WRITING AND NARRATIVE DESIGN

While displaying elements of a standard game design document, this assignment primarily establishes the high concept, setting, lore and flavour of 'Ascendant', a proposed open-world action adventure game. I first detail the game's aesthetics, symbolism and design objectives at a high level of abstraction, before delving into factions, locations and NPC characters, frequently with quest design in mind.

I envisaged 'Clandestined' as a darkened, heretical take on High Fantasy, infused in equal part with cosmic horror and bureaucratic espionage. I have conveyed as much in the series bible, outlining major themes, characters, locations and lore, and the nuance thereof. This is accompanied by a refined pilot script, establishing key players, local culture and 'powers that be' with elegantly explosive intrigue.

Experimenting with a dual narrative structure, 'Qualia' marries grounded psychological horror on one hand with symbolic monster body horror on the other. A lead's self-destructive downward spiral in the former case builds tension proportionally to the escalation of overt terror in the latter's encounters. Meanwhile, the mounting threads connecting the two conjure intrigue all the while.

A departure from my usual fascination with exploring complex themes through equally complex high concepts, this slice-of-life short observes a brief, seminal stint in the relationship between two enigmatic cohabitants. The interactions between their varied traumas and flaws are portrayed like chemicals reactions, with varied and tumultuous results revealing the limitations of their nature.

Annapurna Interactive's instant cult hit 'Kentucky Route Zero' was selected as the subject of this critical group analysis. All team members were assigned specific themes, pooling content to a centralized document. I then edited and composed this into a script, facilitated a recording session (virtually due to COVID-19) and, with care, edited the resulting material into the video deliverable below.

This project aimed to deconstruct representation of high-functioning autism on screen, formulate guidelines for future representations, and present them in practice. Presently intended for conversion to a series pilot, 'Disorder' depicts two autistic protagonists, a blackmail artist and PI, using their conditions to their advantage against the backdrop of a cybergothic technocratic regime.

Available on itch.io, 'Lapse' is a rogue lite text-based visual novel, striving to encapsulate the creativity and ethos of seminal countercultural auteur indie titles. As outlined in the proofing document, a single run will have the player traverse several modular 'days', their micro decisions over the course of each one affecting their branching macro progression and their achieved ending.