Category: Games

The first of this year’s Adventure X talks is up on YouTube.

Mairi Spaceship Nolan @mairispaceship.com (bluesky) @mairispaceship (mastodon) talks about designing puzzles that belong in the world of your game.

AdventureX is a narrative adventure game convention, happening this weekend in London. The related Steam sale (and 72-hour ‘take-under’) has gone live. If you’re online with an UK IP address, this is the front page of Steam right now.

The in-person part of the event is sold out, but I’m directing a livestream of the event available in various places:

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/adventurexpo
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AdventureX
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/adventurex2025

We go live at approx. 10:15am on Saturday and 10:30am on Sunday.

I’m also a writer for one of the games exhibiting there: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1142570/We_Stay_Behind/

It’s been an absolute pleasure to direct voices for this utterly charming Edward Gorey-esque / Tim Burton-ish point-and-click adventure by developer Common Colors and publisher Application Systems Heidelberg.

Sarcastic teenager Prim’s world is literally turned upside-down when she has to go and live with her estranged father in the Underworld. She promises herself she will escape and return to live with her best friend Tristan, but when you’re a half-undead teenager things are never quite that simple.

Prim features the vocal talents of Maria Pendolino in the lead role, Adrian Vaughan as Prim’s father, Thanatos, and (in no particular order) Ivy Dupler, Sally Beaumont, Jason Hall, Toby Longworth, Stephanie Cannon, Rhiannon Moushall, Will de Renzy-Martin, Morgan Taylor and Neil Dean.

Wishlist it now on Steam and GOG for PC and Mac. I believe plans are afoot for iPhone, iPad and Nintendo Switch versions, but don’t quote me on that, I’m just the voice director.

I’m heading to Develop on the 11th, which means I need an updated business card.

Back in 1994 I had a program called Anagram Genius on a 3.5″ floppy disc for my Acorn A3000, which I bought because its magazine advert informed me that an anagram of “Michael Portillo” (at that point a prominent Tory MP) is “A Cool, Limp Hitler”. I instantly put the program to work on the names of everyone I met, and so I have known for decades that the best anagram you can make of my name is “Nice Algorithm”. I am very pleased that this information is finally having its time in the sun.

NB. The developer of Anagram Genius, William Tunstall-Pedoe, is still releasing new versions. He is probably better known for developing Evi, a voice assistant technology that was acquired by Amazon and became Alexa.

This week I’m focused on directing voices for Gothic comedy adventure, Prim by Common Colours.

The Tim Burton and Terry Pratchett influences are pretty clear, and it’s fun working in such an arch comic fantasy register. The voice cast features a number of actors with a track record in narrative and adventure games, including Ivy Dupler (Genshin Impact), Rhiannon Moushall (Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader), Jason Hall (Dragonheir: Silent Gods), Stephanie Cannon (Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes), Toby Longworth (Judge Dredd: Dredd vs Death, Broken Sword), Adrian Vaughan (Armello: The Dragon Clan), and Sally Beaumont (Lucy Dreaming, Mutropolis, Heaven’s Vault). Our lead, Prim, is voiced by Maria Pendolino (Pagan: Online).

I’m not privy to the release date, but I suspect it will be out in the last quarter of 2024 / first quarter of 2025 on Steam, GOG, and all other reputable platforms. Publisher is Application Systems Heidelberg.