EGREGORE (2024)
LEAD NARRATIVE DESIGNER
PLATFORM: Unreal Engine - PC
Using an ability to shift reality based on connecting information together, you find yourself pulled into an occult conspiracy in Cairo surrounding the summoning of a mysterious being called an “Egregore.”
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USC Games MFA Thesis/Advanced Games Project
A classic-style adventure game where information can be linked via node-based graphs to manipulate conversations, objects, and locations
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I outlined and finalized the narrative for all 3 major levels of the game
Tutorial: A Cardboard Box where players are called to Cairo
Cafe Ramses: A Historical Cafe/Restaurant where players can change large portions of the location to collect information to make progress
Sanctum: A surreal shopping-mall-turned-cult-hideout where the rules established are taken away and players are forced to adapt to the rules of the cult
I generated documentation for the entire team, including style guides, story beats, narrative outlines, and character sheet
I reminded teammates that we were focusing on culture and history and kept reference books in our workspace
Writers were instructed to run towards weird/surreal moments instead of shying away from embracing unconventional ideas
I established unique dialogue for 50+ node combinatorics available at any time to players
A standard example: Asking characters about each other for extra flavor
An edgecase “reward” example: Moving a bookshelf to the most magical part of the bar and having it spring to life and give extra hints or flavor to players
All of my dialogue interactions I took care to have an emphasis on culture, surrealism, and information flow
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Update narrative in-game weekly based on team and playtest feedback
Conduct weekly narrative meetings alongside other Narrative Designers and the Director
Attend VO Sessions to assist VO Director and give additional narrative context to dialogue
GAME DEVS OF COLOR 2024 OFFICIAL SELECTION
An example of Graph Combo documentation. Green is in-engine, Orange is under review, Purple means it requires editing/rewriting, and Red is still being drafted.
The Not Yet graph for the first interaction with the character Al-Bawab. Each line between nodes represents both a dialogue option and the state machine's condition required for that option to become available.
The top option, which allows entrance into Cafe Ramses, is only made available by connecting "Al-Bawab" and "Magic Door" in the player's mind map.
TRY AGAIN (2023)
LEAD NARRATIVE DESIGNER
PLATFORM: Unity- PC
Help a temp asset escape an unfinished game while avoiding the clutches of the game’s designer.
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An action platformer developed for the USC Games Advanced Game Project.
A dark satire of the “plight of the solo dev,” players uncover the story of a game designer struggling with masterpiece syndrome
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I wrote, edited, and finalized all scripted dialogue in screenplay format
I created over 50 lines of barks that could be played in between scripted dialogue
Outside of what was seen in-game, I created casting sheets, character backstory, and additional documentation as was required by production
I attended VO sessions, giving feedback and direction to our voice actors during sessions
In-engine, I worked to add subtitles that matched the pace of VO as each line played during gameplay
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Led narrative team of 3 in finalizing general narrative of game, including cutscenes and scripted gameplay lines
Conducted weekly team meetings alongside director and producers
Assigned tasks for all sprints and answered questions from teammates regarding narrative
Communicated game/level design and audio teams to ensure each discipline was aware of any and all narrative updates
Tested the build with project leads, ensuring 90+ lines of dialogue in 15-minute experience were properly paced with gameplay
IGF 2024 “Best Student Game” Finalist
TRY AGAIN FINAL BARK SHEET
The finalized barks from TRY AGAIN’s production. To make the game feel more kinetic and lived in, we worked with the design team to keep track of several variables as indicated in the Action tab.
The complete screenplay written for TRY AGAIN.
CURTAIN CALL (2022)
NARRATIVE DESIGNER
PLATFORMS: Unity - PC/Mac
Help three college students survive young adult life in a visual novel inspired by Jungian psychology and real-life experiences.
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Billie’s final date
Jodie’s 3rd date
Billie’s TTRPG Conversation
Jodie’s Music Conversation
Jodie’s Breakup Conversation
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I drafted and implemented 2 long-form “Date” and 3 short-form “Conversation” scenarios for players
Dates last 10-20 Minutes with several branches that reward subsequent playthroughs
Conversations last maximum 5 minutes and exist to deepen player’s relationship with the cast outside of a date scenario
My dates frequently had upwards of 40 different branching character responses per scenario
My paradigm was all about agency and excitement, so choices could completely reshape the outcome of a date
An example shown above is in Jodie’s date, where players could choose where to explore in the aquarium which alters the topic of conversation. This invites even more branches for player expression and exploration
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Start by deciding on a character + location
Simple outline in a word processor emphasizing character moments + narrative beats
Rough draft in Yarn Spinner
Iterated based on feedback from teammates and playtests
Final Draft Implemented in Unity
Our goals while designing each scenario were to make the characters feel real and have players feel like their choices have value beyond just numeric outputs.
NEW MEDIA WRITING PRIZE 2022 SHORTLIST
MELBOURNE QUEER GAMES FESTIVAL 2022 SHORTLIST
Rough draft for Jodie's 3rd date. As a basic outline, it just showcases each major option throughout the sequence before drafting in Yarn Spinner for more extended content generation.
Yarn Spinner excerpt from Billie's final date. Everything in pink is Markup text that controls game functions during runtime or switches to the next node. Everything in black is text that is presented to the player by making choices during gameplay.
Both of these dialogue choices link to either more dialogue or a new node in Yarn Spinner.