QUAIN HOLTEY
Narrative designer and game writer since 2019 with a focus on player-first stories, live-service releases, and award-winning narratives for AAA, Mobile, and Independent studios.
Quain strives to bring people together through the games he makes by leveraging player choice and crafting sharable moments, whether in multiplayer lobbies or over lunch.
My Projects
Dialogue, narrative, systems text, and market copy with monthly releases to an audience of 12.5M+.
Developer: Magic Tavern
Publisher: AppLovin/Tripledot
Platform: Mobile (iOS/Android)
Role: Game Writer
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Format: Match-3 puzzle game
Release Date: March 2024
Time on Project: October 2024 – Present
Quest team production, character dialogue, flavor text, and 3rd part IP integrations with weekly releases to an audience of 100M+ monthly active players.
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Epic Games
Platform: PC, Consoles, Mobile
Role: Game Writer & Development Coordinator
Genre: Action/Comedy
Format: Multiplayer 3rd-Person Shooter
Release Date: September 2017
Time on Project: February 2023 – August 2024
Character dialogue, quest text, and systems text for a new Fortnite IP that launched with a peak of 2.5M concurrent players.
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Epic Games
Platform: PC, Console, Mobile
Role: Game Writer
Genre: Comedy
Format: Survival Crafting
Release Date: December 2023
Time on Project: September 2023 – August 2024
Narrative design, writing, and implementation. Systems design and implementation. Product owner and producer.
Developer: Black Banshee Studios
Publisher: Black Banshee Studios
Platform: PC (Steam)
Role: Narrative Designer & Producer
Genre: Action/Mystery
Format: Visual Novel RPG
Release Date: April 2023
Time on Project: October 2022 – April 2023
Narrative design, writing, and implementation for multiple playable characters, branching storylines, and multiple endings. Product producer.
Winner of the 2022 Best Student Game at the Silver Award for Excellence in Indie Game Development (Silv-E).
Developer: Black Banshee Studios
Publisher: Black Banshee Studios
Platform: PC (Steam)
Role: Narrative Designer & Producer
Genre: Detective/Mystery
Format: Visual Novel
Release Date: September 2022
Time on Project: April 2022 – September 2022
Narrative and quest design, dialogue, implementation, scriptwriting, and cutscene implementation.
Developer: REIM Entertainment
Platform: PC
Role: Narrative Designer
Genre: Action Adventure/Fantasy
Format: Action RPG
Release Date: Unreleased
Time on Project: August 2019 – April 2022
Additional Projects (Game Jams, etc.)
A visual novel made in Ren'Py as a collaboration between existing Full Sail Game Design students and Alumni.
I contributed as narrative designer and writer, and I implemented my own narrative.
A first-person narrative adventure game made in Unreal Engine 5 as an internal game jam.
I contributed programming, level design, narrative design, and voice over recording and implementation.
A visual novel prototype for Coalescence made in Ren'Py.
I wrote marketing copy and systems text.
A space flight simulator created in Unreal Engine 4 as an "edutainment" title for an aviation class.
I was a narrative designer on this project. I defined narrative direction, wrote scripts, and implemented questions and answers.
An animal crossing-like made for Ludem Dare Game Jam 2024 with a 40+ person team.
I contributed as Game Writer, creating narrative briefs, writing character dialogue, and implemented work in Unity
Juniper
A puzzle platformer made in Unreal Engine 5 for the 2023 Global Game Jam (archive currently broken).
I contributed as level and narrative designer and implemented writing and voice over.
An interactive fiction game made using Twine as a school project over the course of 1 week.
I was the solo developer, primarily designing, writing, and implementing narrative.
A first-person time-rush game about a mouse using a dryer to shrink furniture. Made for GMTK 2024 Game Jam.
I was the product owner and contributed as game designer, programmer, and UI designer.
A text-based adventure made in Twine for the 2022 Spring Thing Interactive Fiction competition.
I was the solo developer and designed and wrote the narrative, recorded and implemented voice over and programmed.
A 3rd-person turtle racing trivia game created in Unreal Engine 4 as an "edutainment" title for a biology class.
I was a narrative designer on this project, defining narrative direction and working with designers to implement questions and answers.
Portfolio and Examples
Game Writing
Game Scripts- Sample scripts written for games.
Game tutorialization, working inside an established narrative system, gameplay dialogue, and cutscene scripts.
Narrative Briefs - Examples of creating narrative frameworks.
Whether the narrative comes from story ideas, gameplay systems, or just a player fantasy, these are examples of developing a game's narrative.
Asset Sheets - Spreadsheet examples of implementable narrative.
Plenty of game writing takes place in spreadsheets. These are samples around item naming, descriptions, and other game-ready writing.
Additional Writings - Samples from non-game writing.
A short story written and published as a challenge to write in a genre I hadn't before. Horror.
