Script Lock

Karrie Shao & Ros Dachtler

We're over halfway through 2025 and we've got Karrie (Lead Writer and Lead Narrative Designer of Pacific Drive, previously wrote and designed on League of Legends for Riot Games, Totemic for Collage Games, and Not Tonight 2 for Panic Barn. Also worked as a Director of Marketing at Strangely Compelling Multimedia, a Producer at tinyBuild Games, a Lead Narrative Designer at The Exit Game, and was a BAFTA Breakthrough talent for 2024) and Ros (Senior Mission Designer on the upcoming game Last Sentinel, previously Senior Narrative Designer on Clockwork Revolution, Narrative Designer on Deathloop, Narrative Designer and Audio Lead on Battlefield V, and an audio designer on Star Wars Battlefront X-Wing VR, Star Wars Battlefront 2, and Battlefield One) in to talk about breaking into games via Craigslist, what Ros has been up to since working on Battlefield 1, who/what taught them the most about storytelling, changing a game in response to fans, how Karrie’s experience making escape rooms and working in marketing influenced her narrative work, handholding players too much, rules they adhere to for getting exposition across successfully to players, how to make a good opening, how they feel about games that get “good” after a certain amount of time, favorite openings, favorite and least favorite tools for storytelling, strategies for breaking through creative blocks, things they’ve had to unlearn in their work, the rule of cool, how do you tell when something is funny enough, and how open you should be with artistic intent after releasing something. Our Guests Karrie's Website [https://karries.carrd.co/] and Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/karriebear.bsky.social] Ros' Website [https://www.rosdachtler.com/] Stuff We Talked About Craigslist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craigslist] Pacific Drive [https://www.pacificdrivegame.com/] LOST [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_(TV_series)] Bioshock’s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqckvBkwGu8] Opening [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfZ30sfjdLY] Final Fantasy X-2’s Opening [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzOeGe2atV4] Inscryption [https://www.inscryption.com/] Skin Deep [https://blendogames.com/skindeep/] Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness [https://www.isabellaness.com/], and our logo was created by Lily Nishita [https://www.lilynishita.com/]

Brendon Chung & Laura Michet

Hello hello! We're back with returning guests Brendon Chung (founder of Blendo Games and creator of such games as Gravity Bone, Flotilla, Atom Zombie Smasher, Thirty Flights of Loving, Quadrilateral Cowboy, and the recently released Skin Deep) and Laura Michet (writer and editor who's worked on such games as Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, Frog Fractions 2, Swan Hill, You Got This, Brutadon!, The Brigand’s Story, and more. She was a Principal Writer and Editor at Riot Games, was the Narrative Director on Skin Deep, and is currently a Narrative Director at Heart Machine) to talk about the recently-released Skin Deep as well as Brendon working with VO for the first time, the goals that came out of deciding Skin Deep would be a comedy game, earnestness in storytelling, making a comedy game with multiple writers, documentation, their process working together as a married couple, the narrative challenges of working on a sim game, what they think makes a good game opening, advice for people wanting to get better at writing dialogue, their processes for writing down ideas, how they power through blocks, what they’re playing and watching these days that gets them excited, how they toe the line between creative expression and making a living, explaining and over-explaining things, how do they not overwrite outlines while providing openings for design, deranged subreddits, and a whole lot more! Our Guests Brendon Chung [https://bsky.app/profile/blendogames.bsky.social] and Laura Michet [https://bsky.app/profile/lmichet.bsky.social] would love it if you played Skin Deep [https://blendogames.com/skindeep/] and left a review on Steam! Stuff We Talked About Skin Deep [https://blendogames.com/skindeep/] Thief [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thief_(series)] Deus Ex [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex] System Shock [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock] The Substance [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Substance] Dredd [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dredd] Splinter Cell: Conviction [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Clancy%27s_Splinter_Cell:_Conviction] Hitman [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitman_(franchise)] Wheel World [https://annapurnainteractive.com/en/games/wheel-world] Prey (and Mooncrash) [https://bethesda.net/en/game/prey] Another World [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_World_(video_game)] Mercenaries [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenaries:_Playground_of_Destruction] Workflowy [https://workflowy.com/] The Devil’s Plan [https://www.netflix.com/title/81653386] Physical: 100 [https://www.netflix.com/title/81587446] Culinary Class Wars [https://www.netflix.com/title/81728365] Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness [https://www.isabellaness.com/], and our logo was created by Lily Nishita [https://www.lilynishita.com/]

The GDC 2025 Grab Bag Episode

We return with another grab bag episode for GDC 2025! Like last year, we brought a bunch of simple questions to ask folks, and in these three groups you get to hear how their answers differed. In our first group we had Chase Dodge (NYU student), Ruari Root (NYU student), Calliope Ryder (prev Lead Producer on Tales of the Shire at Weta Workshop), Chandana Ekanayake (Co-Founder and Creative Director of Outerloop Games), Hudson Janow (NYU student, Gay Gaming Professionals scholar), Apollo Umbra (Northwestern student, Gay Gaming Professionals scholar). Our second group had Lis Moberly (Lead Game Designer at Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Games), Vincent Perea (Senior Art Director at Disney Experiences), Lola Shiraishi (Co-Founder of Stellium Studios), and Meghan Thornton (Story Manger at Insomniac Games). And our last group had Emma Kidwell (Writer at Firaxis Games), Natalie Checo (PR Consultant at Future Friends Games, Journalist, and Game Writer/Editor), Sam Low (Global Communications Exec at Neon Noroshi, and SEA Brand Development Manager for Critical Reflex), Nessa Cannon (Game Writer and Narrative Designer), and Bria Davis (Community Director at Young Horses) Topics included: favorite people they’ve worked with, hobbies that have paid off the most in their work, underrated game faves, ideas and mechanics that they are keen to put in their next games, what to do when you’re feeling drained and in need of inspiration, most recent games they’ve been playing, someone in the industry who did something nice for them, games they keep returning to, if they could force developers to do one thing what would it be, times they’ve messed up and what they learned from it, game character crushes, something they do as their process that saves time, what they would have on their ideal writing/narrative design test, how they creatively rejuvenate themselves, and more! Our Guests Group 1: Chase Dodge [https://dodgechase.xyz/], Ruari Root [https://ruariroot.com/], Calliope Ryder [https://bsky.app/profile/callioperyder.bsky.social], Chandana Ekanayake [https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:7zme6uhuddumxmin6m575tkb], Hudson Janow, Apollo Umbra [https://www.apolloumbra.com/] Group 2: Lis Moberly [https://www.thewritegame.com/], Vincent Perea [https://www.vincentperea.com/], Lola Shiraishi [https://www.lolashiraishi.com/], Meghan Thornton Group 3: Emma Kidwell [https://www.emmkid.info/], Nessa Cannon [https://www.nessacannon.com/], Natalie Checo [https://bsky.app/profile/heartimecia.bsky.social], Sam Low [https://bsky.app/profile/rinoaskyes.bsky.social], Bria Davis [https://www.briadavis.com/projects] Stuff We Talked About Fear the Spotlight [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1959390/Fear_the_Spotlight/] Tangle Tower [https://store.steampowered.com/app/359510/Tangle_Tower/] Chants of Senaar [https://www.focus-entmt.com/en/games/chants-of-sennaar] 30 Flights of Loving [https://store.steampowered.com/app/214700/Thirty_Flights_of_Loving/] Spiritfarer [https://thunderlotusgames.com/games/spiritfarer/] MÖRK BORG [https://morkborg.com/] Hues and Cues [https://theop.games/products/hues-and-cues] Life is Strange [https://lifeisstrange.square-enix-games.com/en-us] Papers, Please [https://papersplea.se/] Urban Shadows [https://magpiegames.com/collections/urban-shadows] Arctic Eggs [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2763670/Arctic_Eggs/] Citizen Sleeper [https://www.fellowtraveller.games/citizen-sleeper] Metaphor Refantazio [https://metaphor.atlus.com/] Rimworld [https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/] Frostpunk 2 [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1601580/Frostpunk_2/] Monster Hunter Wilds [https://www.monsterhunter.com/wilds/] Hades 2 [https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/hades-ii/] Return of the Obra Dinn [https://obradinn.com/] Dragon Quest V [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_V] Subnautica [https://unknownworlds.com/en/news] The Artist’s Way [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist%27s_Way] Final Fantasy VII [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VIII] Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness [https://www.isabellaness.com/], and our logo was created by Lily Nishita [https://www.lilynishita.com/].

Adam Dolin & Jolie Menzel

It’s been an embarrassingly long time but we are BACK! Again!!! And this time we’ve brought returning guests Adam Dolin and Jolie Menzel to discuss breaking in, how they define narrative design, the differences between creative directors who come from narrative versus other displiclines, the three c’s, can game writers exist without knowing narrative design, favorite narrative tools, what makes a good opening to a game, tutorials, letting players have choices where the results lead to them missing lots of content, bad habits they’ve noticed in younger writers/narrative designers, the future of the industry, pieces of media they go back to get reinvigorate/inspired, the themes they’re always writing into their stories, stuff they’re always editing out of their writing, how to write good dialogue, and maybe one or two other things. It’s great! Our Guests on the Internet Jolie's Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joliemenzel/]. Adam's Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamdolin] and BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/adamdolin.bsky.social], and his ELVTR class [https://elvtr.com/course/become-game-writer] starts in April! Stuff We Discussed Larian Cinematics: A Top-Down Look at Our Bottom-Up Approach in 'Baldur's Gate 3' [https://youtu.be/MdmY9Mt-vz8?si=Oc__giFOG5r2U-am] Jolie's 3C's of Game Design Presentation [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XW3q069CtCqK783FnQ1wW55Jeoot9TQ6TFwvy8aYCoo/edit?usp=sharing] Twine [https://twinery.org/] Visual Studio Code [https://code.visualstudio.com/] Highland 2 [https://quoteunquoteapps.com/highland-2/] (FYI looks like a Highland 3 launch is imminent) Ink [https://www.inklestudios.com/ink/] YarnSpinner [https://www.yarnspinner.dev/] Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania:_Symphony_of_the_Night] Pentiment [https://pentiment.obsidian.net/] Against the Storm [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/] UFO 50 [https://50games.fun/] Balatro [https://www.playbalatro.com/] Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast  [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/magic-the-gathering-drive-to-work-podcast/id580709168] The Callisto Protocol [https://callisto.sds.com/en-us] God of War (2018) [https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/god-of-war/] Detroit: Become Human [https://www.quanticdream.com/en/detroit-become-human] The Darkness 2 [https://2k.com/en-US/game/the-darkness-ii/] Another Crab’s Treasure [https://aggrocrab.com/ACT] The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist [https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545402/the-videogame-industry-does-not-exist/]by Brandon Keogh Sonic Adventure 2 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_Adventure_2] Hank confronts Walter [https://youtu.be/J1SuCDkWLDM?si=xWd6WPxA0zNP2pM7] in Breaking Bad Barry [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_(TV_series)] The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Brisco_County,_Jr.] Burn Notice [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burn_Notice] Clerks [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerks_(film)] Dogma [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma_(film)] Nick's Dialogue Playlist [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjJNdQM2QiA&list=PLxT4HIjvZAd-sLFSiPX9iaKIMrQP4lXm8&pp=gAQB] Game Narrative Summit: Building Rome in a Day: A Sociological Storytelling Primer [https://gdcvault.com/play/1028785/Game-Narrative-Summit-Building-Rome] Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow,_and_Tomorrow,_and_Tomorrow] by Gabrielle Zevin Futurama Commentaries  [https://thedirectorscommentary.tumblr.com/post/181768208394/futurama-the-complete-series-audio-commentaries] Tetris Forever [https://www.digitaleclipse.com/games/tetrisforever] Listen To a Movie [https://www.listentoamovie.com/] Script Lock BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/scriptlock.bsky.social] Our Theme Music was composed by Isabella Ness [https://www.isabellaness.com/], and our logo was created by Lily Nishita [https://www.lilynishita.com/]. The vampire sucking noise was created by Robinhood76 [https://freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/360907/].

Jaclyn Seto & Christal Rose Hazelton

Moving on from our GDC episodes, we're back with Jaclyn (Writer at Respawn Entertainment on Apex Legends, instructor & student mentor at Vancouver Film School. Previously a Writer on RPG Puzzle Legends and Merge Tales for Microfun) and Christal Rose (previously a Writer at Respawn Entertainment on Apex Legends and an Associate Writer on Hogwarts Legacy at Avalanche)! Together we discuss writing fanfiction, doing work you’re proud of without getting too attached, finding a way into a character, being funny on demand, self-imposed rules, whether their writing styles have changed over the years, writing with constraints, worldbuilding pet peeves, most overused words, what practice would they standardize across the industry, and common themes in their writing. Our Guests on the Internet Jaclyn's Twitter [https://x.com/jaccplays], Website [https://t.co/Zc7Y0plP2o], and Lore Trailer for Alter [https://t.co/XpXefut8VY].  Christal Rose's Twitter [https://x.com/hellohazelton], Website [https://t.co/TIqC1kWlcu], and Lore Trailer for Conduit [https://t.co/zYnCdCrILU].   Stuff We Talked About Jaclyn and Christal Rose's GDC talk: Creating Diverse Characters: Writing What you Know and Don't [https://gdcvault.com/play/1034491/Game-Narrative-Summit-Creating-Diverse] The Gasoline Baby NPC Convo in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 [https://www.tiktok.com/@brgaming/video/7293595762896801066?lang=en] Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness [https://www.isabellaness.com/], and our logo was created by Lily Nishita [https://www.lilynishita.com/].