MEET THE GUY
I'm Lorne.
20+ Years Shipping Major Titles
10 Years Writing for AAA Narrative Games
10 Years Teaching Experience
My name is Lorne Nudel and I have the mind of a soap dish. But that has not stopped me from living a full and inactive life. Nor has it stopped me from working in video game development since 2003, and it should not stop you. Except for the year part.
Over the last couple of decades, I have shipped somewhere between 14 and 19 games ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and written for a few that never saw the light of day. Which I’d like to point out was not my fault. Seriously.
Long before getting into the games, I worked as a teacher, editor, and journalist, yet I longed for a way to bring my love of games and my passion for writing into a single focus. My first break into the games industry was as an animator, and I spent some time as a producer too. Overseeing every aspect of a game’s development as a producer, gave me insight and perspective on the entire process of making a game.
I persevered and got my break writing for Disney's Kim Possible. Since then I’ve been lucky to have written for some fun games, including SpongeBob, Far Cry, Watchdogs, Skull & Bones, Dune: Awakening, and Assassin’s Creed.
In the time I’ve been writing for Ubisoft and teaching game writing for ELVTR, I’ve become deeply motivated to share my knowledge and experience with a larger audience. It occurs to me that much of what exists on the web relating to best practices and industry realities falls into two categories: Those on the periphery who love games but don’t have direct experience of development, and industry experts and luminaries who have tons. The former rarely know what is truly involved and the latter are typically speaking to each other, as their primary objective is to collaborate with other experts working in games. Neither typically have any experience teaching.
That leaves everyone not already in the industry with a soup of YouTube talks and reviews that either do nothing to bring value to beginners or straight up don’t bring value. On top of that, the topics and resources are all over the place, which makes finding valuable information an exercise in search engine disappointment.
On this site you will find clear, coherent, and accessible articles relating specifically to writing for video game development. I’m not going to cover games in general, game design, or how to make your own game. Those are not my areas of expertise. Here I am going to go deep on the theory and mechanics of storytelling within a video game development context.
Here you will be able to access private, one on one coaching sessions with me, during which we will target the specific areas you need to learn more about and improve those that you need to take to the next level. Every writer needs different things at different times in their quest. Here, I will tailor the work to suit your specific needs.
So that’s a bit about who I am and what this site are about.
In full disclosure, I will deliver this stuff in the slightly idiotic way I was born and raised. That's just how I roll. As far as I’m concerned, creativity generally and games specifically should be fun, even joyous. So, I don’t take myself too seriously and encourage you to have fun too. We all have enough stress in our lives.
