This page summarizes my past work writing and leading narrative content across several studios. (A general portfolio can be found at the main site.)

The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (Turbine)

Role: Lead Content Designer (from preproduction through alpha)

• Established and documented qualitative and quantitative guidelines for the game, including a distillation of Tolkien’s themes (in collaboration with Tolkien Enterprises)
• Created process and pipelines for developing hundreds of quests that were both satisfying MMORPG experiences, and authentic expressions of the lore and spirt of Middle-earth.
• Conceptualized an “epic questline” framework that allowed the game to tell its own ongoing story entwined with the Fellowship of the Ring, using expansions to propel the narrative timeframe through and beyond the end of the novels. (Some of this has been documented here.)
• Built prototypes of scripted instances to demonstrate methods which were greatly elaborated on by the team.
• Hired, mentored, and managed a content team to 8 quest designers and 1 writer/editor.

Commentary: LOTRO was our chance to show that we could thread the needle and deliver both a new MMO in the the shadow of World of Warcraft, and a version of Middle-earth that could stand alongside the wildly popular films (without the benefits of the movie license). By working closely with Tolkien Enterprises, we succeeded, and the game is still active and telling its own tales of the Fourth Age.

“The stunning visuals and the gorgeous realisation of a much-loved fantasy world are simply second to none in this genre; the brilliant storytelling and incredibly dramatic scripted events, equally, stand apart from the competition in every way.”
Eurogamer review (9 out of 10)

Hidden Door

Role: Game Director (from conception through Early Access)

• Adapted multiple works of fiction into our probabilistic narrative game (i.e. “a Choose Your Own Adventure game with infinite choices”), both as writer/scripter and as editor for our narrative designer.
• Collaborated with the CTO on designing narrative structures that represented stories and worlds as within a system of tropes and thread templates.
• Helped implement and tune narrative systems through LLM prompt engineering.
• Explored approaches to developing gameplay and metagame looks around open-ended story play.
• Worked with IP holders and authors to ensure our adaptations are authentic expressions of their fictional worlds (e.g. Pressman Film for The Crow; SF author Alan Dean Foster for his unpublished novella, Dead Man’s Tale).

Commentary: Hidden Door uses machine learning to let fans immerse themselves in their favorite fictional worlds, experiencing countless adventures through story play. I consider myself fortunate to be part of a studio committed to using AI ethically to create brand new experiences. It was a unique challenge to deliver narrative authenticity via a system cannot be strictly controlled, only encouraged. Using these tools to adapt a story for Alan Dean Foster was a highlight (I read his ghost-written novelization of Star Wars as a kid!).

“Hidden Door is a new way to expand a story without diluting it,” says Sam Pressman, CEO of Pressman Films. “It creates a lasting dialogue between the original vision and the audience’s imagination.”
Forbes article

The Beatles: Rock Band (Harmonix)

Role: Lead Designer (overseeing gameplay and narrative content)

• Led the design of Story Mode, presenting the game’s track list into a chapter-by-chapter race through the band’s music and history.
• Oversaw the writing of historical essays that highlight key moments and anecdotes in the history of the Beatles.
• Was one of many people collaborating with Apple Corps and the surviving Beatles to ensure the game was true to the music and spirit of the band.
• Oversaw all game design, including new Beatles-appropriate gameplay features such as Vocal Harmonies.
• Was the focus of an in-person fact-checking session led by Sir Paul McCartney(!)

Commentary: While not a traditional narrative game, TB:RB celebrated the story of the Beatles through music, visuals, and gameplay. The entire team, led by Josh Randall, was dedicated to presenting an authentic Beatles experience with a level of artistry worthy of the band. Everything we did was done with both respect for the band’s legacy, and a willingness to create something with its own creative voice. I cherish having had this opportunity to help ensure this game was true to the Beatles in both fact and feel.

If you get certain bonus points, you get information. You get interesting anecdotes. One of my roles, and Ringo’s roles was to check those. I was letting them flash by one demo, and I, “Woah, wait a minute, if this is going out then it’s like the new Bible.” This is like if these go out and we’ve endorsed it, these better be right. So I said, “Just slow that down, read this out to me… Paul said to John… oh, now that’s not right. No, no what I said was we should…” They said, “Oh, great,” and then they took notes. So they were very good that way. They had it pretty much laid out, but we were there to fine tune it. 
Paul McCartney, Game Informer interview (describing our meeting!)

Harper Quinn and the Legend of Blackburn’s Fury (Fire Hose Games/Liberty Mutual)

Role: Creative Lead, Designer, Writer, Voiceover Director/Editor

• Converted social-emotional learning curricula into multi-chapter adventure games that taught skills via choice-based narrative.
• Created a fictional world that supported a compelling mystery and worked for a diverse audience of mostly non-gamers.
• Designed and authored all narrative puzzles.
• Wrote scripts, cast actors, directed voiceover recording, and edited and integrated final dialogue.

Commentary: This was an interesting opportunity to build a retro point-and-click adventure game for a Fortune 500 company, where investigating a supernatural mystery teaches employees lessons on communicating with empathy. The game was effective enough that we were immediately hired for a sequel.