Joe W

Lead Narrative Developer (writer)

Video Game Design and Development • Selbstständig

Feb 2022 - Feb 2024 • 2 yrs

My experience at Gray Death was both invaluable and incredibly unique, allowing me to apply my narrative design experience and storytelling flair in a hand-on environment. Going under the hood of player-driven narratives had me approaching dialogue and scenes from multiple angles, integrating gameplay and weaving in environmental storytelling within the level zones themselves. Market analysis became a cornerstone of my role, to keep us in line with emerging indie studios and the wave of PS1 revival titles hitting Steam. I regularly conducted competitor analysis to identify engagement drivers and keep our narrative fresh and entertaining. Maintained a consistent and transparent process with the development team, converting and structuring narratives into Articy Draft software for direct implementation into Unreal Engine 4. During the research and development phase, I engineered several demonstration “builds” in Articy, by introducing locations, scenario-based decision making and an adaptive system that followed player’s choices through the narrative. This experimental approach allowed us to streamline interactions and prop acquisitions into a “text based adventure” where we could journeys end-to-end before implementation.