Giselle Francis' inspirations and professional games writing
"Ten years later, I'm working on my favorite game series"
Few people can say they've worked on one of their favorite franchises, and even fewer can say that they've worked on the series that inspired them to enter a career field. However, for the narrative designer and writer Giselle Francis, this speaks to her unique game development career.
She's worked on Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Dustborn, and Puzzle Legends. Her professional portfolio includes non-digital games such as Horror Escape Room and Arthurian Legend Playset.
Her website states her writing methodology: She enjoys writing flawed characters who have human struggles, even if their world is otherworldly.
Francis says, "I feel that nobody is perfect. Characters that have flaws are more interesting than if they're perfect. Flaws can be relatable. It just makes them a character. It gives them the juice. Even if I'm working on something fantasy or sci-fi…what makes a story more interesting is having something connected to [it]. The more human it is, the more interesting it is for me to write. I think that's more interesting for people to play."
She explains that the path to becoming a narrative designer was natural. Francis has had an interest in storytelling all her life. While in high school, the writer imagined that she would be an author, having grown up reading so many books. She notes having taken multiple creative writing classes in school and participating in poetry slam competitions.
Then came the question of what to study in college. She knew that continuing her passion was paramount. However, Francis' parents wanted her to study something more practical. So, the narrative designer went on to learn computer programming. By random chance, she was dormmates with game design majors.
Eventually, Francis noticed that the game design program at her university has a writing track. Thus, she could apply her multifaceted skills there and make it work.
Regarding game inspirations, she notes that friends introduced her to various works. However, what really stood out were Gone Home and the original Life is Strange title.
When in college she was more than confident in her writing ability in class. "When I started taking game writing classes, I noticed, I was a writer in an engineering school. I feel I had a head start in front of a lot of my classmates," she explains.
While Francis was undoubtedly confident in her abilities, she notes that getting a job in gaming wasn't so smooth. Francis notes that she got better resume/portfolio advice in 2020.
"What helped me was in 2020. People were reaching out and offering their help after George Floyd…coming in at an entry-level, this was the most help I've ever seen anybody offering, especially for black people," she says.
Francis continues, "I just took a took a leap and took some people up on their offer. One of those people is Mary Kenney, she used to work at Insomniac. I still owe her a coffee if I ever see her in person because she was a huge help. She offered up portfolio reviews and I took her up on it and showed her my stuff. That was the first time that I got real criticism. Not just a comma here or something there on my grammar…that was a huge help and made me rethink a lot of how I was writing. I got my first games job not too long after those improvements, which was huge."
Shortly after, she found work and began receiving game credits; however, Francis notes that her first game writing job isn't her first game credit. The project was canceled and never released. She started out working on mobile titles. The writer explains, "I started out in mobile, and most of my mobile projects were either something that got canceled or something that I was moved to for a month before getting laid off because my previous project just didn't happen anymore."
When asked how does/did she dealt with working on projects that would be canceled often or regularly, Francis says she was prepared in university.
She says, "I think that's something my teachers helped me out with in college. It was realizing that that was going to be the case. They really hit it home; if you're in this industry, you know, to get rich, you're in the wrong place."
The writer has kept the realities of the field close to heart. She has the support of her family, which helps her navigate the cutthroat nature of working within the games industry easier, which is more critical during the recent waves of layoffs.
With her foundational support, she grew her game credits and skills. Eventually, she became a writer for Life is Strange: Double Exposure, the series that inspired Francis' career. However, circumstances had to fall in place before that happened.
A friend notified Francis about a job opening at Deck Nine (the Life is Strange studio) as she was contemplating what was next. The games writer admits that she wasn't too sure that her portfolio and experience were enough to work on the project.
"I was less confident at that point, and Deck Nine felt huge. I ended up applying because [my friend] recommended it, and she told me I could use her as a referral…When I actually got the interview for it, I vibed so hard with the narrative team that was interviewing me," she notes.
While working on the project, Francis held the role of narrative designer and went on to be a staff writer at the studio. This was a full-circle moment and a career high point for the professional writer.
She says, "Life Is Strange was one of the titles that got me here. I fell so hard in love with the original game…10 years later, being able to work on a franchise that I loved, working with a team that I loved. [This] was also the most like diverse team that I'd ever been on. I had a woman of color boss [and] that's never happened before."
Francis notes that the team's work culture and environment was highly positive. As she explains it, her diverse cohort was able to move past racism 101 with the narrative. There was no need to come in and correct any accidentally insensitive racial implications in the plot.
Regarding sensitivity, Francis explains that she has some boundaries she never wants to cross. As a writer, she never wants to write something that is disrespectful to marginalized people or their communities.
"I never want to be in a position where I'm forced to write in a way that is disrespectful. I don't want to write that scene. It's something that I've had to fight over before, and so it's really nice being in a space where I didn't have to, where everyone just understood, and then it got us talking about having more interesting conversations and more nuanced discussions," she explains.
The games writer has created an impressive portfolio of work and a career built upon a passion for creative storytelling. Still, the writer explains that she is still looking forward and remains focused on improving her craft when asked what she is doing to improve her skills.
Francis says, "More recently, I've tried to get back to books in terms of sharpening my skills. I've just been repeating what was successful in 2020. So, I will write something, and then I try to get as many eyes on it as possible from people that I respect, giving me criticism and feedback and trying to learn a lot from that criticism.
"…I started messaging a bunch of writers that I adore to give me all of your books. All of the books that you have read on the craft."
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