We're excited to share ironSource LevelUp's latest podcast interview, with Brunette Games Founder Lisa Brunette. Highlights:

Different platform and audiences require different narratives

The first game I worked on was for the DS, and I worked on some other platform games. Those were for families and younger players.

So in the case of that first game for the DS, it was for teen girls. So that's a different audience than when I migrated over to mobile games. That became a new focus for me.

But that's a way different context than when you're in your living room with your Wii. So just taking that context into consideration every step of the way. You know, if you're dedicated to your PC, and this is your me-time, that's different. For mobile games, when I'm on the bus and I might get called for my stop, or I get my notifications coming in, it needs a different kind of storytelling.

Lessons for indie studios

Don’t let the story get in the way. I think especially those indies sometimes come to games with a novel in a drawer that they want to turn into a game. And that's usually a bad way to start. We instead start with the game and then craft a story that's integrated with it.

We don't want to turn anyone's novel into a game. That means that the story was written for passive entertainment, not for the interaction of games. So right off the bat, the first thing you want to do is make sure that your story is in service to the game.

How to write narratives for mobile games

We actually have distinct milestones that we follow on all of our projects with clients. We start with them at the concept stage, and we pitch three high-level story ideas. This is after a conversation with the client in which we understand what the main gameplay is, whether that's jigsaw puzzle or merge gameplay or match three. In our games, often that meta element is decorating or perhaps makeover, or sometimes both. And then we create a story that really attempts to bridge and merge those. 

The number one reason the player is there is to play the game. They're not passive. So we're really working on what is that story that is going to merge all those three things together in this beautiful way. And we carry that through that process with every milestone.

We want things to be very short and very punchy. And, in most cases, while there's drama and interesting conflict that has to occur otherwise it's not interesting, most of what we're writing is jokes and we're really pushing the humor and being kind of meta and fun and just giving players that opportunity to enjoy.

Listen to the full podcast at the ironSource LevelUp website.

We've had a long relationship with ironSource, now owned by Unity, with many of our writers authoring industry articles:

Who Goes There? The Importance of Writing Distinct Character Voices, by Sara Hardin

The top 5 mistakes mystery writers make - and how to avoid them, by Lisa Brunette - Lisa was top writer for LevelUp in 2022 for this piece

Punchline: How to use humor to bridge player connection, by Dexter Woltman

The power of storytelling in blockbuster casual games, by Lisa Brunette

Anthony Valterra, Lisa Brunette, and Dexter Woltman at the Riot Games office in St. Louis, back in 2019.

By Lisa Brunette

I’m thrilled to announce three promotions within our team this year. First is Dexter Woltman to a lead role, taking responsibility for our core creative crew. In this young industry, Dexter’s practically a veteran at this point, having completed his first Brunette Games assignment as a freelancer back in 2018, when he was simultaneously studying scriptwriting at Webster University. It’s been personally gratifying to have recognized Dexter’s potential in my game design classes and then watched him make a real name for himself as a game writer and narrative designer. He’s been integral to Brunette Games’ success.

In addition to that key promotion, Anthony Valterra is now chief operating officer. As my husband as well as my right hand, Anthony has been a terrific partner through this now seven-year indie adventure. We all continue to admire how well he wears various hats, whether that’s contract guru, payroll whiz, or creative consultant. We rely on his past experience in both brand and grant management, and we appreciate the color he brings to our table reads with his distinct character voices.

Lastly is my own move to chief executive officer. I’ve known faux “CEOs” at tiny startups who attempted to fill those shoes too early on, and mainly by default. But as the studio’s sole owner, I believed it was important to create a real career path for myself, and I wanted to earn that title––which I did, over seven years. While I never set out specifically to become a CEO, as I saw the opportunity to create and lead a dedicated team of interactive storytellers, I naturally advanced into it. My strategic vision for Brunette Games has held us in good stead as we’ve grown since 2016, having designed, written, and continued to support the narratives on 36 released client titles and counting, for some of the greatest studios in the industry, including the world’s best-known IPs.

Here’s a round-robin Q&A featuring those of us in new roles.

Dexter Woltman, lead writer | designer. This pic prompted a teammate to say, "Remember us little people when your modeling career takes off."

Dexter Woltman, Lead Writer | Designer

What can clients expect from working with Brunette Games?

Clients can expect top-of-the-line service from industry professionals—both veterans with decades of experience and rising standouts with an exceptional knack for storytelling. With a focus on teamwork, we deliver quality narrative design with an always-fresh perspective. We work hard to ensure our clients are satisfied, and top-performing titles like Merge Mansion and Sweet Escapes showcase the utmost dedication we bring to a project.

What's one of your favorite stories in a TV show, movie, or book?

My favorite movie of the last year is “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” It's a satisfying, character-driven story that doesn't get lost in the shuffle of its multiverse hijinks. With powerful performances and top-notch writing, it mixes humor and emotion with spectacular set pieces. Ultimately, it's a story about acceptance—and I think we can all learn a little from it.

COO Anthony Valterra, sporting a sweatshirt emblazoned with the classic brand he once managed at Wizards of the Coast.

Anthony Valterra, Chief Operating Officer (COO)

What's your favorite thing about working for Brunette Games?

Getting to see a game we have worked on find its audience and be appreciated. We’ve worked on a number of indie titles that performed above expectations. That is always very satisfying.

What does a perfect day look like for you?

A project completed, followed by a new project coming in. It is always a joy to see a project completed. And it is always exciting to see something new coming in the door!

CEO Lisa Brunette, who started the whole thing.

Lisa Brunette, Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

What makes Brunette Games’ work so valuable to clients? 

Without expert narrative input at the concept stages, I don’t think Lily’s Garden and Matchington Mansion––two of our most well-known efforts––would have become the hits they are today. Our clients get a lot of bang for their buck working with us, and we don’t even charge royalties on any of these games, which earn millions of dollars a month.

What’s a surprising/interesting fact about you? 

I’ve been writing for 30+ years, and I was a journalist prior to finding a home in the game industry. I interviewed a lot of quirky characters, including the designer of the Batmobile! For that I got autographed photos of the car for my two brothers, who were both mechanics at the time.

Join me in congratulating Dexter and Anthony on the promotions, and a shout-out to our clients, who make our work––and their games––possible.

We celebrate our seventh anniversary as a studio this month, and we've enjoyed a bit of fanfare around the milestone. Here's a roundup of Brunette Games in the news as we reflect on how far we've come.

Cover This

Our team landed on the cover of the Community News, a newspaper that itself has been in business more than a hundred years. As reporter Wendy Todd points out in her lede, while women make up 46 percent of video-game players, they represent only 16 percent of executives in the industry. So our founder's place in the industry was not without its hard-won aspects, though Lisa Brunette herself cites Brunette Games' status as a small business as her number one challenge: "Increasingly, the world is built to work against us, with rules and regulations often favoring large corporations at the expense of mom-and-pop shops like Brunette Games."

Fun Fact: Community News is Brunette Games team member Sara Hardin's former employer; she penned stories on beekeepers and veterans for this well-loved paper before joining us as a writer/designer.

In the Pocket

Our story was picked up by PocketGamer.biz, which highlighted Brunette Games' status as a niche storytelling studio, a key aspect of our success: 

For a diverse, female-led studio like Brunette Games, this anniversary will not only be an achievement in itself but also symbolic of how a specialist studio can maintain its place in the mobile gaming industry. While many may think that a studio has to be all things at once, being able to focus on providing critical narrative support has helped their games consistently chart across top 20s.

We couldn't agree more.

Stairs to the Top

CEO Lisa Brunette was a guest on the GameDevStairs Podcast, a free philanthropic community whose mission is to help people start their careers in game development. They outreach especially to those affected by the current war in Ukraine, connecting 2000+ subscribers in their Telegram channel from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and elsewhere. Here's the hourlong interview with Sergey Gres of GameDevStairs:

It was an honor for us to help out GameDevStairs, which offers such an important service to the game community.

The 7-Year Itch

It's said in US culture that a relationship can suffer from the "seven-year itch," as the couple might feel tempted to stray from their mission together when they cross that milestone. As  for us, we're fully committed to our focus on great game storytelling. We added voice acting to our suite of offerings back in 2019, and we're exploring some new services you might see on our menu in the year ahead. We're very proud of our accomplishments, which include:

• We have credits for the narrative in 36 games, many of them top-performing, genre-defining hits, including Merge Mansion, Lily's Garden, and Matchington Mansion. Our clients' games consistently rank in the top 20 in the app store charts and are played by billions.
• Our expertise spans casual mobile genres: hidden object, match-3, slots, merge, jigsaw, and others. We also have extensive experience on deep interactive novels with branching dialogue, including the first mystery novel published in the Choices app. We've recently expanded into subscription-based games as well, with Netflix and Apple projects currently underway, and we've worked on some mid-core projects, including one NFT/blockchain title.
• Our clients include large, well-established studios such as Jam City and Metacore, as well as talented up-and-comers like Trollgames and ZiMAD. We've worked on some of the best IPs in the world: M&M'S, Family Guy, Disney Frozen.

We've weathered incredible change over our seven years in business, and we've witnessed great creativity and innovation in our clients' projects as well. We look forward to what lies ahead. Here's to another seven years!