I’m Narrative Director at Ubisoft in Stockholm.
I’m partner and founder of Talespinners, a writing & narrative company dedicated to helping you develop story for your game. I’ve now taken a back seat in that company as I concentrate on my full-time role at Ubisoft.
I’ve written and designed story for many different types of interactive media. My credits include narrative design, character creation, world design, dialogue, prose, and voice direction for PC, console, VR, and mobile games. I’ve worked on over 75 games, interactive events, and immersive experiences. Alongside co-running Talespinners, I’m Story Lead on Frictional Games‘ next horror title, Amnesia: Rebirth. I’m regularly asked to consult for companies to help them shape and polish the story for their game.
I’ve also directed larps and live-action events for more than 25 years. I’m co-founder of Crooked House, an organisation legendary for its high concept larps and ridiculously over-the-top special effects and sets. This experience has now become relevant to the mainstream due to the renewed interest in VR, AR, and immersive events.
I’ve held a wealth of roles as a programmer, technical architect and CTO. I spent a long time running software teams creating interactive TV systems and produced over 40 educational games.
In 2009, I threw all that in to work in the mainstream games industry, where I’ve since worked as a programmer and designer for gameplay, systems and tools on a wide range of triple-A and indie titles across all sorts of platforms – including SOMA and the LittleBigPlanet and LEGO franchises.
My first full-length feature film, Fallen Soldiers, came out in July 2015. We made it for virtually no money, and with no time. Critics have said things like ‘a very clever piece of genre cinema that is not bound by its conventions’ (Film News) and ‘a great low budget horror movie, with some strong talent and clever ideas.’ (Starburst). I have two other optioned screenplays.
My twisted children’s book Where’s My Shoggoth? is available in all good comic shops. It has been variously described as ‘a firmly recommended gift for anyone in life who has a taste for the bizarre’ (Starburst Magazine), ‘a book you’ll happily put on your child’s shelf alongside Winnie the Pooh & Dr. Seuss’ (Omnicomic), ‘perfect for the Lovecraft lover in your life’ (Ain’t It Cool News) and ‘just right to snuggle up with your budding young mythos investigator on a dark and stormy night’ (Wired), amongst many other accolades.
My novel-length interactive fiction title Pendragon Rising has sold tens of thousands of copies since its publication in 2016.
I’ve also worked as editor and writer-for-hire on projects ranging from novels to gameworld lore. I’m often asked to polish and copy-edit work, particularly when it comes to dialogue.
I’m happy to give talks anywhere (just try and stop me!) and have previously given talks at universities and at conferences such as GDC, Narrascope, AdventureX, Level Up, XpoNorth, and Nineworlds on:
I lecture and advise on training courses, have acted as a games adviser for BAFTA Wales, co-founded and chaired the Games Wales industry body in Wales, and generally spend a lot of time making a nuisance of myself in an attempt to big up the games industry in my local area. I’m a full member of BAFTA.
I created the setting for Flotsam, the podcast roleplaying series; ran the game, edited it, and composed the music.
I’ve also been known to create art – visit my portfolio here – and music – here’s my artist page on Spotify.