Writer, Narrative Designer, Game Design Consultant
JARED LORD
Wrote Some Stuff
PAST PROJECTS
As standalone work, writing inevitably conveys a mood and message through not only its subject, but the language used to approach that subject. I approach my writing and design with a holistic eye. I pride myself on my ability to convey layered narratives, and my use of vivid descriptive language to quickly and efficiently put an image or emotional experience in the reader's head.
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A huge part of my passion for game design is the elegant ways a simple set of rules can naturally draw players into patterns of behavior that reinforce the game's goal, whether or not they even consciously realize it. As a piece of a game, writing and design can serve as a beautifully paired experience, with the mechanical systems of the game serving to subtly (or not so subtly) reinforce the intended experience and message of the narrative they exist alongside. I look forward to more opportunities to work with a team to create such an experience.
JAZZTRONAUTS!! - WRITER AND EDITOR
2018
Jazztronauts is a fully featured game mode for Garry's Mod, in which you select from a collection of random Source engine maps on the Steam Workshop and invade them to steal everything you can, before selling your haul for profit to be spent on successively more ridiculous ways to steal and explore. Oh yeah, and your employers are weird cat gremlins that run a jazz bar unstuck from time and space and you can hang out with them.
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I was the primary writer for the character of the Cellist, and the leading editor for the rest of the script. The overarching goal of the Cellist's dialogue was to balance the comedy of his absurd, highbrow-topic lowbrow-presentation ramblings with a slowly increasing focus on the severity of his personal issues. While acting as the editor, I made sure to maintain the distinct voices given to each of the four cats by the other writers, editing primarily for clarity and flow. I sought active feedback to ensure the script and characters were inclusive and represented diverse viewpoints. During development, I also playtested the game and gave feedback on the game's mechanical design.
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At the time of writing, Jazztronauts has received a considerable amount of attention, with nearly 110,000 unique viewers of the game mode's Workshop page, over 79,000 unique subscribers over time, and a 93% positive review ratio after over 2,800 reviews. For a brief period shortly after release, Steam Workshop's popularity algorithms placed us as the most popular game mode of all time, beating Prop Hunt.
Jazztronauts has been featured on Giant Bomb's Unprofessional Fridays and the Bombcast, and was an honorable mention on Jeff Gertsmann's Game of the Year list. Rock Paper Shotgun also published several articles about the game, including an entry in its holiday roundup of notable games of 2018. Benett Foddy, designer of QWOP and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, published a discussion and recommendation of the mod on his personal website. It has proven popular among Twitch streamers as well, with streams by influential streamers like TieTuesday and Jameskii being critical to our early word of mouth popularity.