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Designing A Narrative Scene
Throughout Reach, players visit Atlas’ Workshop four times. On each visit, they participate in an interactive narrative scene that serves to advance the player’s understanding of the plot and provide them with their objective for the next several levels. As well as blocking out the Workshop itself, I blocked out all four narrative scenes, then worked with animation, audio, tech design, and the voice actors themselves to see the narrative realised in these spaces. In this arti


Scriptwriting for Reach
I became responsible for scriptwriting on Reach around half way through development following the departure of the fantastic Frankie Wakefield-Harrey. At this point, we had a developed VSD script and a first draft of major beats in Reach’s story. Over the next year, I was tasked with writing the full script and helping get it implemented into the game. Getting Started... I began this process with research, diving deep into the current script and narrative documentation. I als


Creating the Ultimate Combat Gauntlet in Reach
I was responsible for creating several combat encounters throughout Reach, from small-scale encounters designed to introduce enemy types, to larger multi-wave encounters designed to test the player’s abilities. This article delves into the creation of an encounter I lovingly refer to as ‘The Gauntlet’. Running the Gauntlet - Design Goals The Gauntlet is a combat encounter occurring in Reach’s final level. Before beginning designing the space, I established what I wanted the e


Creating the White Rabbit level for Reach
White Rabbit (approx 15-30-mins playtime) is one of Reach’s early levels, and serves to introduce the player to the underground setting where they’ll spend most of their playtime. I worked on this level from its initial paper designs through to completion. Research & Planning Work on White Rabbit began with research. I created a list of mechanics already understood by the player by this point in the game, and a list of the major narrative beats they’d have experienced. Workin


Reach: Immersive VR Action
Reach is an action adventure game designed exclusively for virtual reality. You take on the role of Rosa, who unexpectedly finds herself deep underground, coming face to face with a race of ancient stone creatures.


Successfully Differentiating Characters in Multi-POV Novels: 3 Simple Tips
You can help differentiate between POV characters by referring to the same characters by different names. To take a basic example...


How to Differentiate Characters in Multi-POV Novels: 3 Essential Tips
If you're anything like me, the novels you enjoy reading and writing probably have multiple point of view characters. Sometimes they're...


It Only Takes One - Interactive Proof of Concept
Trigger warning: This article mentions harassment and sexual assault; the videos on this page may be triggering for those who have...


Why Did They Stop Playing?
A few years back, an article did the rounds saying that only 10-20% of video games bought actually get finished. Whether this stat is...


Blot: A Perfectly Normal Puzzle Game - Dev Diary #1
A little earlier this year, I embarked on a new adventure developing a side-scrolling puzzle game titled Blot: A Perfectly Normal Puzzle...


The Last Sprite - Holistic Design
Daniel Clark of IGN describes holistic design as "harmony between mechanics and aesthetics." This is something that's been important to...


The Last Sprite - Documentation
In game design, creation of clear design documentation is incredibly important, even when working as a solo developer. Throughout...


The Last Sprite - Machine Design
The Last Sprite's core gameplay loop sees the player explore to find machines. They need to platform to reach each machine, slam a button...


The Last Sprite - Moveset Design
From the outset, one of The Last Sprite's design pillars was 'rolling player character'. My desire to include this came from experience...


The Last Sprite - Level Design
By the time I began designing The Last Sprite's world and platforming areas, I'd already spent weeks working on player movement...
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