We're happy to announce: Brunette Games team members Dexter Woltman, Jenna Hume, and Sara Hardin will be conducting a Superstar Session at Pocket Gamer Connects in Toronto, July 6-7. As part of their all-Brunette Games panel discussion on "How to Integrate Gameplay and Story," the three writer | designers will share our team's best practices for story and gameplay integration in casual games. We look forward to sharing an expertise honed over 30 released titles and counting! 

Superstar Session: How To Integrate Gameplay and Story

Game writing requires narratives that ultimately serve players and give them agency. Unlike other forms of writing, game writing needs to support the gameplay experience, and vice-versa! Proper integration sees both elements reflecting each other positively. From tutorials to graphics to dialogue, players have a better experience when gameplay and story are aligned. This panel featuring three full-time game writers includes: Why it’s important to integrate story with gameplay. Examples of what good integration looks like. How to improve integration in certain areas.

About Pocket Gamer Connects

Like all activities under the Steel Media banner, Pocket Gamer Connects – and its partner conferences Beyond Games, Big Screen Gaming and Blockchain Gamer LIVE! – are wholly inclusive events. They provide value to a wide range of industry players, from global corporations looking to hone their strategy, down to indie developers seeking a little inspiration and new contacts.

The Connects series tackles the industry from two angles. On the macro scale, we look at global game publishing strategies and opportunities with a focus on the most interesting markets and hottest topics (including global regulation and brand marketing).

On the more micro level, our indie survival talks look at the process of game making, covering everything from creativity through production to sustainability and how you can match the games you want to make with proven business models – and establish the formula for the next billion-dollar game!

For more information about Pocket Gamer Connects, visit their website here.

Find the full Pocket Gamer Connects Toronto schedule here.

We're pleased to announce that Jenna Hume and Dexter Woltman will represent Brunette Games at the Game Development Conference this year.

Jenna celebrated her first anniversary last month with a promotion to Writer|Designer II. She's worked on six released titles already in her year on the job, with many more unannounced projects still in development. A great fit for the crazy mashup of creativity and technical prowess that game writing requires, Jenna came to us with an MFA in writing already in hand and a zillion hours logged on Pokémon Go. She even met her husband playing that game!

Dexter is employee No. 3 here at Brunette Games, and he's been with the company since 2018. He leads our writing and design work on two Family Guy titles and has worked on 17 other released games, with many more still in development. He's developing special expertise in two main areas: humor writing for games and story/gameplay integration. He's written articles on industry topics for IronSource's LevelUp in addition to this blog, and he's presented at Geekle and at public events sponsored by the St. Louis Game Development Co-Op.

Jenna Hume and Dexter Woltman.

Their conference focus is participation in the Game Narrative Summit, with a day set aside for meetings as well. We encourage you to reach out to us via the contact page to schedule some time to talk with our team during the conference. We wish all GDC attendees a fruitful, safe, and engaging conference this year!

By Lisa Brunette

As you might remember, I was scheduled to speak at GDC 2020, but then the conference was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I had committed to a local version of the talk here in St. Louis just prior to GDC. This was designed as a way to share knowledge with our developer community, as well as serve as a "live" practice for GDC. At the time that GDC was cancelled, the lockdowns were still limited to the West Coast. So here in the Midwest, the show went on as planned...

Except for one important change. I invited my Brunette Games team members to join me at the podium. I think the show turned out better than it would have been if I'd flown solo! Thanks to the St. Louis Game Development Co-op, which both sponsored the presentation and arranged for a video capture and livestream, I was able to submit the talk to the GDC Vault. And now GDC has also made it available on YouTube. Here it is, called "Conflict, Mystery, and Connection in Casual, Free-to-Play Puzzle Games." Games discussed: Matchington Mansion, Lily's Garden, Sweet Escapes, RollerCoaster Tycoon Story, and Wild Things: Animal Adventures (not Vineyard Valley, so I'm not sure why GDC used it for the video default image.)

It's a pleasure to be a part of GDC even remotely, and we hope to see you all next year!