It would be easy to set up narratively. Just need a line of expository dialogue like Mandalorian: Uh oh Grogu, looks like we’re in a Force Maze

My game writing workshop is coming back for another cohort starting in August with prep-work in advance -- three months with a group of both aspiring/pro writers, live playtests, weekly video calls, & a focus on craft and challenging ourselves. More info at -> www.gregbuchanangames.com/courses

Heaven's Vault has an enormous amount of system in it to casually drop a clue right in front of you should you run out of info; it's entirely invisible in the course of play but take it away and the game is just impossible

“Faking the moon landing is a good step toward faking a Mars colony, but it’s not a good step toward actually putting astronauts on Mars.” - a great article

5/5 And here is the programme link, Cory Doctorow interview starts at 2:46: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

it's a big day at the office

In December I released my latest album, Heliosphere. Now, exactly six months later, the “weightless” edition: the same musical suite but more ambient, without beats, allowing the listener to drift weightlessly through the solar system… ampwall.com/a/silencaeon...

Note for writers who might need it: the only people who say You got this Let’s do this Just focus … are parents talking to children, and crucially *they are lying*

New Kaleidoscope episode! We're joined by @stirpicus.bsky.social (Fortnite, Minecraft: Story Mode) to talk about writing protagonists with strong personalities. How do we get the player to connect? And does it allow for more complex - even immoral - characters? www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope...

Have recorded nearly 40 (!) episodes for the Kaleidoscope, which crept up out of nowhere!

On July 15, Neurocracy will shift into... 🌐 ANTHOLOGY MODE 🌐 ✅ New individual stories added to omnipedia.app ✅ Each one stretches across a month of updates ✅ You influence what happens 👀 More info: talk.omnipedia.app/t/new-stories-are-coming-to-neurocracy/397 #scifi #epistolary #hypertext #TTARG

Junior writers aren't just the future of the craft - they're a wellspring of great ideas right now as well, says @annamegill.com For the full conversation, flip to www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope/#podcast

The **NarraScope 2026 Game Jam** launches on Sunday May 31st! Also starting on that day IFTF’s Education Committee will offer a series of online bootcamps and workshops. This year’s theme, “Royal Flush,” is drawn from the illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland.

Remember when inkle made a musical platformer that’s also a fairytale and a deduction game?

Generative AI has led to entirely new paradigms and unprecedented accelerations in the fields of fucking yourself over in public in the most embarrassing and humiliating way possible

Tomb raider 2 is BACK

lol. Recycling old ideas without realising? how does that happen I don’t wonder

I hate linked in exhibit #3 billion; could this be the lucrative move away from writing that I’ve been looking for?

I juat released a trailer for The Examined Game youtu.be/a-b40R6Nk98 featuring @vankelsing.bsky.social @alexbeachum.bsky.social @juliaminamata.bsky.social @rich-lem.bsky.social @jon.inkle.co & Joeseph Humphry amongst many other video game super stars #outerwilds #uncharted #80days #lifeisstrange

I'm helping host a panel for the DFI's Festival of Storytelling next week - we'll be talking about games and nonlinear storytelling - @playthroughline.com @heidi-colthup.bsky.social and John Wills will all be there sharing amazing insights! Free tickets here: www.tickettailor.com/events/dfist...

What a metaphor! 100% right. AI output IS all spunk and no uterus; ejection without nurture; splatter without growth; emission without crystallisation — and then, at the last minute, they steal someone else‘s baby and hand it to you and say well done you’re doing great come again

New talk upcoming: I’ll be at @developconference.com in July on the Thursday talking about using “exploration” rather than “puzzle” as a lens for designing a deduction game, with reference to TR-49 and the other inkle game where we do that, which I’ll leave as an exercise for the reader for now

New Kaleidoscope episode! This week, we talk to narrative powerhouse @annamegill.com (Guild Wars 2, Fable, Control) about drawing narrative from every part of the team. How do we invest in other creatives and integrate ideas without losing the plot? www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope...

Your money is worthless here, señor Ocampo, at the end of the world. (music by the amazing Matías Olmedo)

It's brewing. Generative puzzle towns, deterministic, turn-based, tactical, strategic, create optimal solutions, silly, about revolution, historical, tragi-comic. And people's assemblies that may revoke your control. "Revolt Of The Commons" #gamedev #strategy #turnbased #historical

Saw the Mandalorian with my kid and we enjoyed it well enough but idk. If I had a star war to work on the first thing I’d do is just write a really good script, before getting the other stuff right

Latest TGC monthly now live on @somanygames.co.uk : somanygames.co.uk/articles/tcg... Thank you @inkle.co for this beautiful gaming experience. #somanygames #inkle #tinygamechronicles #indiegamed #gamedev #narrativegamed @jon.inkle.co

And we've never looked back. 2D characters are timeless and expressive. 3D characters... struggle with both those things, I think?

Only a few days left to apply to exhibit your story-driven game (or a related tool or project), or speak about a relevant topic in a talk/panel, at #AdvX26! Submit by end of day on 21 May GMT+1 through the forms linked at adventurexpo.org #AdvX

Great to talk about world-building as an art with someone who's worked on Massive Well-Defined Franchises like Star Wars and, er, history, to hear about how - even with facts coming out of your ears - there's still a craft to what we say and what we elide

New Kaleidoscope episode! This week, Total War and Star Wars Jedi alumnus @petestewart.bsky.social joins us to dig into worldbuilding: how do we use detail -- and how do we use the empty space? www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope...

The gorgeous Heaven's Vault from @inkle.co is one of the 50 indie titles in my book Indie Game Works. With developer interviews and behind-the-scenes artwork, you can get the inside scoop into how these brilliant games were made. Buy it here: amzn.eu/d/00nZo32h #indiedev #gaming #indiegames

great now do steam

er. There's a movie on Now in the UK called Escape from the 21st Century. I'd never heard of it before. It's incredible.

We’re pretty thrilled with this - TR-49 has been nominated for *two* Apple design awards We love the mobile form factor and always have - the immediacy of it and the lower barrier to entry - and we’re dead chuffed to have that recognised!

I’ve had a few consulting gigs wrap up and now have time in my schedule for new projects! I’m a game writer with six years of experience working with AAA and indie studios on titles like Borderlands 4, Endoparasitic, Star Trucker, and [REDACTED]. Full resume and portfolio: www.nessacannon.com

Indeed “the emperor’s new clothes” and “magic beans” are polar opposites - one is promise without substance; the other substance without promise. Of course, if you’re in finance, both are valuable, with the “clothes” probably having a slight edge

There are times when it feels as though our every action matters: a wink, a word, a tiny gesture; everything we do has the potential to spin the future onto an new axis. These times are when we feel most vital, when the eye of life itself is turned upon us with full attention, hot and deeply loving.

video game version: 416 days of the condor

Reupping this, for fans of Things and Stuff.

It is incredible how much rides on bangaranga

📜 HEAVEN'S VAULT - BOOK 4 📜 The Rising Light is OUT NOW from the inkle bookshop! 📕 shorturl.at/o6tqJ 📕 The floodwaters have risen. A new threat looms. The only hope is a lost legend. Can a secret be hidden in a single word? Aliya and Six will have to travel beyond the rivers to find out...

Lots of shipping notices for copies of Heaven’s Vault IV went out today so hopefully books will start arriving after the weekend. Soon people will have the answer to the greatest of all HV mysteries…

My interview with @jon.inkle.co co-founder of Inkle Studios responsible for 80 Days, TR-49, Heaven's Vault, Sorcery, Overboard. A discussion on how essential good writing is in video games. I loved this discussion! We go DEEP... www.theexaminedgame.com/the-mathemat... #gaming #podcast

The lovely @jon.inkle.co and @sagarberoshi.bsky.social had me on their excellent Game Narrative Kaleidoscope podcast to talk about the piece I wrote for the GNK collection "The Tina Fey Hat Problem". We sure did cover some ground.

ironically, the episode that required most editing, but that's only because a delivery van turned up mid-way-through

we were able to include Talisk and Fourth Moon in A Highland Song only because they're both self-published bands and so there was no record label to negotiate with

When writing for romance, says @storeytell.bsky.social, it's better to think of conflict as "scandal"... For more on writing as entertainment, and as art, turn to www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope/#podcast

Anyone who knows me knows i 100% subscribe to this arc