Narrative Showreel: Company of Heroes 3
A sampling of narrative content created for Company of Heroes 3.
Released February 2023.
Tools and Pipelines
Great games begin with great tools, and I have extensive experience in a wide range of engines, tools and programming languages, including:
Unreal, Unity, Frostbite (EA)
Final Draft, Articy:Draft, Premiere
C++, C#, and Lua
Narrative tools and systems I’ve designed and implemented include an event-driven branching narrative engine, stand-alone narrative prototypes, custom exporters for Articy:Draft, and a versatile content management system designed for narrative-driven open world titles.
Audio Casting Bio: Izem Khirat
68-year-old Jewish Berber man
BACKGROUND
Salima’s father, Izem, was born in October 1904, and for a long time was the only child in his family. His father instilled a sense of responsibility in him while his mother tempered the seriousness with compassion. He is lean and wiry, with a studious nature and a deep love for the heritage of his country and family.
Before the war, and during the British occupation of Benghazi, Izem worked at the docks, but he lost that job when the Germans took over the city.
Izem’s previous association with the British made him a target for German retaliation and with antisemitic sentiment growing within the city he made the decision to help the British push the Germans out of his beloved Libya.
DIRECTION
While Izem fought alongside the British, his wife was killed by the Germans and his 17-year-old daughter, Salima, narrowly escaped a similar fate. After the war in North Africa ended, Izem returned to Benghazi to rebuild his life with Salima.
In our story, Izem is being interviewed for a documentary on the war in North Africa and is looking back at his experiences and the impact of the war on Libya and his family. The interviews take place 30 years after the end of the war so there is some distance from the events he’s discussing, but they still trigger painful memories, both of the death of his wife and the effects of the war on his homeland.
This character is the core of the storytelling in the game. There should be some emotion to the delivery, particularly when he’s talking about his family, but it has been 30 years so the grief isn’t as raw as it would have been at the time.
Promotional Materials: Danny’s Letter
A physical, in-world letter included as part of the limited edition version of Company of Heroes 3 distributed to influencers. Download PDF
Dear Mum and Dad,
Thanks for your letter. I do love reading how things are back home so please keep sending me the latest news. Some of the guys don’t get many letters so I always tell them what’s happening back in Blighty. Don’t worry Mum I skip the personal stuff. I cheered so loud when I heard that Boz passed his exams. I had to explain to everyone else why I was so happy. They’re happy too.
Things have been a bit lively here since I last wrote. You probably heard about Salerno. I thought we’d steam into a port and be welcomed with open arms by the Italians. I was wrong. The resistance by the enemy was much greater than we expected. I wasn’t part of the first landings and by the time my L.S.T. went ashore there were hundreds of boats, all steaming towards the shore while squadrons of Lightnings droned overhead. It was really quite splendid.
Jerry fought hard and we were kept very busy for the first few days. My guns were near a battery of heavy A.A. and they were firing constantly. It was terrifically loud. My ears were ringing like a church bell! We captured some Jerry and they said it’s the worst shelling they’ve ever seen.
Eventually we pushed the enemy back and were able to get a bit of a breather. There were even a couple of nights where I managed to get a decent bit of sleep. We got supplies of fruit, walnuts and grapes from the locals and fresh milk from a farm that had been converted into medical dressing station. Not as good as your cooking, mum, but better than Army rations.
We’re in [REDACTED] now and the weather has taken a turn for the worse. It’s wetter than that week we spent in Margate. Some of the men from the 7th Armoured Division rolled into town yesterday. They like to call themselves the Desert Rats. More like the Drowned Rats. Ha ha!
Some Māori fellows from New Zealand have just joined the party here. I suppose they wish they were back in North Africa. I don’t but I preferred the flies over the damned mosquitos they have here. Maybe the colder weather will deal with them.
The towns we pass through have been heavily damaged by the war. Whole streets turned to rubble. It’s heartbreaking sometimes. But the Italians themselves seem pleased to see us. They clap and cheer in the streets when we arrive. One of them threw some grapes to me. Delicious!
The locals call the jerry “teds” and some of the other men have started doing it, too, but I can’t get used to it. It reminds me of that old bear we have in the attic. The Italians are a good bunch. Most of them seem as keen to get rid of the teds Jerry as we are. One of the children gave me a drawing of a tank!
I don’t think we’ll be here for much longer. I might even be home for my birthday. [REDACTED] in a couple of days so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me for a while.
Grub’s up soon and I don’t want to be last in line (again) so I guess I’d better stop now. Give my love to Charlie, Isabelle, Johnny, and Jackie. And throw a stick for Bouncer for me.
Love always,
Danny
P.S. Thank Auntie Janice for the pajamas. They’ll come in handy when we get into [REDACTED].
Concept Ripomatic: Oswald
Ripomatic trailer built to support an internal project pitch, Oswald.
Set in an alternate history where British agents prevented JFK’s assassination and the US is part of a newly resurgent British Monarchy, Oswald is a narrative-driven, procedurally generated, third person shooter set in a reactive world shaped by the player’s decisions.
Acting as The Monarchist, players face human, alien, and macabre foes as they investigate mundane and supernatural conspiracy theories, ultimately uncovering a deadly conspiracy within the monarchy itself.