Game Writing and Narrative Design
SINdicate Script Sample
Sindicate is a 3D, co-op, two-player roguelike where the players have to navigate the streets of a lawless 1920s magical city to climb to the top of the crime syndicate running it. Playing as one of 3-4 different supernatural creatures, the duo tag-team switches between 2 different, asymmetric sets of abilities to work together to defeat the bosses of 7 sinful sectors of the city’s criminal empire.
Players interact by building up relations with NPC characters across runs—earning favors, accumulating trust, and progressing through individual character narratives—as well as combat-based trials to assert themselves as more powerful than the organization running the city. After each run, they return to their home base, a bar, to build NPC relationships more and power up aspects of their builds.
This was a co-designed narrative, written with Som Chhun. We designed and wrote the settings, characters, and narrative gameplay structure together, both taking on different interactions to write. The excerpt pictured and linked below is from the boss fight script written by me.
In this script excerpt, you can see my questions and proposals to the animator that arise in my scene directions. This was the preferred format of this team, but can take any form depending on my group’s work style.
Judgement Day Script Sample
A solo-written 2D narrative game about being the new guardian of Purgatory, where the player gets to choose which of the morally gray mortals goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Although you get a file on each mortal, this is their last chance to plead their case… definitely a lot of pressure.
Pictured below are some dialogue and narration excerpts:
The Council of Fluff and Stuff
Script Sample
The Council of Fluff and Stuff is about a child struggling with the idea of her parents getting divorced. To cope with this, she hosts a council meeting with her stuffed animals and cat, each symbolizing a stage of grief.
Solo-developed through the online engine of Bitsy, it was important that this script was formatted in a way that naturally fit my personal workflow, while also supporting the necessary format for software needs.
This game was nominated for the Excellence in Narrative and Impact Awards at RPI GameFest. It also won Best Narrative at Quinnipiac University’s annual game showcase.
Media Mastery Script Sample
Media Mastery is an educational 2D, branching-narrative, social media simulation game meant to facilitate media literacy for late-middle schoolers and high schoolers.
As the sole narrative designer and writer, I worked closely with our level designer to create a compelling story that felt like social media.
To simulate a true online experience, the script is organized by in-game timeline (each day played through) and type of social media posts/interactions. These range from typical “Instagram style” posts and direct messages to even random events requiring players to make sound decisions regarding online interaction. It was designed with collaborators in mind.
Jest or Die! Script Sample
This project was developed during the 2024 Global Game Jam for the Theme “Make Me Laugh.” It was a 9-person team with 3 writers (including myself).
Pictured below are some one-liners from the characters that I wrote:
Saving Time Script Sample
Saving Time is a short, 2D, single-player, Roleplaying Game (demo) with quests, narrative interaction, and the ability to use a mysterious watch that controls time at will.
The story follows Quinn Bennet, who is trying to save her hometown from the certain doom of modern civilization. In order to keep track of the two timelines (future and past), the script’s quests and scenes are split and organized into these two types of interactions.
As the sole narrative designer and writer, I wrote both the dialogue and several prop descriptions for this project!
