Clients include:
What I do
I'm a game writer and narrative designer. I love telling powerful, entertaining, and unforgettable stories through gameplay. I've written both branching and linear stories for a wide variety of projects, both AAA and indie, in teams of various sizes. I have a Master's degree in literature and I am still voraciously learning all I can can about narrative and storytelling today. I also have experience in quest design, game design, and visual scripting.
Linear
Narrative
I have experience writing engaging stories at every stage of the development process, including after game mechanics and quest scripting has been locked.
Branching Narrative
I have experience writing branching narratives with compelling and meaningful choices for the player, using tools such as Articy Draft, Inky, Twine, and in-house tools.
Strong Characters
I specialize in effervescent dialogue with rhythm, musicality, flow, and humour. I believe that compelling stories come from interesting characters.
Need Advice?
I specialize in helping teams to define their overarching story and cast, to identify their core themes, and to create a solid narrative structure that can be built on.
Video games, as a medium and an industry, encompass all of the other creative media. A wide range of expertise goes into game design - including sound design, music, visual composition, art, lighting, color scripts, camera work, acting, production design, visual effects, etc.
Our medium has unprecedented potential to tell impactful stories - especially when we take advantage of all of that huge pool of knowledge, talent, and artistry. An important part of my work is in ensuring that each emotional beat lands effectively by using the medium to communicate the message.
That means using not just narrative structure and dialogue, but also game mechanics, environment art, costumes, props, music, lighting, weather, and all of the other tools at a game developer’s disposal.
Outside of Work
I am a full BAFTA member and a mentor in Limit Break, where I help members of underrepresented groups break into the video games industry. I am currently working on a novel but when I have free time, I enjoy writing and sharing materials to give young writers the benefits of the lessons I've learned over the course of my 20-year career.
Testimonials
"During his time at Plarium, he was Narrative Lead on Nova Legends from production to launch, defining the content structure, narrative, and writing conventions, and laying the groundwork for both production and brand work.
Concurrently, he was supporting our released flagship titles RAID: Shadow Legends and Mech Arena (often single-handedly).
Doing all of this effectively for one game was an achievement, doing it for three was a triumph, doing it in the midst of a war in with half the production teams in very difficult situations was nothing short of incredible."
Nik Day, VP of Creative
"Andy is a fantastic narrative designer whose mentorship and guidance greatly improved all elements of the project he
was involved in.
His creative input made a lasting, positive impact on the project's written, narrative content, elevating the quality of our work to new heights.
He approaches everything with a relaxed, can-do attitude, delivering top-notch work, meeting deadlines with plenty of time to spare, and offering up inspired, creative solutions. It would be
a joy to work with him again in the future."
Tom McLean, Narrative Designer
"Awesome! I’m very impressed by your improvements to the script. Again, thank you so much, Sir!"
Tak Hiraro, Square Enix Creative Director