The short story
On Mystery Match Village, my responsibilities spanned the entire narrative pipeline:
- Designing story outlines, scene structures, character profiles, location briefs, etc.
- Creating task structures to integrate narrative with gameplay.
- Writing briefs for art (internal and outsourcing).
- Writing dialogue.
- Guiding localization.
- Implementating narrative content in Unity 3D.
The slightly longer story
Mystery Match Village is set in the 1930s and uniquely combines Match-3, town renovation, and hidden object gameplay. It follows Emma Fairfax and a cast of diverse characters as they solve crimes and mysteries, large and small. The stories are classic whodunnits and range from innocent misunderstandings to bloody murders!
The strong focus put on the narrative is uncommon for a casual game. I had to write each Case so that they fit into the very strict gameplay structure. This taught me how to tell exciting stories with a very limited amount of space and resources.
Watch the opening cinematic below, and then watch “The Raven’s Lament” — a very special song for which I got to write the lyrics!