Abyssal_Novelist presents:
WRITING AND NARRATIVE SERVICES
Salutations. I am Abyssal_Novelist — a writer, narrative designer, and game designer for hire — and this is where I showcase my work. The good stuff, anyway.
Brief intro and my experience:- I have 3+ years of commercial experience in videogame localization.
- I have 2 years of commercial experience in videogame writing, specializing in narrative design.
- I took an extensive project management course and have the certificate to prove it: Google Project Management: Professional Certificate.
- Currently undertaking a master's program in cross-cultural communication.
- My primary goal is to entwine gameplay and narrative directly for a seamless and enjoyable playing experience.
- Contact me via discord: Abyssal_Novelist
- Or via email: abyssalnovelist@gmail(DOTHERE)com
portfolio pieces - game writing and design
Matchmaking for Ghosts
Matchmaking for Ghosts is the latest project I am involved in!
I was responsible for early consultations, the game's narrative design, as well as for some game design bits and pieces.
I was part of a wonderful writers' room, where we cooperated as a team to write out branching narratives and dialogue trees for dates for all 28 possible character pairs!
As this was a dating sim/visual novel hybrid, this meant a total word count of over 150K words!
A Dark Forest
As co-lead, I worked on the narrative design and writing of the hit indie game A Dark Forest which reached the top of Itch.io's front page while generating over 100k views, 65k lifetime plays, and 450k impressions over the course of one week.
I helped create almost all of the player-facing text, including UI/UX, dialogue, and item descriptions.
I was also responsible for managing the project's Trello boards, management, and production.
I was responsible for sourcing localization specialists, and took part in the process of hiring our artist.
The Sproutlings
I created, designed, playtested, and wrote lore for The Sproutlings — a custom fan-made playable Spirit for the wonderful settler-destruction physical board game Spirit Island.
This included creating their own gameplay mechanics, playable cards, background lore entry, and innate powers.Just a note: The Sproutlings are still very much WIP! Website currently not functional.
portfolio pieces - game writing
Strategy Game Civs
I designed the playable civilizations and wrote their introductory text segments for CivPlanet, a strategy game currently in development.
Introductory Dialogue
I wrote the intro dialogue of Yuke and the Book of Yokai, focusing on conveying as much information as possible — as concisely as possible — to the player. This included elements such as in-game lore and setting, gameplay elements, and characterization.
I also wrote all the text you see on the Steam page!
Character Barks and Dialogue
I wrote character barks and player-boss dialogue for the dark fantasy necromancer roguelike — Necromon.
portfolio pieces - game writing + odd bits and pieces
Dialogue, Quests, and NPCs
This document contains a sample of various styles of dialogue, an example of my quest design work, and example NPCs.
They aren't tied to any specific project and were created for the sole purpose of embellishing this portfolio.
I'm most proud of my work in Twine! You'll find relevant links inside the document.
portfolio pieces - short stories
The Viper Staff and The Golden Beetle
Is a magical realism short story inspired by sibling squabbles and the tedious nature of life itself.
Red wax, golden eyes, and a metal staff
Is a character study of sorts, firmly set in the realm of magical realism and urban fantasy.
When writing, I tried to recreate a certain sense of wonder and unease; of the supernatural implied uncannily, while never explicitly shown.
To be frank, I think a large part of this piece of writing is a bit of a love letter towards Studio Ghibli. Their movies influenced me a great deal when I was little, and I have tremendous feelings of nostalgia for them.
Dreams of Holy Chrome
Is a Cyberpunk Dystopia Fanfiction.
I had a lot of fun adapting and building upon the lore presented in "Mind Scanners" by The Outer Zone.
Working with other creatives is always exciting. And while writing fanfiction is a bit of a one-sided cooperation, it still gives rise to the usual challenges — such as deciding how exactly to portray and design a world. And whether or not to call a cyborg character Maeve Masheen, which is about as subtle as a shovel to the back of the head.
Nevertheless, I truly do love Mind Scanners and find it sad that the game didn't get much wider recognition. Despite my tongue-in-cheek remarks, this piece came from a place of love, and I wrote it almost as soon as I finished my first playthrough.
This short story is also my personal favorite!
Other things I've done:
- Term glossaries for localization, copywriting, and worldbuilding purposes.
- Narrative design documents (including both stylistic and technical guidelines) for modding teams.
- Worldbuilding + project bible for dark fantasy projects.
- Stuff I can't talk about due to NDAs, hooray!
- Game design documents for indie games.
- Consulting for indie developers and creators.
- Ran a weekly TTRPG night as DM, no matter what ; )
- I'm also currently designing a family-friendly physical board game about mice and cheese!
- Worked on various open-source projects, utilizing a wide variety of tools (GitHub, ClickUp, Trello; Unity, Godot, Unreal and Clausewitz game engines).
When is the right time to hire me?
Video game writing
- Once you set in stone your main gameplay elements, genre, and ideally a gameplay loop.
I strongly believe in the power of good narrative design, which I personally always directly intertwine with gameplay elements. Can't do that if the game is still in the conceptual phase.
Consultation services
- I also offer consultation services for Indie devs and creators!
- Contact me any time, but prepare a nice list of things you'd like to talk about or issues that you ran into.
- My consultations are of a general nature, although I specialize in narrative and gameplay design. Please keep that in mind!
Rates and other information
My rate is 0.13 USD/word for writing. Alternatively, I am open to discussing a flat rate on a per-task basis. I take payment via PayPal or International Bank Transfer.
For writing tasks, I offer up to 2 revision requests free of charge per task.
Editing and consultation services do not come with free revisions. Additional revisions cost extra, based on existing factors.
I also offer editing and proofreading services at 0.035 USD/word or flat rate. I refuse to edit AI-generated content.
Consultation costs are negotiated individually, depending on the depth of research required and individual needs. Typically amount to 35 USD/hour.I take on flash requests (requests whose deadline falls within 48 hours of being issued). My rates are doubled for those.All of my work is painstakingly crafted without reliance on AI-generative tools.Contact me via discord: Abyssal_Novelist
Or via email: abyssalnovelist@gmail(DOTHERE)com