A grid photo of 16 different characters all played by the legend Tim Curry.

Tim Curry, the absolute legend, turns 80 today. This man took huge swings.

Such a great message to see this morning.

And you know what, let's gleefully accept the bias! Why not? No medals are up for contention here; we're just trying to make a cool, positive contribution to the discourse.

Plus, your work was material to making this as good as it has been. 🙌🙌🙌

If you work in games and want food for thought, there's no food tastier or more nutritious than the Kaleidoscope podcast right now.

Every episode has been an absolute banger so far, brilliant thoughtful discussions with great guests. Kudos @jon.inkle.co and @sagarberoshi.bsky.social !

I still regularly recommend The Shivah to people as one of our industry's single best takes on faith in the modern world. It still feels very fresh.

A more recent game covering a similar topic – though more esoteric and surreal – was Indika. Also an amazing game. And yet, so different.

I had such a brilliant time chatting to @jon.inkle.co and @sagarberoshi.bsky.social about world-building from material details, building plausible deniability into your settings, and how players love to be historians so you may as well embrace it with your narrative design.

Give it a listen!

This week on the Game Narrative Kaleidoscope Podcast:

Historian and game writer @hollynielsen.bsky.social talks about building plausible deniability into your world-building by pinning lore on sources.

Check it out here:

www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope...

... or any-podcast-place!

Loving it! Loving it all! The spreadsheets, the feedback, the sticky little problems the team are waiting for you to write the way out of. I remind myself: "what are you here on this earth to do?" I mutter. "This." And get right back into it. I remember my death. It's coming! "So what are you going to do about it?" Comes the inner whisper. I mutter "This!" and get right back into it. If I worry about what other people think, I try to raise my gaze all the way out past the heat death of the universe. This! Mmm, I love it.

Ultimately, you have to put your ego aside and try to enjoy the ride. This advice from Charlene Putney (in The Game Narrative Kaleidoscope by @inkle.co) feels worthy of printing out and sticking on the wall.

A hand holding a book entitled ‘The Game Narrative Kaleidoscope’ above a desk

opened this up only intending to briefly flip through… and then consumed about 7 essays back to back. excellent stuff

New Kaleidoscope day! This week's guest is a historian turned game writer, talking on world-building from material details, and building plausible deniability into your settings.

... and if you can't guess who it is from that, find out at 10am!

I'm quietly (loudly?) becoming a fan of the new Kaleidoscope podcast.

@jon.inkle.co & @sagarberoshi.bsky.social in conversation with writers, just talking about narrative design. Getting geeky, but keeping it accessible.

A must listen for anyone writing any kind of interactive fiction.

I'm really enjoying the @sagarberoshi.bsky.social episode of Game Narrative Kaleidoscope, especially as I worked by Episode long ago, but I disagree with the idea that Netflix repeating plot points is pragmatic and not ideological (if that distinction exists). This is in line with who they are.

Not only was this great fun to do, but I get to work with Ian every day, so it especially fun to explore all sorts of topics with him and Jon both.

We covered so much here. Check it out!

The Game Narrative Kaleidescope

My chapter, simply called Writing For Gameplay

Finally got my copy of my very first published book!!

We were so glad to have you 🙏🙏🙏🙏

How lucky were we to get @hownottodraw.bsky.social on the podcast for this episode!

Topic: those tiny little dialogue choices you get in many games where all the verve and joy and personality live. Where the pressure's off, and your character can just be.

www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope/

This week on the Game Narrative Kaleidoscope Podcast:

We talk to @hownottodraw.bsky.social about micro-branching: choices that don't have big story impacts, but give value in the moment. How do we use them well?

Check it out here:

www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope...

... or any-podcast-place!

"Suck my toes, my darling" - Inkle's book of essays by game writers reveals the secrets behind the worlds we play in Have you ever wondered what game writers think about games, or about how game writers think about games? When a story d…

Eurogamer on 'The Game Narrative Kaleidoscope' book, and all the amazing pieces you can find in it. 📘 www.eurogamer.net/inkle-kaleid...

Listening to the Game Narrative Kaleidosope podcast, and absolutely loving it. ▶️ www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope/

Josh is a great writer, with a tonne of hands-on experience of bark writing that we delve into in detail. (Also, a real passion for indie games!)

Procedural generation can mean a lot of work that no one notices - assuming it goes well. So the question is, says @joshscherr.bsky.social - do you know why you're doing it?

Check out the full conversation here:

www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope...

Can I recommend:

Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising

Diana Wynne Jones' Howl's Moving Castle (also, everything)

Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard

Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic (also, everything)

Ursula le Guin's The Wizard of Earthsea (also, everything)

I visited Naughty Dog with some Remedy folks back in 2018. Josh talked to us (we signed NDAs) about a bark system he was working on. I was impressed then, and I was impressed later when it gave a bespoke, personal quality to all the voice sets in TLOU2

Hah! This is exactly what I expected after having interviewed Josh. That some of those ideas would have clearly percolated widely across the community.

Loved having you on, thanks for joining.

Loved doing this episode with you, @starkholborn.bsky.social . Hope there are many other curious writers who find something to pluck from all the knowledge you've gained over these projects.

Also: [maths + westerns = success] is a very supportable theorem. starkholborn.com/triggernomet...

CONGRATULATIONS @meredithgran.com!!!

Perfect Tides: Station to Station just nabbed the IGF award for Excellent in Narrative!

The game itself is an incredible achievement, but this is also notable for being the first AGS adventure game to win an IGF Award!

A copy of the book 'The Game Narrative Kaleidoscope', a dark cover with colourful letters in a kaleidoscope pattern against a grey mesh background

I love what I get to read for 'work'!
Looks so pretty, and arrived so fast! Thanks @jon.inkle.co for putting it all together!

Art of a black, eight legged horse based on Sleipnir of Norse myth

Sleipnir

#sygnin #darkart

Game Narrative Kaleidscope Podcast #3 - Mary Kenney (@marykgames.com)

ND and senior writer on Spiderman: Miles Morales and Marvel: Wolverine talks to us about the long shadow of online harassment, creative sparking, and writing from a place of love.

www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope...

The next ep. of the Kaleidoscope Podcast (www.inklestudios.com/kaleidoscope) goes up tomorrow - we're speaking to one of AAA gaming's most accomplished writers about her experience of writing under a hostile public eye, about writing with compassion; and about inspiration from theatre and comics

Fossilized Fiction: 20 Dinosaur Series and Standalone Novels for Adults Discover 20 series and standalone novels that bring dinosaurs to life. Dive into epic adventures and prehistoric tales that will captivate adult readers.

thiswriterreads.wordpress.com/2025/07/23/f...