Jon Ingold
@jon.inkle.co
5.1K followers 680 following 2.7K posts
Narrative @inkle.co he/him Writer: EXPELLED! / A Highland Song / Heaven's Vault / Overboard! / Over the Alps / Sorcery! / 80 Days. ink co-creator. “Life doesn't always work out like it's s'posed t' / Like bread doesn't pop when you watch the toaster"
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jon.inkle.co
Little thread of talks about writing and interactive narrative I've done, so I can pin it here:

First up - Sparkling Dialogue from Adventure X; how to make interactive conversations that have flow and meaning to them

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vRf...
AdvX 2018 - Jon Ingold - Sparkling Dialogue: A Masterclass
YouTube video by AdventureX
www.youtube.com
jon.inkle.co
yay! good luck with your project
jon.inkle.co
Hi! ink creates a json by default - that’s what unity reads - the problem is you need an ink “runtime” to read that json. They exist for python, godot, unity, game maker but to my knowledge not for renp’y. Inklewriter also makes a (way simpler) json, but I don’t think any other runtimes exist
jon.inkle.co
The rich simultaneously believe that people need a lack of money to motivate them, and that they themselves do the most important work of humanity without financial pressure. In a word, dogshit.
Reposted by Jon Ingold
adventurex.bsky.social
Updates!

1. Broken Sword 2 - Reforged will be at #AdvX25, rounding out our lineup of 34 games! 🎉 🕹️

2. @burgerbecky.bsky.social unfortunately can't make it due to health issues 😔 (GoFundMe: gofund.me/f331da613)

3. 🎤 New speaker: @antonyjohnston.bsky.social

More details: mailchi.mp/9c04d915f12f...
jon.inkle.co
The thing about this is, is this is how born-rich people *already* do it - whether it's making art, or starting a business, or whatever they successfully do. They already know it works.
mikeachim.bsky.social
Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...
Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."
Reposted by Jon Ingold
inkle.co
There's a really good curation of 2025 games up on the Ars Festival page on Steam right now.

Some discounts, but mostly just a *great* selection!
Ars Independent Festival 2025
Ars Independent Festival is an annual cultural event held in Katowice, celebrating independent video games and more.
store.steampowered.com
Reposted by Jon Ingold
v21.bsky.social
god, game design, eh? pretty boring sometimes to have to figure out all the pedantic little details and then convey them to someone who cares even less about them than you do
Reposted by Jon Ingold
englishscribe.bsky.social
WGGB Free Online Gamewriting Talks, 15 October, 7-8.45pm (GMT)

Shares welcome! Grab your tickets now!

Shaping your game narrative

Every game has different writing needs, so how do you figure out the best approach? In this set of lightning talks-

writersguild.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?...
Microsoft Forms
writersguild.us4.list-manage.com
Reposted by Jon Ingold
englishscribe.bsky.social
A HUGE thanks to everyone who made the writer meetups on Friday, it was so great to see everyone just jump in to share knowledge, make each other feel welcome and understood and to share in the writing community. You rock!

Next up-Mark you calendars for WGGB online talks on October 15th. Link soon!
Reposted by Jon Ingold
edentiefling.bsky.social
30 Day Favorite Video Game Character Challenge

8/30

Moira from A Highland Song

Moira is a sassy, funny, brave and very determined young woman. She is on a journey to not only find her uncle but also herself. She travels through miles of dangerous wilderness but doesn't miss a beat.
Image of the character Moira from the indie game A Highland Song. She is a teenager girl with light skin, brown eyes and long brown hair tied up in a high ponytail. She is wearing a yellow windbreaker, brown leggings with a brown skirt over the top of them and brown hiking boots. She has a red backpack on her back and she is running across the ground in the Scottish Highlands.
jon.inkle.co
I’m more interested in the guy behind it who has a camera for a face
jon.inkle.co
i don't really see steam's problem as surfacing content, tbh - i think they do pretty well at that, all things considered. What I'm really talking about is making games welcoming / comprehensible to newcomers. And steams tags/curators/community/reviews/fests -- all actively make that worse :(
jon.inkle.co
Tbh that is a no brainer I’ve just never worked out discount codes for steam (do they exist?!?) And tbh tbh I think we sell books FROM news posts on steam! but still, we are genuinely terrible at joining up our little ecosystem
jon.inkle.co
GOG is at least welcoming. I can point non-game people to it and the site isn’t overwhelming; it looks like a shop; it categorises things in comprehensible ways. Iirc it even has guest checkout and you don’t need to install anything. These are all minor but massive to bystander types!
jon.inkle.co
If Apple could fix their store we would decamp there on day one
jon.inkle.co
i agree - the look and feel and general chillness of itch is incredibly reassuring. it doesn't feel like it's out to mug you.

It perhaps doesn't do a great job of surfacing "quality" things above scratch projects, so I dunno if it'll ever be a mainstream hub (-- not that it aspires to be)
jon.inkle.co
I’m not sure why that applies in a conversation about making games appealing to people who don’t know anything about them?
jon.inkle.co
And for older people - it’s like, you can play this game, but first install a piece of software that’ll fire ads at you every time you load your computer. It looks and feels like malware
jon.inkle.co
I have kids. The time it takes for a kid to see something gross - massive guns, scary clown, anime boobs, whatever - on steam is about 15 seconds. (Including in my library because I have a bafta key.) I’m sure there worse but I think a lot of us are quite desensitised to visual violence tbh
jon.inkle.co
probably, but i think games is particular insular, as I suggested up-thread
jon.inkle.co
they have "any", "sometimes", which is ... not much, but it's a start
Reposted by Jon Ingold
lastvideostore.bsky.social
Remember, many public libraries carry video games now!

You can ask your local librarian for a game recommendation just like you would for a book.
jon.inkle.co
Seems to me that the fact that interested people can’t find games they find interesting and maybe don’t even know they exist is (a) obvs true so dunking on it is dumb and (b) a massive fucking problem for the artform that the corporate sector of the industry has no interest *at all* in solving