Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nathan Savant

@baldsavant.bsky.social

2.4K followers 570 following 2.5K posts

Actions Speak Louder Than Words ✍️ Systemic Narrative Designer 🧭 Quest designer and world builder 🧠 Psychology and Sociology in #GameDesign 🧙‍♂️ Wizard in need of a pointy hat Currently @ Unemployed He/Him

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 23h

NEW BLOG POST!

This time I'm talking about systems-driven narrative design and how YOU can tell a story with your gameplay, whatever that gameplay happens to be. We start from Bananza and build into a systemic approach anyone can use.

www.nathansavant.com/post/systemi...

Systemic Narrative: A How-To Guide

After my last blog post on Donkey Kong Bananza, I threatened to take what I’d learned and tell you how to do that for yourself. Well here I am, looming in the shadows with the knife of knowledge in my hand. Waiting just for you.Now you may look at this blog title and think to yourself “But Nathan, Bananza doesn’t really have a systems-driven narrative, why are you talking about that topic?!” and to you I would say “welcome to my unhinged corner of the internet, you must be new here!”. Donkey Kon

www.nathansavant.com

2 6

Reposted by Nathan Savant

Josh Scare @joshscherr.bsky.social · 52m

New Rock-Paper-Scissors just dropped

lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 59m

there's something here

A normal-versus-normal matchup is what politics used to be — persuasion, messaging, negotiation, compromise. Behaving this way will lose against someone donning body armor while calling you an antifa domestic terrorist MS-13 gang member. And the guy in the body armor will always lose to the guy in the inflatable frog suit.

3x3 grid charting how aura farming, shitposting, and acting normal interact

Aura Farming Shitposting Acting Normal
Aura Farming Stronger aura farmer wins Shitposter wins Aura farmer wins
Shitposting Shitposter wins Society loses Acting normal wins
Acting Normal Aura farmer wins Acting normal wins We live in a society

1 6

Reposted by Nathan Savant

Scott Fright @scw.bsky.social · 1h

Franz Kafka writing Steam reviews

Steam review that reads “game is good but im some bugs”

2 160 550

Reposted by Nathan Savant

CerberusXt @cerberusxt.bsky.social · 9h

18 280 1.1K

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 2h

I was an animator for 1 year, and that's the only year I've shipped anything.

Switched to narrative and 8 years later every project has been cancelled.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 2h

Biblically accurate drone uprising

Reposted by Nathan Savant

InkyInGreen 🍂 @blackwallmancer.bsky.social · 9d

Found this on the AO3 subreddit, and I'm about to let it change my whole life (or at least work really hard to internalize it wrt my writing).

Someone's screenshot of a two-post twitter thread, from user blue (@bluewmist):

the fastest way to kill motivation is to make your identity depend on the outcome. it's called ego involvement. when failing becomes failing as a person, your brain starts avoiding the whole thing. not because you don't care, but because you care too much.

you don't need lower standards. you need less self-worth tangled up in your goals. the work gets easier when it's not about proving who you are.

55 2.9K 6.5K

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

This post pairs EXTREMELY WELL with my latest blog post, for those readers in the audience

Cat Manning @catacalypto.bsky.social · 11h

I have a theory that when designing a social simulation / generator, it can be useful to keep in mind a story you’d like your system to be able to organically generate. not every system should generate the same story but I have a short list of high-salience interesting stories I reach for. (1/2)

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

It's ok! I'll be obnoxious for you!!

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

Looking off on the horizon to see a particularly concerning formation of clouds: Baseball is coming.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

It's not even hard. The nemesis system patent is on some very very specific parts of what it is. Games are so very free to borrow influence!

1 3

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

And we should introduce more of them when you hit one into just the right spot.

Reposted by Nathan Savant

🐔 Brian Bucklew 🐔 ₑͤ＞∿＜ₑͤ ∞🌮 @unormal.bsky.social · 13h

the ball should get bigger every inning

4 7 64

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

No! Back!

a man with a beard and mustache is holding a blue object in his hand .

Alt: Man spraying the screen like a pet owner trying to stop their cat from misbehaving

media.tenor.com

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

Note to self: order a double bacon cheeseburger with extra fries as soon as possible.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

It involves muscles and hand-eye coordination, I refuse to believe it!

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

Is procgen a gateway drug into being a Jock?! Do I need to spray my keyboard?!

1 1

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

My timeline contains a surprising amount of baseball enthusiasm!

You people are supposed to be nerds, what's wrong with you?!

3 1

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 14h

It's ok. They got Arithmatician'd.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 14h

Me: oh I should train some of my lower levels and people who need JP.

The Monk Army:

Final Fantasy Tactics featuring my team of 5 under-leveled characters against an army of 10 monks.

1 2

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 15h

The body has this unfortunate habit of demanding it be allowed to move

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 16h

This fight is probably the one thing in the game that I will die on the hill of declaring it straight up bad game design.

I may not like every choice they made, but this arena feels like a mistake needing to be patched.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 20h

Thus illustrating the problem, but yeah...

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 21h

Just once I want a show runner to advertise their next thing as "smaller, more personal, more emotional"

IGN @ign.com · 21h

Robert Kirkman says Invincible Season 4 is “bigger, scarier, and more intense.” #NYCC

3 1 4

Reposted by Nathan Savant

Luther Patenge @ironwhale.bsky.social · 22h

Most players don’t know this, but games with save points are designed to sense when you’re sneaking in a quick play session. When that triggers the game drops in many important cutscenes and puts the next save point an unreachable distance away.

This is to punish you for your indolence.

1 1 6

Reposted by Nathan Savant

Katie Chironis @kchironis.bsky.social · 23h

developer: put it down. we don't need another one

concept artist: (clutching tighter) no. this is my emotional support sky whale

25 190 1.2K