Doing my AdventureX prep! Business cards all done. Last moment shopping, done! All that's left is to pack. If you're looking to hire a writer/narrative designer and want to catch up over the weekend, then please drop me a message. #advxconf #advx25 #adventurex

There were gangsters selling car boots to put their enemies in

Heaven's Vault started out as a Doctor Who game

I’m an absolute baby at ttrpg design and how it might work and this sorta blew my mind

1477. HEAVEN'S VAULT II. THE VAULT ​ 👉 https://www.thevideogamelibrary.org/book/heaven-s-vault-ii-the-vault #Books #Booksky #Gaming #VideoGames

New article: one thing from every inkle game that we failed to explain clearly enough, and how often we've been made to regret it.

Upcoming inkle-shaped things: - Adventure X! We'll be there with a talk about stories, and a demo of Expelled! - A new game! More info on that VERY soon - A book about narrative design by over a hundred narrative designers and writers! Sort-of an accident. Coming early next year

📣 SENIOR(ISH) GAME WRITERS 📣 The folks at GDC have reached out to me about heading up a narrative portfolio review workshop. Are you planning on going to GDC this year and would be down to review some portfolios? HMU!

There is a philosophical theory that the big bang will be followed by a big crunch - a gathering up of the universe, under gravity, that will result in another big bang. Together, this big-bang-big-crunch -- or "big brunch", if you will -- must repeat endlessly, with variations occurring each time

AI continues to be shit hot

This is great and the diagram is also great

And I think about this a lot. I recently did a video game with an old friend who’d always thought of me as a particular sort of actor - that’s fine, I’ve a light RP voice and I have a natural inclination towards humour and silliness - but one day decided to cast me as something altogether darker.

[email protected] is hosting a free panel next Thursday in London, which looks really good

Re last comment… (I can never remember whether everybody sees replies, so I'll repost:) Last week I gave a ThinkyCon talk: “Towers of Pen: puzzle experiences that zoom out and out” The video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHxZ... The talk as a web page, text and slides: eblong.com/zarf/essays/...

I ran my adv x talk and it was 28 minutes which means if I get a laugh for any of the jokes I will run over

i will be SHOWING A BUILD and trying not to ACTIVELY DIE as you play our beautiful and VERY MUCH WORK-IN-PROGRESS game RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY LITTLE FACE. come!!

Things move quickly! We've upped our scope a bit and reached out to 130 writers - a mixture of seniors, newcomers and students - for contributions (and have three back already) -- and we have another 150 *more* waiting, who we'll call on if people drop out or if there's interest in a volume 2

Never, Never Say Never. NEVER.

YOU ONLY LIVE THRICE

Set the new Bond in 1965. Job done.

update - there are enough responses to believe that this will probably happen, after taking into account the no-shows. (You can still put your name down if you want to! There will be no shows, and if we need to make 2+ volumes, we can also do that.)

okay, seriously: if we were to corral this, would anyone be interested in contributing? Here is the google form: forms.gle/m2V4j4cDvwNu...

A brief defence of dialogue choices (286 words):

ha! I was just listening to an old interview with Douglas Adams about Hitchhiker's and he says explicitly his style is directly influenced by Winnie the Pooh. I've been saying this for years, ever since i read to my kids as an adult and thought, wait a minute, I've seen this before

Gosh, if only someone had already covered how to use choices to build subtext is a characterful linear scene already, in a talk that takes less time to read than a medium post from a guy who seems to have only played one game and that’s cos he wrote it

Extraordinary to hear a BBC journalist actually *pressing* a Reform politician about anything, let alone to the point (not very distant) of hanging themselves. I’d pretty much forgotten what that was even like. Like A Robin Reliant; takes about 5 mins to fall apart completely

UK based trans peeps! Have been approached by a charity working with LGBTQIA+ communities and I’d like to double check that the good vibes I’m seeing are legit. If you’re chill with me DMing you about it, please drop a reply below 🙏

The image includes something from every project we've done (I think. I bet I forgot something) including some rarities: - the pirate one - the supernatural crime VN - the letter-editing game (by Emily Short) - the poem-learning game, which later became the language game in HV - the next one

🎂 inkle is 14 years old today! 🎉

Happy to announce that my debut novel, The Halter, is now available for preorder. You’ll find it at all major online outlets, but if you can pre-order it from an indie shop near you, please support your local folks instead. www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Ha...

inspired by someone on a call this week saying they'd lost hours to it, here's my little toy/tool for making spirograph like patterns vbuckenham.com/epicycles/

We are down to last tickets for #AdvX25! We added a few more single-day tickets, but they're flying fast. The ticket sale will close on midnight 19 Nov (or earlier if sold out). So make sure you get yours before they're gone! adventurexpo.org

Should have used ink

Somehow the acting in this season of the Witcher has gotten even worse. I don’t think it’s the script - it’s fine, fairly matter of fact fantasy stuff with the odd “okay” and ”hey guys”. But somehow everyone is reading it out like it’s a high school play. It’s so consistent it’s watchable

"You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino's new novel, If on a winter's night a traveler. Would you like me to summarize the major themes of this book in a bulleted list? Okay! You got it!"

Italo Calvino, 1980

Elemental Flow will be at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival this year - as will we! If you're there in person this Saturday and Sunday, come say hi, and if you're checking it out online, we hope you enjoy the Elemental Flow demo! #ASFFestival

This looks absolutely gorgeous and here's a working link store.steampowered.com/app/4102890/...

Four Travellers was great. Here’s their next:

Just realised the David Mitchell quote on the cover comes from Cloud Atlas David Mitchell not Peep Show David Mitchell. Which makes a lot more sense

I’m reading for the first time If On A Winters Night A Traveller by Calvino, and it’s a lot of fun. Only now I’ve put it down; not sure why; to write this thread about it. But I may not finish - in fact, I’m sure I won’t - i might read an article instead, one I’m sure I will agree with by the end

I've played the opening chunk of this and if you like Citizen Sleeper, well then, I think you very well might enjoy this too!!

Finally getting around to watching this brillaint talk by @jon.inkle.co where he expounds upon the value of banter for making game narratives richer / more replayable. As it happens Innkeep is practically entirely about NPC banter (and stealing things). www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX6k...

In my limited experience writers block is what happens when you haven’t brought together enough disparate yet compatible ideas yet, and it’s always a good thing. The other thing is burnout. AI might help with that, I suppose, in the same way that young people help with aging by partying for you

Two great storyworlds in one neat package

The best games are made by centering the humans making them

weirdly, some art disappeared from the Louvre at the same time. coincidence?!?

hey! we could use a couple of new testers for our new thing. any takers - DM please!

Just wrote the first draft of my talk for @adventurex.bsky.social It’s possibly very stupid, but rn I can’t sleep because I’m excited about it

But 80 Days, Heavens Vault and A Highland Song aren’t! So play one of those instead