the Internet Kim's Twitter and Podcast. Harrison's Twitter and Podcast. Stuff We Talked About Pure Steele by Kim Belair and Ariadne MacGillivray Imagination vs Immersion by Kim Belair List of games that support Tourism compiled by JP LeBreton Arms' lore just gets weirder and weirder by Allegra Frank The Door Problem by Liz England Prey vs. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided: why one intro works and the other doesn't by Tom Francis Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Josh (designer on Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro, writer and designer on over a dozen tabletop RPGs for White Wolf, Dream Pod 9, and Steve Jackson games, lead designer on Company of Heroes and Homeworld 2, initial creative director on Far Cry 3, game director on Diablo 3, and current design/game master in residence at Bonfire Studios) and Darby (Writer on several Game Boy Advance and DS games like Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Sims 2, but most recently has been a writer on the Assassin’s Creed series and was the lead writer on Revelations and Black Flag) call in to discuss tabletop gaming, the benefits of an english degree, being a game director at Blizzard, the business realities of game development, the relationship between narrative design and game design, the importance of the player's story, the problem with plot in video games and how to deal with it, the storytelling of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, whether games will ever be remembered for their stories, bad writing, working with established franchises, dealing with the expectations of players, and much more! Our Guests on the Internet Josh's Twitter and Bonfire Studios's website. Darby's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Pandemic by Matt Leacock Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler The Witcher III: Wild Hunt - Best Detective Game Ever Made - Extra Credits Abel Gance's Napoléon Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Straight outta GDC, Aleissia (gameplay programmer on Lost: Via Domus, Behavior and AI Programmer on Assassin's Creed 2 and Brotherhood, and lead AI and game programmer on Assassin's Creed 3, Unity, and Unnanounced Project at Ubisoft Montreal) and Rob (game writer, narrative designer, voice director, and cofounder and creative director of Playlines. Writer on The Assembly, Imago, Fallen London, and Wonderbook: Book of Spells) join us to discuss augmented and mixed reality experiences, interactive immersive theater, how to get players to not break experiences, whether AI is the future for making games accessible or not, Sleep No More (as always), should players be aware of a narrative changing around them, managing the user experience, having stories where the player isn't the hero, participation through implication as a storytelling conceit, using AI tracking and Machine Learning to help systemic games, attuning players to treat the world around them as if it's not devoid of social consequences, the player's self-importance about their own experience, advancements in systemic design, our collective excitement at the prospect of a wrestling game using the nemesis system, parallels between wrestling and storytelling, how do you make a believable NPC, and sooooo much more! Our Guests on the Internet Aleissia's Twitter and her podcast, DevJam. Rob's Twitter and Website. Stuff We Talked About Moment Factory Sleep No More Nesta Punchdrunk and Media Molecule - Where Dreams Collide Escaping the Holodeck: Storytelling and Convergence in VR/AR The Speakeasy Zombie LARP The Void Turing Tantrums: AI Devs Rant!! GCAP 2016: Systems Are Everywhere... Right, Elon Musk? - Aleissia Laidacker Life is Strange Empires of EVE: A History of the Great Wars of Eve Online by Andrew Groen Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor The Sexy, Scary Play That’s Influencing Google, Facebook, And Disney Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

We're starting 2017 off right with our guests Émilie (co-director of Burning Glass Creative, led design team on The Sims FreePlay at EA Melbourne and on Drakensang at Bigpoint Games. Was game design director at Frima Studio and taught storytelling in games at Cégep Limoilou) and Brie (previously lead programmer at Ubisoft Montreal on the Assassin's Creed franchise and Child of Light, and currently the founder of Tru Luv Media). Topics include making games with people who don't like video games, modular narratives, integrating positive psychology into game design, story emerging from systems, the storytelling challenges of being free to play, updating a game every three weeks and the challenges therein, emotional triggers that create engagement, player ownership in games, the importance of giving space to the audience, and games as a personal growth tool. Our Guests on the Internet Emilie's Twitter and Website. Brie's Twitter and Website. Stuff We Talked About Character Development and Storytelling for Games by Lee Sheldon This War of Mine iThrive Eco *Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.*

It's our last episode of the year! Emily Grace Buck (narrative designer at Telltale Games where she worked on The Walking Dead: Michonne and Batman - The Telltale Series, and previously designed and wrote educational games at Kognito) and Julie Marchiori (level designer, mission designer, and current Assistant Narrative Director at Ubisoft Montreal, and has worked on such games as the Army of Two franchise, Far Cry 3, Assassin's Creed 3, and Assassin's Creed Unity) drop in to talk about using agency to empower players to build their own stories, gameplay verbs, the narrative potential of systems, environmental storytelling, level design, the research phase, design processes, subtext in games, the importance of downtime with your characters and why it's difficult for studios, minority content, examining the choices of players, and a heck of a lot more! Our Guests on the Internet Emily's Twitter and Tumblr. Julie's Blog about going from gamer geek to gamer geek mom, and her other Blog where she talks about things like her beef with gendered games. Stuff We Talked About Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor Dragon Age: Inquisition Fallout 3 Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard Assassin's Creed: Unity Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Batman - The Telltale Series Gears of War 4 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Until Dawn Life is Strange World of Warcraft Mystic Messenger MR. ROBOT:1.51EXFILTRATI0N Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Mel (writer and Director of Narrative Design at Ubisoft Quebec, and has worked on such games as Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed Freedom Cry, and Assassin's Creed Syndicate) and Ann (writer and narrative designer on such games as Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Mass Effect: Andromeda, and is a co-writer of the book The Game Narrative Toolbox) are here to talk about whether going to university is necessary for becoming a game writer, being a salesperson to other departments, Ubisoft internships, the length of game stories, being a narrative director, one thing they wish all departments knew about narrative to start with, dealing with players who don't care about story, how narrative is everything, the possibility of AAA studios making smaller open world games, being scientifically accurate in Mass Effect and historically accurate in Assassin's Creed, coming onto a franchise that has already started, fan fiction, how to acknowledge every possible action of the player without diluting the story you want to tell, whether we should be concerned about side content overshadowing the main narrative, the hardest and easiest characters to write, the importance of communication, and jeez, so much more! Our Guests on the Internet Mel's Twitter and Website. Ann's Twitter and Book. Stuff We Talked About Civilization VI Why Most People Don't Finish Video Games Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Drew (Design Analyst on Star Wars: The Old Republic, Writer and Designer on The Banner Saga, and Lead Writer on The Banner Saga 2) and Greg (Creative Director of Supergiant Games and Writer of Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre) call in to talk with us about the importance of being involved with the development process when you're a writer, worldbuilding, the writing process on Banner Saga 1 & 2, subtlety in games, how Supergiant decides on which game they're gonna make, writing as the most disposable of the creative disciplines, the divide between thinking something is good and what ends up shipping, storytelling structures, revising and never being comfortable in knowing how close you are from the finish line, the phrase 'We made the game we wanna play,' dealing with branching narratives, and the storytelling potential in fighting games. Our Guests on the Internet Drew's Twitter and Stoic's Twitter. Greg's Twitter and Supergiant's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Brandon Sanderson The Banner Saga Puzzle Quest Raid on Rise: Narrative Creation on 'Rise of The Tomb Raider' Pyre Bastion Greg Kasavin Reads the Introduction of Samurai Showdown 2 Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

NPCs! VR! AR! Rob (game writer, narrative designer, voice director, and writer on Wonderbook, Fallen London, Sunless Sea, and The Assembly) and Emily (game designer specializing in interactive narrative, dialogue, and social interaction modeling, and writer of Galatea, First Draft of the Revolution, Alabaster, Counterfeit Monkey, and more) are here to talk about the importance of streamlining the implementation of your script, looting silos of information and the problem of them not being widely accessible, the value of knowing programming, the storytelling possibilities of VR and who you “are,” disempowered experiences in VR, interactive theater’s influence on games, different solutions for offering branching narratives to players, writing for augmented reality, and the lack of games about maintaining relationships. Our Guests on the Internet Rob's Twitter and Website. Emily's Twitter and Website. Stuff We Talked About Punchdrunk Sleep No More Beyond Branching: Quality-Based, Salience-Based, and Waypoint Narrative Structures by Emily Short Firewatch Wonderbook: Book of Spells Love Stories for High-XP Characters by Emily Short The Novelist In Your Arms Tonight VideoBrains Youtube Channel Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

With Creative Writing Career 2 about to be released as an audiobook, I wanted to share the first five minutes of Creative Writing Career book 1 - enjoy!

Ian (Design Director at E-Line Media and has worked on Gamestar Mechanic, Gamestar Mechanic Jr, and Never Alone) and Anna (Senior Gameplay Programmer at Double Fine and has worked on such games as Psychonauts, Brütal Legend, Broken Age, and Headlander, and was the lead on Dear Leader during Amnesia Fortnight 2014) join us to discuss falling into the industry, the benefits of an education that doesn't just focus on programming/computer science, the work involved with implementing dialogue, planning for localization, Never Alone's development, cultural expression in games, dialogue systems, why text to speech isn't the future (for now), the costs of voiced dynamic dialogue, authored vs simulationist vs player-centric approaches to story in games, and a couple of other rad topics! Our Guests on the Internet Ian's Twitter. Anna's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Never Alone Amnesia Fortnight 2014 Dialogue Systems in Double Fine Games Molyjam: How Twitter Jokes Can Save Video Games Making the World of Firewatch Netrunner Crusader Kings 2 Dwarf Fortress' Creator on How He's 42% Towards Simulating Existence Practice 2015: Anna Kipnis The Novelist by Kent Hudson 7 Grand Steps Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges Viriconium by M. John Harrison The Yawhg by Emily Carroll & Damian Sommer Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Social simulations and the storytelling potential of hardware-based games are the main topics in today's discussion with Mitu (Creator of Redshirt, PhD holder in Aesthetics of Interactivity in Video Games, and current Assistant Arts Professor at NYU's Game Center) and Jerry (Game designer and developer behind Robo Mama’s Cooking Kitchen, MysteryPhone, Discourse, The Choosatron, and Afterglow)! We talk about the importance of player choice, The Witness and the dialogue that happens between a creator and the player, why freedom in games isn't always a good thing, how controllers and interfaces affect the way we think about games, why Animal Crossing is an amazing social simulator, how fleshing out a game's world can influence the design, the problems with making a social simulation, what happens to our engagement with games as interfaces become more mimetic, slaying Chris Crawford's Dragon, and man, that's just the stuff that's off the top of our heads! Our Guests on the Internet Mitu's Twitter and The Tiniest Shark Jerry's Twitter and Website Stuff We Talked About Mitu's GDC Talk - Thinking About People: Designing Games for Social Simulation ELIZA and The ELIZA Effect Loved by Alexander Ocias The Immersive Fallacy (excerpted from Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals) by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman Lygia Clark Redshirt Notary Bear by Lisa Brown Chris Crawford's Dragon Speech Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

2016 has been put on notice by our guests Jill (writer on Your Shape: Fitness Evolved and the Assassin’s Creed series, including Liberation, Black Flag, and Freedom Cry) and Corey (writer on Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, The Two Thrones, Batman: Arkham Origins, and lead writer on Assassin's Creed 1, 2, and 3), who are here to talk about how everything is writing even if nobody will believe you, staying creatively refreshed, the brain’s thirst for motor activities during procrastination, how one is never done writing a game even after shipping, the insularity of the games industry vs other mediums, the treatment of making games as software instead of entertainment, why it's so hard to get rid of the cutscene/gameplay/cutscene structure, how games have a lot to learn about nonverbal storytelling from dance, the need to embrace failure, how pressure does NOT make diamonds in game development, working with a nonexistent creative vision, being forced to make decisions and live with them as early as possible, not holding out for a better idea, and more things The Good Wife can teach us about narrative design. Our Guests on the Internet Jill's Twitter, Website, Discoglobe Interactive Inc., and Moon Hunters. Corey's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About The Other Side of Paradise: A Memoir by Staceyann Chin Time Machine VR The Good Wife Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Our last episode of the year is here and it's super writing-focused! Cara Ellison (Writer, game critic, narrative designer, creator of Sacrilege, and writer on Dishonored 2) and Jack de Quidt (Writer/composer of Castles in the Sky, and writer of Veracity & Purpose and Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist) join us to talk about their writing processes, working on a narrative when it's fractured across an entire team, why fetch quests occur even though everyone HATES them, the narrative design in The Witcher and Kentucky Route Zero, why a lot of studios are afraid of trusting the player, narrative problem-solving, the verbs that happen in games, navigating breaking the fourth wall, the portrayal of relationships in games, the importance of humor, how to handle pacing, required reading for people working in the industry that isn't about making games, and much, much more. Our Guests on the Internet Cara's Twitter, Website, Dishonored 2, Sacrilege, and you can buy Embed with Games here. Jack's Twitter, Crows Crows Crows, and Friends at the Table. Stuff We Talked About On Pointlessness by Steve Gaynor Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (it's free!) TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT by David Mamet On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King Clint Hocking's Blog Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino Spider and Web by Andrew Plotkin Kentucky Route Zero and the Poetics of Space by Cara Ellison Werner Herzog's Rogue Film School Jessica Jones on Netflix Fargo on Hulu Fiasco Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Come for the discussions about writing on an open world game with C.J. (lead writer on Homefront, scriptwriter on Rainbox 6, Your Shape, Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed, and currently senior narrative designer on Homefront: The Revolution,) and Liz (scriptwriter on Far Cry 4, Far Cry 4: Valley of the Yetis), stay for the talks on how to write a good bark, working with localization, pickled toes, writing Far Cry 4, exposition, maintaining urgency in an open word, catching players back up with the story, the importance of asking why manhole covers are round, and GTA 5 role-playing. Our Guests on the Internet C.J.'s Twitter Liz's Website and Twitter Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Join Stephan Bugaj, Justin Sloan, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss what it really takes to establish yourself as a creative writer.

Welcome to the Creative Writing Career podcast! Join Stephan Bugaj, Justin Sloan, and Kevin Tumlinson as they discuss what the Creative Writing Career podcast is going to be all about.

We're all about ARGs and procedural generation on this week's discussion with Tanya (designer on Age of Conan, Dungeons of Fayte, The Secret World, Shattered Planet and Moon Hunters) and Rob (writer on ALFA-ARKIV, Gears of War: Judgment, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Playmation, and Battlefield Hardline). Our sprawling conversation includes chatbots, transmedia narratives, creating mythologies, binary morality systems, pacing in a procedurally generated game, why haven't we moved past cutscenes in games, how procedural and systemic gameplay affects development and writing, and games based on information retrieval. Our Guests on the Internet Tanya's Website and Twitter Rob's Twitter Stuff We Talked About Moon Hunters on Steam ALFA-ARKIV app itch.io Chatscript Versu The Fake 'Terrorist' Conspiracy Game That Fooled People For Years by Patricia Hernandez GDC Talk: AI-driven Dynamic Dialog through Fuzzy Pattern Matching by Elan Ruskin Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

We've brought in Brian (who has a huge reel including: animator on Boogerman, storyboard artist for Warner Bros, writer on Jade Empire and Mass Effect 2, and lead writer on Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3) and Diandra (editor formerly at Bioware, Riot, Snail Games, XSEED, and currently Carbine Studios) for discussions on Boogerman, working at Bioware, what being an editor in games is like, application processes for writers, writing born from constraint, why we haven't seen The Wire: The Game yet, and what RTS' can do with storytelling that no other genre can do. Our Guests on the Internet Brian's Website and Twitter. Diandra's Twitter. Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Welcome to the final time capsule episode of The Indoor Kids (relax, that just means we're going back to all-new episodes next week!), and by far one of the most thought-provoking episodes we've ever done. This one was recorded in 2013. We welcome Tom Bissell, video game critic turned video game writer, to talk about how wrong he was in approaching video game criticism. Plus you also get Kumail and Emily, in the here and now, talking about our week in entertainment consumption and everything else worth discussing.