We are JAM-PACKED with storymakin' knowledge as we talk with Tim (co-founder and creative director of Double Fine Productions, probably wrote/designed/programmed your favorite LucasArts games), Jake (co-founder of Cardboard Computer and writer on Kentucky Route Zero. Maker of artware, music, and games like A (Moth in Relay), We Were You, and The Penguins’ Dilemma), and SURPRISE RETURN GUEST Cara (writer, narrative designer, game critic, and wrote on the recently released Dishonored 2) about using Twine as a design tool, knowing the implementation of your writing, working the fat off your prose style, the hero’s journey being just one bag of tricks that works, the differing emotional states between pitching and working, thinking of structure like Brutalist architecture, the most over utilized/underutilized tools in the storytelling toolbox, the importance of having/not having voice over, fatigue from world-ending stakes, internal writing rules, deciding to use/not use puzzles in adventure games, and whether there’s too much pressure on conclusions.
Our Guests on the Internet
Tim's Twitter and Website.
Jake's Twitter and Website.
Cara's Website and Book.
Stuff We Talked About
Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder (Don’t buy this book)
Breakfast of Champions: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
Thirty Flights of Loving
Virginia
Here and There Along the Echo
Spider and Web by Andrew Plotkin
Emily Short’s blog
Sunless Sea
Kurt Vonnegut's Writing Rules
Jake's GDC 2013 talk - Designing for Mystery in Kentucky Route Zero
The Poetics of Space by Cara Ellison
Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.