Nathan Savant
@baldsavant.bsky.social
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
✍️ Systemic Narrative Designer
🧭 Quest designer and world builder
🧠 Psychology and Sociology in #GameDesign
🧙♂️ Wizard in need of a pointy hat
Currently @ Unemployed
He/Him
✍️ Systemic Narrative Designer
🧭 Quest designer and world builder
🧠 Psychology and Sociology in #GameDesign
🧙♂️ Wizard in need of a pointy hat
Currently @ Unemployed
He/Him
Pinned
Nathan Savant
@baldsavant.bsky.social
· Oct 10
Systemic Narrative: A How-To Guide
After my last blog post on Donkey Kong Bananza, I threatened to take what I’d learned and tell you how to do that for yourself. Well here I am, looming in the shadows with the knife of knowledge in my hand. Waiting just for you.Now you may look at this blog title and think to yourself “But Nathan, Bananza doesn’t really have a systems-driven narrative, why are you talking about that topic?!” and to you I would say “welcome to my unhinged corner of the internet, you must be new here!”. Donkey Kon
www.nathansavant.com
NEW BLOG POST!
This time I'm talking about systems-driven narrative design and how YOU can tell a story with your gameplay, whatever that gameplay happens to be. We start from Bananza and build into a systemic approach anyone can use.
www.nathansavant.com/post/systemi...
This time I'm talking about systems-driven narrative design and how YOU can tell a story with your gameplay, whatever that gameplay happens to be. We start from Bananza and build into a systemic approach anyone can use.
www.nathansavant.com/post/systemi...
Finally! The peoples' game awards!
im starting my own games industry accolades. every honoree gets a brick to throw at an institution of their choice
November 11, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Finally! The peoples' game awards!
I helped a friend build a platform for this back at the very start of AI. I consulted to give the games perspective cause hey! No more "Arrow to the Knee"!
But no. It sounds good til you explore it. Once you think it through it falls apart entirely, just crashes and burns.
But no. It sounds good til you explore it. Once you think it through it falls apart entirely, just crashes and burns.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has defended AI following Eurogamer's 2/5 Arc Raiders review, which criticised the game's use use of AI voice generation. "AI dialog generation + human personality and tuning could totally transform gaming," Sweeney said.
www.gamesindustry.biz/epics-tim-sw...
www.gamesindustry.biz/epics-tim-sw...
Epic's Tim Sweeney wades into the Arc Raiders AI row
"This technology increases human productivity in some areas by integer multiples"
www.gamesindustry.biz
November 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I helped a friend build a platform for this back at the very start of AI. I consulted to give the games perspective cause hey! No more "Arrow to the Knee"!
But no. It sounds good til you explore it. Once you think it through it falls apart entirely, just crashes and burns.
But no. It sounds good til you explore it. Once you think it through it falls apart entirely, just crashes and burns.
Yeah there's a reason I've been spending so many years cracking systemic narratives, cause we do NOT know how to do them yet, folks.
Not even close.
Not even close.
i think even in roguelikes that do great storytelling, like hades, you can feel how the narrative is bent around the game structure. i think it's great to see games push forward in a highly systemic space, but i feel a lot of indie games targeting this genre are cutting themselves short
November 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Yeah there's a reason I've been spending so many years cracking systemic narratives, cause we do NOT know how to do them yet, folks.
Not even close.
Not even close.
Reposted by Nathan Savant
Reposted by Nathan Savant
games exist only as a memory of your experience playing the game, and your memory of sharing that experience with others, and your memory of others sharing their experience with you.
games do not have text that is outside the context of a player experiencing the game.
games do not have text that is outside the context of a player experiencing the game.
November 10, 2025 at 9:45 PM
games exist only as a memory of your experience playing the game, and your memory of sharing that experience with others, and your memory of others sharing their experience with you.
games do not have text that is outside the context of a player experiencing the game.
games do not have text that is outside the context of a player experiencing the game.
I now regret not including Problems Clown into the roguelike celebration circus mud.
November 11, 2025 at 7:36 AM
I now regret not including Problems Clown into the roguelike celebration circus mud.
Watching Star Wars for the first time in a while and lamenting that we never got a sequel trilogy that expanded on the seeking enlightenment/mental health themes of the originals.
Just like. Burn down the Jedi and rebuild them with modern psych advice instead of the hippie mysticism.
Just like. Burn down the Jedi and rebuild them with modern psych advice instead of the hippie mysticism.
November 11, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Watching Star Wars for the first time in a while and lamenting that we never got a sequel trilogy that expanded on the seeking enlightenment/mental health themes of the originals.
Just like. Burn down the Jedi and rebuild them with modern psych advice instead of the hippie mysticism.
Just like. Burn down the Jedi and rebuild them with modern psych advice instead of the hippie mysticism.
Reposted by Nathan Savant
November 11, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Reposted by Nathan Savant
Welp not a conspiracy anymore
November 10, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Welp not a conspiracy anymore
Just your regular reminder that while things suck, there is also progress happening within that.
It seems crucial (and long overdue) that our national political discourse has finally shifted from an obsession with "the economy" to what actually matters: whether people can afford the basic things they need to live.
November 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Just your regular reminder that while things suck, there is also progress happening within that.
Reposted by Nathan Savant
🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯
The model of holding individual senators responsible is broken here. The retirees clearly agreed to take the fall. Which is why the nos should get no credit for voting no unless they move to oust Schumer
November 10, 2025 at 3:47 AM
🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯
Reposted by Nathan Savant
In a normal democracy, a total collapse of party leadership would result in an no-confidence vote and immediate snap elections to find leaders who can lead
November 10, 2025 at 3:18 AM
In a normal democracy, a total collapse of party leadership would result in an no-confidence vote and immediate snap elections to find leaders who can lead
Repeat that for the men in the back!
Anyone appealing to your masculinity is trying to use your insecurity against you to sell you something!
Anyone appealing to your masculinity is trying to use your insecurity against you to sell you something!
I think an important part of becoming an adult male is realizing that anyone appealing to your ‘masculinity’ is trying to use your insecurity against you to sell you something. Don’t fall for this shit! You’re fine just the way you are, these assholes can all get fucked.
I’m sorry, but a goofy looking guy who grew up a privileged son of a pediatrician and has a phd in social theory from the university of Goethe and started in tech by investing an inheritance left to him by his grandfather talking about being a “dude” is very, very funny to me.
November 10, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Repeat that for the men in the back!
Anyone appealing to your masculinity is trying to use your insecurity against you to sell you something!
Anyone appealing to your masculinity is trying to use your insecurity against you to sell you something!
Reposted by Nathan Savant
Oh no. Oh god. I think I cracked the "Hero's Journey As A Core Loop" thing that inflicted itself upon my mind a while back.
Someone send a team, I need to be stopped.
Someone send a team, I need to be stopped.
November 8, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Oh no. Oh god. I think I cracked the "Hero's Journey As A Core Loop" thing that inflicted itself upon my mind a while back.
Someone send a team, I need to be stopped.
Someone send a team, I need to be stopped.
Reposted by Nathan Savant
'Human nature' is the capacity to categorize others as part of self. Extending the boundaries of concern, people often help strangers in emergencies.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
‘Heroic actions are a natural tendency’: why bystander apathy is a myth
Modern research shows the public work together selflessly in an emergency, motivated by a strong impulse to help
www.theguardian.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:31 PM
'Human nature' is the capacity to categorize others as part of self. Extending the boundaries of concern, people often help strangers in emergencies.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
It's true!
Rules are good if you need them to figure out where to go next, but you can always just play and find the fun organically. This is healthy too!
Rules are good if you need them to figure out where to go next, but you can always just play and find the fun organically. This is healthy too!
HOT TAKE: modern insistence that theres a 'right' way to design games is leading to homogenised cookie cutter games.
That's why every game you played in the 1990s was a weird, enchanting delight and everything now is a bit stale and makes you feel like you've played it before.
END HOT TAKE
That's why every game you played in the 1990s was a weird, enchanting delight and everything now is a bit stale and makes you feel like you've played it before.
END HOT TAKE
November 8, 2025 at 7:42 PM
It's true!
Rules are good if you need them to figure out where to go next, but you can always just play and find the fun organically. This is healthy too!
Rules are good if you need them to figure out where to go next, but you can always just play and find the fun organically. This is healthy too!
Reposted by Nathan Savant
warner brothers trickster figures explained
November 8, 2025 at 3:23 AM
warner brothers trickster figures explained
Reposted by Nathan Savant
your country should be massively overprovisioned for food and electricity or you have done it wrong
Australia has so much electricity from solar power that it is going to start offering free electricity to everyone for at least three hours during the day as the wholesale price of power goes negative
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
electrek.co/2025/11/04/a...
Australia has so much solar that it's offering everyone free electricity
Australia's extensive solar power penetration makes so much energy that the government wants to offer free electricity at peak hours.
electrek.co
November 6, 2025 at 3:56 PM
your country should be massively overprovisioned for food and electricity or you have done it wrong
Reposted by Nathan Savant
Gotta say, I’m not so confident that you do
November 7, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Gotta say, I’m not so confident that you do
I am ALSO into this kind of SolarPunk!
November 7, 2025 at 10:14 PM
I am ALSO into this kind of SolarPunk!
Reposted by Nathan Savant
virtue signalling is good actually
Performative decency is actually *so* important for this reason.
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
It tricks the 10% of ghouls into thinking that there are only 1% of ghouls.
And it makes the 30% of people that don't care one way or another follow the mostly decent crowd
November 7, 2025 at 7:59 PM
virtue signalling is good actually
When I say every game has a story whether you realize it or not, THIS IS WHAT I MEAN.
The events of your game will always create a story, and that story will either support or contradict whatever writing you may have, so you gotta make sure you're aware of it and working with it.
The events of your game will always create a story, and that story will either support or contradict whatever writing you may have, so you gotta make sure you're aware of it and working with it.
ECONOMICS GAMES ARE NOT ABOUT MONEY AND I CAN PROVE IT BY SHOWING THIS ALIEN BABY ABSOLUTELY BEEFING IT AND LOSING ALL AUTONOMY AND LIVELIHOOD IN SPACE WARLORD BABY TRADING SIMULATOR.
I GROW MORE NORMAL BY THE DAY.
I GROW MORE NORMAL BY THE DAY.
November 7, 2025 at 6:56 PM
When I say every game has a story whether you realize it or not, THIS IS WHAT I MEAN.
The events of your game will always create a story, and that story will either support or contradict whatever writing you may have, so you gotta make sure you're aware of it and working with it.
The events of your game will always create a story, and that story will either support or contradict whatever writing you may have, so you gotta make sure you're aware of it and working with it.
Reposted by Nathan Savant
ECONOMICS GAMES ARE NOT ABOUT MONEY AND I CAN PROVE IT BY SHOWING THIS ALIEN BABY ABSOLUTELY BEEFING IT AND LOSING ALL AUTONOMY AND LIVELIHOOD IN SPACE WARLORD BABY TRADING SIMULATOR.
I GROW MORE NORMAL BY THE DAY.
I GROW MORE NORMAL BY THE DAY.
November 6, 2025 at 10:55 PM
ECONOMICS GAMES ARE NOT ABOUT MONEY AND I CAN PROVE IT BY SHOWING THIS ALIEN BABY ABSOLUTELY BEEFING IT AND LOSING ALL AUTONOMY AND LIVELIHOOD IN SPACE WARLORD BABY TRADING SIMULATOR.
I GROW MORE NORMAL BY THE DAY.
I GROW MORE NORMAL BY THE DAY.