Quest Markers23 Sep 2025

EP 33 | Video Game Writing, Narrative Design, and Feeling our Emotions - A Game Dev Chat with Kate Gray (Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Moonstone Island)

Kate Gray (Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Moonstone Island, Dimensional Double Shift) joins Marina Ryan to talk about her game development journey.

They delve into what it’s like being a games writer and narrative designer, player agency and dialogue writing, the challenge of writing item descriptions, what it’s like working in VR, narrative procedural generation, Dragon Age, and more.

Grab a coffee, and join us for a chat!

* * * * * * *

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00:00) Preview

(00:00:28) Intro

(00:03:08) Kate’s Intro

(00:04:53) Kate’s path getting into game dev

(00:13:48) What Kate is most proud of

(00:16:30) Writing item descriptions and dialogue

(00:19:21) Player agency & writing dialogue choices

(00:22:51) Seeing writers’ voices in games

(00:23:55) Narrative design & writers rooms

(00:28:19) Kate’s creative process

(00:31:25) Working on VR games

(00:35:28) The fun and chaos of narrative procedural generation

(00:44:16) Dragon Age: Inquisition, branching dialogue systems, & realistic characters

(00:51:34) What advice would Kate give her younger self?

(00:53:44) Wrap up

(00:57:00) Q&A: Writing about impactful emotions in cute, cozy games

* * * * * * *

FOLLOW US

Kate’s Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hownottodraw.bsky.social

Marina’s socials: ⁠https://linktr.ee/marinaryan⁠

Live Show on Twitch: ⁠https://twitch.tv/marinahascoffee

Quest Markers: ⁠https://linktr.ee/questmarkers⁠

Music by Marina Ryan

#gamedevelopment #gamedeveloper #gamedev #gamedevpodcast #videogamewriting #narrativedesign #videogames #hellokittyislandadventure #moonstoneisland #dimensionaldoubleshift #dragonage

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