Joanie is a narrative designer for interactive media living in Seattle, Washington with her two cats.
She adores arcades, animation, and alliteration.
JOANIE M. RICH
Storyteller . Game Designer . Animation Nerd
GAMES
Joanie has worked on hundreds of commercial titles and has released her own independent games. See them all here!
STORIES
Joanie has authored several novels, a plethora of short stories, and enjoys developing worlds and characters. Read more about them here!
ANIMATION
Joanie has developed two independently-animated short films and has worked in the industry. View her work here!
Lifeline: Whiteout
An interactive fiction game for mobile devices.
Watch the Trailer:
Story Synopsis:
Alone in a frozen wasteland with no memory of how he got there, a lost adventurer’s only hope is his last line of communication – to YOU! Guide him to safety and help him find his identity in this gripping story of survival.
Game Screenshots:
This mobile game happens in real time, sending the player notifications whenever Adams or another character speaks, displaying their speech as text messages.
This game was a joint effort between my company Big Fish Games (released through our internal studio, 3 Minute Games) and our partner developer Eipix Entertainment. I have worked with Eipix Entertainment on our premium casual titles and they were one of our most talented studios with beautiful artwork (see above) and exciting stories. It was a pleasure working directly with Eipix’s Narrative Designer, Mladen Duric, who came up with the concept and characters and then allowed me free reign to run with his story. After initial player feedback, I rewrote the ending sections of the game and punched up the dialogue throughout, serving as the main editor for the entire text. I added a few incidental characters at the ALT facility to flesh out Adams’s world while maintaining the core vision that Mladen had for the character.
After the success of the first Whiteout game on both Android and iOS, I was invited back to help Mladen develop two sequels, Lifeline: Whiteout 2 and Lifeline: Whiteout 3. Again, I was responsible for editing all of the text and providing addition story direction and feedback as necessary, including coming up with backstories for a few minor characters and revamping the dialogue and choices throughout. Whiteout 2 was a pilot game in Big Fish’s Lifeline Universe project, in which players were given a free first chapter and asked to pay to unlock subsequent chapters. Chapters 1-4 were fully released, but this project was cancelled before it came out of open Beta and Whiteout 3 never made it past the initial editing of the few opening chapters. Regardless, this was my favorite project that I worked on at Big Fish as it was a delight to delve deeper into Adams’s world and connect more deeply with the players. To this day, I’m still contacted by Whiteout fans asking me if more chapters will ever come out. I’m grateful that my work has left such a impact on them that they would reach out and ask for more. That’s the biggest compliment any author can receive.
The release of Whiteout on iOS and Android followed directly on the heels of the first three successful Lifeline titles, so it was marketed well and Lifeline fans were even offered sneak peeks leading up to the game’s release, including teaser trailers (shown above) and even interactive Twitter posts that players could post messages to.
Critical reception was very positive, from both players and reviewers, as it currently holds a 4.7 star rating on both Google Play and the App Store.
The Lifeline series is well-known for its realistic immersion – as players are treated to text messages sent in “real-time” to their mobile devices from the main character. Messages are presented as “speech-to-text” so players are reading what the character is speaking to them, allowing for more casual conversation. The main character of Whiteout, Adams, can be “away” for as short as 30 seconds or as long as several hours if he’s going to sleep for the night, for example.
This time-constraint presents an interesting challenge, because if players aren’t feeling hooked by the story, they will not return later to continue the story. Similarly, players who have also been away for that long might not remember what happened previously during their last game session. One of the ways we solved this problem was letting the player scroll-back through all of the text messages that they’ve seen at any time. Once players completed the game, they had an entire record of everything they did so far, including showing which choices they did not select. Players could then easily “rewind” the game to any choice point and make different choices, allowing them to experience multiple endings without having to entirely replay the game from the beginning.
If I was allowed to make changes to the game now, I would allow for quicker game over messages that happen after long time breaks, so players don’t have to wait for an hour to learn that they picked a dead-end choice. For example, if Adams goes to bed without starting a fire, he is dead by morning from freezing to death. In this case, the game could remain in character by immediately saying “Signal Lost” and “Cannot Reconnect” and ask players to rewind and try again. I would also try to pace the longer breaks so players can get a decent amount of time playing before they are stopped and told to come back later. It’s no fun when you start playing for a minute only to have to stop a moment later.
Storykeepers
A hidden-object puzzle adventure game for mobile devices.
Game Screenshots:
Story Synopsis:
Jump into the worlds of iconic works of fiction and team-up with characters from each to save them from being erased forever! Search through incredible hidden-object puzzles in re-imagined literary classics to find clues and solve the mysteries.
Big Fish Games made this game in direct partnership with our long-time partner developer 4Friends Games in Ukraine. Similar to working with Eipix on Whiteout, I had previously worked with 4Friends on several series of premium casual titles. 4Friends is known for their exquisite, painterly artwork and their unique story worlds.
For Storykeepers, I collaborated with fellow Narrative Designer, at 4Friends on building the world of Storykeepers. Vika developed the initial story concept and is an incredibly talented storyteller herself. I enjoyed building this charming world with her, where the real world’s most beloved stories come to life and the characters all interact with each other. My favorite part was helping her shape the lore for the player’s character, the latest hero in a long line of “Storykeepers” – who protect Storyworld and preserves the characters stories for generations to come from an endless force that is slowly devouring Storyworld and seeks to erase all stories from existence.
Vika and I also worked together crafting several branches of intersecting questlines. We made sure each quest moved the plot forward and helped develop the characters. We also had an overarching storyline about the main antagonist and how it came to be, which was woven into the narrative in a more episodic format.
I also served as the main editor for all of the game text, including dialogue, tutorials, and our extensive encyclopedia of game characters, items, and backstories.
Storykeepers had reached a soft-launched Beta stage, in which we were testing several large groups of players across the world, making changes based on their feedback. Unfortunately, this project was cancelled before we could move to an open Beta due to overall company restructuring inside Big Fish Games. However, critical reception was very positive from our beta players, who complimented us on our immersive storyline and our compelling characters. They were anticipating its release and were saddened to hear it was cancelled.
This was 4Friends Games first time creating a free-to-play casual mobile game. Up until this point, they had been primarily working on premium casual titles, which tend to have very linear stories that run anywhere from 8-10 hours of gameplay for players. In contrast, many free-to-play narratives tend to be less-linear, allowing players to explore different paths as they unlock new areas in the game. Additionally, most free-to-play games require more open narratives that can allow special events like Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and Halloween, in addition to larger content updates that add new storylines and character. We had to think ahead about which questlines players would likely encounter in what order and how to structure the story so that whichever new story area they decided to unlock first would still have a compelling story that wouldn’t contradict any other stories from different paths. One of the ways we solved this was to have specific storylines for each new character’s area. For example, we would unlock Baker Street and learn about Sherlock Holmes and how he is searching for the cause of the evil force that is slowly devouring Storyworld, developing not only his character, but the world as well.
Since Storykeepers was primarily a hidden-object game, one of our challenges was working with the developers designing the hidden objects to include “story objects” that players were finding in order to drive the story forward. This would connect the story directly to what the player was doing in the main game. For example, instead of just finding a random assortment of items, many of the items would be relevant to the character and the story object would be something they needed to find to move the plot forward. This was easier with characters like Sherlock Holmes who naturally search for clues and more challenging for characters like Thor who would rather fight than stop and think. We still had lots of fun coming up with reasons why they needed to find certain items, and players complimented us on being able to make each hidden object scene feel important to the plot, instead of just breaking up the action between cutscenes.
Overall, I’m really happy with what we were able to accomplish with Storykeepers, but if I had the chance to do it all again, there would be a few changes that I would make for our next iteration. In our worldbuilding, we mostly spent time moving between each of the story worlds (like Baker Street, Wonderland, etc.) and I think we could have greatly benefited from a home hub world to start from, some kind of story tower that is able to access all of the worlds, a kind of home base the player could go back to after each adventure and players could view their progress in restoring Storyworld from the evil force devouring it. Our story map was a little confusing because it was laid out in rows of open books, so players weren’t always sure where to go next rather than exploring new areas on a map.
In addition to Hidden Object puzzles, we also had a basic Match-3 system in the game, but it didn’t feel as relevant to the narrative and felt tacked on. 4Friends Games are experts in creating small mini-games for their premium casual titles and I feel these would have been playing more naturally to their strengths and helped flesh out the world more, giving variety to players, so it didn’t seem so back and forth between just hidden object scenes and Match-3 games.
For the narrative, I think we focused too much on having a single “Storykeeper” role in the style of the classic “Chosen One” hero story. We could have taken a different route, similar to Pokémon, where everyone in our world has the potential to be a “storykeeper” and that there’s a world of people like you who are all working to fight back the darkness. I also would have liked to go deeper into the legacy of the Storykeepers and help weave together possible multiplayer stories where Storykeepers could band together to solve more difficult puzzles or take down a more powerful evil character trying to seize control of each story. I was hoping to explore stories about relatable villains who want to change their story because they believe they’ve been permanently cast to suffer, creating a more mature theme to match the age of our target audience, who want less of a child-like storybook experience where everything is clearly black and white.
Nightmare in Bonbonburg
A holiday-themed RPG module for Dungeons & Dragons.
As you fall asleep one winter’s night, you find yourself in a strange place. A small town inhabited by toys is having trouble with a nearby colony of rats stealing their chocolate harvest year after year. But the poor toys aren’t built to fight! Can you stop the rats from stealing the candy once and for all? And is that really all there is to the story?
I co-created this stand-alone adventure module for Dungeons & Dragons with my friend, Ben Chaplin. Ben came up with the general concept and the world structure and I helped create the characters and the plot, including additional side quests that the adventuring party may encounter while playing. I also created all of the artwork for the module, focusing on character design, item design, and key locations.
My co-creator Ben Chaplin is an established creator on the Dungeon Masters Guild, which is an officially-sanctioned Wizards of the Coast website for selling content that can be used to play the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop adventure game.
Critical reception has been positive, with a 5-star rating on the Dungeon Master’s Guild website:
“Really looking forward turning this adventure into a One Shot with some friends! The story can go in so many directions, and you can tell a lot of love went into making it. Loving the art style added in as well! Since the story is also kid friendly, I’m thinking it will make a unique addition to family game night. As a first time DM, I appreciate all the details that came with this purchase. Definitely will be buying more from these creators!” – Allison W.
Working on this project was a huge step outside my comfort zone. This was my first time writing for a tabletop role-playing game adventure, which are generally non-linear in nature, due to the unpredictability of player choice and exploration. It’s less about creating a story that is told from start to finish but placing story elements in interesting places and joining them together with breadcrumbs for adventurers to discover on their own. Tabletop modules are written specifically for Dungeon Masters (the people running the game for a group of players) and include much more detailed story information in an objective format rather than a dramatic one. Part of designing a good tabletop adventure is learning to think like a player would and anticipate the types of questions players may ask characters or where they would be likely to explore.
The best part about running tabletop adventures is that two groups can play the same module but have completely different experiences based on where they go first and how their fellow players interact with characters. For example, relationships between characters are especially important in a campaign because they will dictate how much or how little characters will reveal to the players, especially if the players choose to side with a certain important character or factions of characters. In this game, players will be treated differently by characters based on whether they trust the toys or the rats, or if they distrust both factions equally. A narrative designer will never be able to fully anticipate for what a player might do in a campaign, so the key is to lay a solid foundation of worldbuilding, setting up interesting locations and characters, so that Dungeon Masters will have plenty of information to create their own take on the story.
A challenge I faced with this particular campaign was creating too many complex characters for the Dungeon Master to keep track of. In the first draft, I fleshed out most of the toy residents in Bonbonburg, but I ended up having to cut some of these characters, relegating them to small roles, often only mentioning their name and occupation instead of their entire backstory. I learned how to focus my attention on characters that related directly to the problem the adventurers were trying to solve and focusing on the relationships between those characters. For example, I shifted my attention from Hickory the Rocking Horse Farmer to Arcelia the Jack-in-the-box Chef, as she was directly related to Cuddles the Monstrous Teddy Bear who is the main antagonist of the campaign. You learn from her that Cuddles was once a good bear turned evil after someone stole his candy heart.
One lesson I learned during this project was the need to not put the cart before the horse – I generated so much artwork that we ended up not using all of it. Had I waited for Ben to finish the layout before beginning to finalize my artwork, particularly for the location layouts, we could have planned exactly where best to put the artwork and made it feel more seamless in the overall design. Regardless, I’m happy with the artwork I’ve created for it.
As for the story, I would have liked to spend a little more time fleshing out the opening of the campaign, as I feel there could be a stronger compelling reason for players to arrive in town versus falling asleep and waking up inside the toy village (as magical as that is for Christmas stories such as this one). I really enjoyed working with the winter, toys, and candy themes, so I hope I get another chance in the future to create more art and stories in that charming world. It’s amazing what you can make out of gingerbread!
My Dream Job:
How I Survived Job Hunting in Animation
Story Synopsis:
This bitsy game is a visual essay about when I pursued my childhood dream of becoming an animator and all of the hardships and joy that came with it.
I made this game using the Bitsy game engine created by Adam Le Doux.
“Bitsy is a little editor for little games or worlds. The goal is to make it easy to make games where you can walk around and talk to people and be somewhere.” – Adam Le Doux
This game is a personal essay about my childhood and how I grew up wanting to be an animator. It follows my life through school, university, and beyond and answers the question of what happens when you can’t get what you want. I designed the entire look of the game, focusing on themes of magic, light, and hope in the midst of anxiety and depression. I created all of the pixel artwork for the game as well.
My goal with this project was to reach out to anyone else who might be struggling to make their dreams come true and to encourage them to keep going, even when anxiety and depression threatens to end their journey too soon.
Critical reception has been very positive, from both players and reviewers, as my game currently holds a 5-star rating (17 reviews) on itch.io. I’ve received many comments from players that had faced similar difficulties in their own lives or who were emotionally moved by my story. I’ve also been praised for including an option to skip the darker content that may disturb some players.
“Magic surrounds this piece: personal, dynamic and deceptively simple, the story which this game tells is worth your time and as with all meaningful art, its lo-resolution trappings add to the charm of this journey. A special commendation for including the option to skip what might be dark/shocking content to some players. Worth playing to the end. Animators – dreamers – aspiring developers – Take note.”
– Simon Love
Creating this game challenged me in a deeply emotional way, more than any other project I had done before. Because I was talking about my own personal traumas and fears, I would often need to take breaks and check in with myself to make sure I was doing okay to keep going.
I had also been going through another frightening time in my life as I was making this game, which made it difficult to keep going when I reached the darker points, as it painfully reminded me of where I was currently. There were times writing this game where I was reliving these moments and overcome with grief. I was able to overcome them and finish this game to the end, even ending it on a hopeful note, not just for my players, but for me as well. This game has deep meaning to me because it represents what I’ve been through and promises me that I can survive through horrible things and still find reasons to smile.
Finishing this game was a huge personal accomplishment for myself and it has helped boost my self-esteem and confidence. The process was hard, but it was worth that feeling of releasing it into the world and hearing that other people connected with it the same way I did. That is priceless.
If I were to design this game again, I would remake it in a much more powerful program than Bitsy. Bitsy is designed for bite-sized games and this particular game clocks in at about half-an-hour of gameplay time (depending on your routes and reading speed). There were many times when I felt limited by the three-color palette and pixel-art as well. I’m very glad I made a game in Bitsy, as I feel like I understand this game engine much better and it taught me that my art doesn’t have to be perfect to have an impact on people. If I were to make a remastered version of this, I would love to include my personal photographs that I pixelized to add to the game and my own artwork from when I was a child, in school, and now.
One of the things my players struggled with was knowing where to go or what to do next, especially in areas where there was simply a black screen with text. Part of this is limited to Bitsy’s engine because the only usable controls are the arrow keys by default and it has no accept or cancel buttons you can program in, which is why I think a more complex game engine would be a better choice. If I was making it again, I would probably use a visual novel engine like Ren’Py (which runs on Python scripting), Gamemaker, or RPG Maker, which each have robust text engines.
I’m hoping I will make a few shorter bitsy games in the future, as I really enjoyed learning this engine and seeing how far I could push it.
Novels
Genre:
Dark Fantasy / Paranormal Romance
Story Synopsis:
Dr. Medina Harper is put the to the ultimate test when a deadly plague spreads through the valley and her monster patients are blamed for it. As humans and monsters teeter on the brink of war, will she find a cure or will everyone fall to the White Death?
Genre:
Science Fiction / Adventure
Story Synopsis:
Rad Savage is just another washed-up space pirate living on an abandoned moon until a young bounty hunter discovers he’s secretly worth a fortune. Why is the price tag on his head so big, and who’s paying for it?
Short Stories
Genre:
Western / Fantasy
A story about finding hope, even in dark times.
Story Synopsis:
All the soil has gone bad, wiping out all but one of the mystical Xylem, the plant-like people of the Green Mountains. Reed finds himself alone in a world that has forgotten his people. Can Reed find something worth living for?
Genre:
Urban Fantasy / Young Adult
A story about family, folklore, and water dragons.
Story Synopsis:
Every year since he was a boy Andrew has been forced to spend the summer at his Aunt Jenna’s farm. This year he’s going to discover his family is anything but normal, and that he has an important duty. Is he ready for such a weighty responsibility? Does he even believe any of this is happening to him?
Fan Fiction
Fandom:
A sample mission written for Mass Effect 2, set in Omega.
Featured Mission:
“Precious Cargo”
Story Synopsis:
What starts as a simple package pick-up for Joker turns into a shootout against the Blue Suns and Blood Pack through the back alleys of Omega.
Fandom:
A collection of short stories set in the Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Paramount Pictures universe after the events of the film.
Featured Episode:
Monster Truck Blues
Story Synopsis:
After seeing a commercial for “Monster Brawl 2020” it’s all Sonic can talk about. The question is, will Tom let him go?
I have studied traditional animation for many years, including graduating with a diploma in Classical 2D Animation from the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts where I focused on Character Animation, Layout, Storyboarding, and Comic Book Production. Since then, I’ve never stopped learning and I’m continuing to experiment, particularly with pixel animation and effects animation.
My Student Films
Turkey Day Turmoil
Story Synopsis:
Brent has been hiding Hawthorne the Griffin from his parents for weeks now, but after Hawthorne eats the Thanksgiving turkey, Brent has had enough.
About this Film:
This was my final animation project at the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts in Vancouver, Canada. This film was created only 2 years after my first film, but it shows significant improvement. I created and directed this short film, designing the character models, storyboards, and layout in Adobe Flash. I was the only person who decided to do an emotional piece, and I was pleased by the audience’s heartwarming reaction when it was aired during our graduation ceremony.
DreamShapers - Pilot episode
Story Synopsis:
This short follows high schooler Erin Gable one night as she suffers from a surreal nightmare, only to discover Lambent, a dream creature who helps her overcome her fears.
About this Film:
My first animated film! I created and directed this 7-minute film using limited animation in Flash as part of my senior honors program at Drury University. I had no prior experience in animation and taught myself Macromedia Flash over the course of a single semester. This was a pilot I had for an animated series about teenagers who can enter their dreams and fight against nightmare forces trying to break into the real world.