Free Consultation

Free Consultation

Helping game studios
around the world
build successful narratives


Helping game studios
around the world
build successful narratives

Helping game studios
around the world
build successful narratives

Get A Free Consultation

I'm John Zurhellen,
a writer,
narrative designer,
and creative lead
for groundbreaking games.

How successful do you want
your story to be?

I'm John Zurhellen,
a writer,
narrative designer,
and creative lead for groundbreaking games.

How successful do you want your story to be?

20+

20+

Years Experience

Years Experience

46

46

Games

Games

$4B

$4B

Combined Gross Revenue

Combined Gross Revenue


Games are in crisis.


Games are
in crisis.

Despite games that play great and look great,

millions of players feel unfulfilled by


  • undercooked narratives

  • dull characters spouting tired dialogue

  • a lack of emotional engagement

Despite games that play great and look great, millions of players feel unfulfilled by


  • undercooked narratives

  • dull characters spouting tired dialogue

  • lack of emotional engagement

Despite games that play great and look great,

millions of players feel unfulfilled by


  • undercooked narratives

  • dull characters spouting tired dialogue

  • a lack of emotional engagement

Players want story-driven games, now more than ever, but disappointment with the quality of those stories is rising year by year.

More than ever, players want story-driven games, but

disappointment with the quality of those stories is rising year by year.

Players want story-driven games, now more than ever, but disappointment with the quality of those stories is rising year by year.

  • $100M+ budget, Review: 6/10
    "The real crime is how poorly the writing establishes any of its characters and the relationships between them."

  • $100M+ budget, Review: 65/100
    "There's a big disconnect between story and game."

  • $140M+ budget, Review: 63/100
    "An endless font of bad jokes and cool guns
    in the series' most     vapid story yet."

  • $175M+ budget, Review: 63/100
    "As the story progresses, the disappointing
    cracks in the writing     begin to grow."

  • $100M+ budget, Review: 6/10
    "The real crime is how poorly the writing establishes any of its characters and the relationships between them."

  • $100M+ budget, Review: 65/100
    "There's a big disconnect between story and game."

  • $140M+ budget, Review: 63/100
    "An endless font of bad jokes and cool guns in the series' most vapid story yet."

  • $175M+ budget, Review: 63/100
    "As the story progresses, the disappointing cracks in the writing begin to grow."


Here’s the good news:
this trend is reversible.


Here’s the
good news:
this trend is reversible.


Here’s the
good news:
this trend is reversible.

Just as animation, engineering, and QA teams stick to best practices to produce optimal results, a narrative team can build and test their own best practices to find narrative success.

Just as animation, engineering, and QA teams stick to best practices to produce optimal results, a narrative team can build their own best practices to find narrative success.

Just as animation, engineering, and QA teams stick to best practices to find optimal results…


a narrative team can build their own best practices to find narrative success.

I'll help you find narrative success by


  • Connecting players to emotional and truthful stories

  • Enlisting the whole studio to become storytellers

  • Tethering imagination and creativity to systems, deadlines, and pipelines

I'll help you find narrative success by


  • Connecting players to emotional and

    truthful stories

  • Enlisting the whole studio to become

    storytellers

  • Tethering imagination and creativity to proven systems, deadlines, and pipelines

Why Me?