What I Can Offer

•  20+ years of experience in design/narrative/writing in AAA and indie development, for both new and licensed IPs.

• Nominated and won awards for multiple projects, including BAFTA winner for Best Narrative (Unpacking) in 2021, Best Game Design (Astroneer) for the 2019 Webby Awards, and other projects nominated for awards in Design, Narrative, and Innovation.

• Background in multiple design disciplines, including narrative, content, gameplay, areas, and systems.

• Development of stories that run the gamut from thousands of words to a few sentences, descriptions of vast worlds to the contents of a room.

• Experience directing, managing, and coordinating with individuals across multiple departments.

• Eagerness to learn as well as mentor, gain new skills, engage with new challenges, and collaborate with others. 

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Work Experience                                       

Digimancy Entertainment

Senior Narrative Designer, Narrative / Project Lead

August 2022 – January 2024, February 2025 – March 2026

   Internal & Co-Development Projects                                       

• Unannounced RPG (Obsidian): Coordinated with internal team to develop locations, quests, and other world-building elements; utilized internal tools for writing as well as work within Unreal 

• Project Armadillo (Digimancy): Developed a core Game Design document, including systems and story; directed art and production in creation of a pitch deck and demo

• Vanguard (Remedy Entertainment): Worked with lead narrative designer to create narrative systems for new AAA IP; assessed multiple different toolsets for suitability for project/studio use; wrote text for game items/pickups

• Broken Roads (Drop Bear Bytes):  Created quests, wrote dialogue, and aided in developing future expansion content; gave post-release assistance with complete revamp of a major area of the game, feedback on story changes

• Crafted and helped refine pitches for multiple projects, both third-party and new internal IPs

 

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Tiamat Collective

Founder/Project Lead 

September 2019 – Present

   Multiple Projects                                                                                                       

• The Passenger: Wrote, designed, scripted, and did all art for adventure/visual novel game crafted in RenPy

• hue: a game about a choice: Developed concept, and did all writing, scripting, and art for visual novel; implemented initially in Twine, and later developed a standalone RenPy version

• Content Aware: collaborated with Heart 20 Games on game concept, and wrote 56+ pages of dialogue in 2 days

• Haunted Paws (external project, Lazy Flock) Consulted on co-op cozy horror project regarding plot, gameplay, and narrative tone

 

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LINX Agency

Contract Designer/Narrative/Writer

May 2022 – Present

   Multiple Projects                                                                                       

• League of Legends (Riot Games): Wrote character and setting descriptions for unique universe items; assisted in the development of an on-retainer writer’s room with Riot Games and other contractors

• Tom Clancy’s Homeland (Red Storm Entertainment): Wrote extensive barkstrings and chatter for enemies and NPCs

• OutRage: FightFest (Hardball Games): Led a writers room to create backstory, characters, and demo consistent with the gameplay and theme of the project

 

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Tiny Bull

Principal Writer

March 2023 – February 2025

   The Lonesome Guild

• Developed voices of all main and secondary characters, and wrote guides to assist with localization

• Wrote all dialogue, quest text, and item descriptions; edited related text & drafts to keep consistent tone

• Worked closely with Narrative Lead to shape the game’s world – cultures, history, and languages

• Played builds and provided detailed feedback to team about narrative, combat, level design, and UI

 

 

Magic DAYW

Narrative & Game Design Consultant

May 2022 - July 2022

   Unannounced Mobile Project                                                                

• Drafted overview of original design; advised project direction; revamped structure for design documentation

• Created and reworked core systems - including a model for asynchronous multiplayer dialogue interactions - and extensive visual models of design features in Twine to demonstrate proposed look and flow

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Subverse Narrative Consulting

Narrative Designer / Writer

March 2021 - May 2021

   Just Cause Mobile                                                               

• Helped reshape missions from rough formats into streamlined ones, altering tone as needed while keeping gameplay flow intact

• Wrote over 50K words, including mission text and character dialogue

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ArenaNet

Senior Content Designer, Additional Narrative

Dec 2019 – April 2022

   Guild Wars 2                                                                                                                

• End of Dragons: Spearheaded design and feature proposals for game hub of Arborstone and collaborated on implementation; created open-world content, including events, activities, mini-dungeons, spawns

• Living World Season 5: Collaborated with Narrative on open-world storytelling, built content for quests and activities

 

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Fantasy Flight

Narrative Designer / Writer

January 2017 – May 2021

   Multiple Projects

• Wrote multiple short stories for several IPs, including Arkham Horror, the relaunch of Legend of the Five Rings, and the 4th Edition of Twilight Imperium

• Legacy of Dragonholt: wrote 30K+ words for new print product launch with classic IP, introduced creative team to Twine

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Witch Beam

Narrative Designer

Aug 2019 – Mar 2020

   Unpacking

• Worked with core team on characters and themes, and a master Narrative Doc as a guide for the game structure

• Built and iterated on spreadsheet to track game items across areas, including providing visual examples and specifying visual changes.

• Used Photoshop to draw-over visual mock-ups of areas to plan out plot-based items to fill game spaces, including use and placement

 

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System Era Softworks

Content Designer

Jan 2018 – Oct 2019

   Astroneer

• Created focused content to expand player-world interaction and developed new player experiences (the “Wanderer” update)

• Utilized procedural probability system for placement of flora, geography, and game items

• Balanced and implemented multiple new systems (Wrecks, Harvestables, Puzzles) and updated and maintained others (Hazards, Scrap, Research Items)

• Concepted all Achievements/Trophies, named them, and created spreadsheet to track their data, such as name localization, testing stage, and icons

• Worked with QA to create spreadsheets and checklist pages showing art assets and their in-engine names, for ease of identification and bug writing 

 

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DoubleBear Productions

Writer, Designer, Art Lead, Project Lead

Mar 2009 – Aug 2019

   Multiple Projects

• PANIC in the Multiverse! (Senior Designer, Senior Writer, Art Lead): Co-created original IP; developed game systems & content; wrote lore & cutscenes; directed artists in multiple style formats, including pixel art/animations and 2D/UI art

• PANIC at Multiverse High! (Project Lead, Art Lead, Lead Writer): Wrote majority of original story and text; adapted IP to new game format; structured and scripted entire game; adapted art for setting; compiled and released all game builds

• Dead State (Senior Writer, Senior Designer): Created new IP with project lead; developed systems, content, characters, UI; wrote dialogues and system text, designed and implemented levels, balanced item stats, managed loot placement, and character skills

• Assisted with Kickstarter campaign and fulfilment, including “Making Of” book and print manual

• Headhunted and interviewed potential talent, crafting interview questions and tests for artists and designers                            

 

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Bungie

Content Designer

May 2013 – Apr 2014

   Destiny

• Developed public events, populating game areas with them as well as combat encounters, lore drops, and harvest nodes

• Coordinated with writing team on event dialogues, wrote roughs for all public events, patrols, and over 50 lore entries

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ArenaNet

Content Designer

Sep 2009 – May 2013

   Guild Wars 2 / Living World Season 1

• Design Principal, Jan-Feb 2013 Living World team: Outlined design tasks, created and implemented content, acted as point of contact for all team design issues, helped set standards for future Living World story content

• Personal Story team, 2009-2012: Worked with team  to shape personal story throughout game, and with design partner on developing cohesive flow and theme throughout our assigned “chapter”

• Crafted quest instances, implemented combat and player interactions, wrote first drafts of dialogue, tested and polished with additional audio and music cues, shot and implemented cutscenes

• Collaborated with writers to develop and expand world lore, and document extensively on the internal wiki/Confluence

 

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Obsidian Entertainment

Writer / Designer

Jan 2006 – Oct 2008

   Multiple Projects

• Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir (Lead Writer, Content Designer): Crafted and implemented Party Conversation System mechanic; Structured, edited, and wrote majority of text; created multiple areas; developed new loot system

• Alpha Protocol (Writer): Organized writing tasks, worked on multiple characters, and created all emails/dossiers/news/banter

• Aliens RPG (Writer, Designer): Wrote dialogue for several major characters, & gave design input on levels and boss encounters

• Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Writer, Designer): Created dozens of specialty items, and wrote epic-level descriptions

• Neverwinter Nights 2  (Game Designer): Created all items/weapons/armor, aided in level testing and bug-fixing for item models

• Multiple Projects: Worked with lead writers and designer to cast/perform/direct voice-over performances

 

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Papaya Studio

Writer / Designer

Aug 2004 – Oct 2005

   Taxi Driver

• Wrote overall story; crafted majority of cutscenes and in-game banter

• Collaborated with audio on sound design; worked with various departments to document bugs, fix collision, and give design feedback

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Education

Macalester College

September 1999 - May 2003 

   B.A. in Literature

• Graduated cum laude

• Specialized in Contemporary Literature with a focus on science fiction and fantasy

• Honors Project: More Than Magic and Lasers: A Literary Defense of Science Fiction and Fantasy

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Skills

• Working knowledge of multiple 3D toolsets, both proprietary and common use (Unreal 4 & 5)

• Experience with both visual and text scripting, including UE Blueprints, RenPy, and Twine

• Proficient with development tools such as Confluence, JIRA, Perforce, Slack, and Teams

• Familiarity with most of the Adobe suite of tools, including Photoshop, Audition, After Effects, and Premiere

• Extensive VO experience, including drafting character sides, casting, directing actors, selecting takes, and performing

• Co-host & editor of the show FrieNDA (using Riverside.fm)