Portfolio
I've worked on over 25 projects, including -
Tomb Raider
Crystal Dynamics
Nominee, Outstanding Achievement in Story, AIAS
Nominee, Best Narrative, GDC
Over 8 million copies sold worldwide
Far Cry 2
Ubisoft Montreal
Nominee, Best Writing, GDC
Nominee, Game of the Year, AIAS
BioShock
2K Games
Winner, Game of the Year, AIAS
Winner, Best Writing, GDC
Over 4 million units sold
Launched a franchise
Speaking
As a speaker, I offer presentations, seminars, and workshops worldwide.
I help creatives find their voices and tell their stories.
Past venues include TEDx, New York University, The Kennedy Center, and SxSW.
"Your masterclass was on another level! Your experiences and your passion for storytelling
made your talk outshine all the others."
- Dominic C, 3D animator, Montreal"I had a great time in your masterclass...it was inspiring."
- Arne, level designer, MontrealSelected Projects
Story Consultant
Netflix
"Netflix’s latest episode of television is an experiment in storytelling that will be familiar to people who are familiar with video games (or Choose Your Own Adventure books). The company launched an interactive TV show today, the first in a series of efforts that will allow viewers to decide which turns a story takes." - Polygon
Watch this space for an announcement in 2018!
Lead Writer
Torn, for PlayStation VR
Torn takes place in the mansion of a physicist who disappeared 64 years ago. The mansion brims with strange, Willy Wonka-like machines haphazardly installed into its walls and floors. What are they for? And what happened to the people who built them?
I had so much fun working on this project. If you are a Twilight Zone or Black Mirror fan, this game is for you.
Adjunct Professor
The University of Texas at Austin
I'm busy teaching budding creatives in the Radio-Television-Film department what the deuce game writing is all about. Here's the course description: "Interactive storytelling is a form of dramatic writing, just like theater or television. What makes the medium unique is that the author does not control the story; the audience does. Creatives have only just begun to explore the storytelling possibilities of this field. In this class, you will start to develop the skills & knowledge necessary to write for interactive mediums such as video games, digital media, VR, and augmented reality."
Interactive Playwright
Shakespeare at Hamlet's Castle
"We want you to develop a script, retelling the moment Hamlet meets his father’s ghost. Our actors will be wearing motion-capture suits behind screens to create fantastical virtual puppets. This script must not use any words because it is for an international audience. And it will need to have an interactive component! Can you do it?" !! For this project, we found new ways to bring interactive storytelling techniques to the stage and reinterpreted Hamlet for a modern audience in a way that connects his dilemma with life in the 21st century. The play was performed at Hamlet’s castle in Elsinore, Denmark.
Lead Writer
LucasArts
The studio was ready to bring Star Wars to an adult audience, with a grittier, darker environment and storyline. This was a soup-to-nuts project: in collaboration with the design team, we developed new playable characters, along with the game's narrative design, storyline, and script. The story development process focused heavily on understanding players’ love for Star Wars and finding ways to deepen that connection in new and surprising ways. The final product received an enthusiastic stamp of approval from the executive team, and the team was deep into production. Then the game’s entire design was revamped, and the project storyline required a reboot. But this remains one of my favorite projects.
Script Doctor
Project X
The project was deep into production, and the original writer's story was testing poorly with testers and users alike. The team was under intense pressure to make significant narrative changes within tight time and budget constraints. They brought me in to take a look at the script. Together with the narrative designer, we did a deep dive on the script and identified where changes to story structure, character motivation and dialog would solve the story’s problems. The project went on to receive multiple nominations for storytelling awards. Hooray!
Stay In Touch
susan [at] susanoconnorwriter [dot] com
@
bluepuma susanoconnor
