hearth-hearted storyteller
not optimised for mobilehearth-hearted storyteller
game designer and writer from singapore fascinated with interactive multimedia. dabbles in speculative science fiction, multimodal performances, game analysis and critique. amateur musician with varying competencies in three instruments. even more of an amateur cook.I am currently a game developer at Koei Tecmo Singapore, and have been since 2021. The following are a list of games I've done in both a professional and personal capacity.
<a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/three-kingdoms-heroes/id6448407603" target="_blank">Three Kingdoms HEROES (2025)</a>
A turn-based tactics shogi-like based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms IP, developed as a premium title for the Apple Arcade. Developed as part of a team from Koei Tecmo Singapore. I was the lead level designer for the game's campaign, from tutorial to scenarios to the final stage of hard mode. I also contributed to FX design, as well as game progression and reward balancing.
<a href="https://vforvesta.neocities.org/what_art_thou_bidding.html" target="_blank">What Art Thou Bidding? (2020)</a>
An interactive hypertext response to //What Is Thy Bidding//, a theatre performance during The Substation's Septfest 2020 Fringe. It explores content warnings, the gig economy, and the crushing weight of surviving and creating art under capitalism. Solo project.
<a href="https://vforvesta.neocities.org/anxiety/index.html" target="_blank">Anxiety Simulator (2019)</a>
A hypertext game about trying to accomplish the simplest of tasks when you have anxiety. Made in HypeDyn. Solo project.
<a href="https://vforvesta.neocities.org/breathe_as_you_bloom.html" target="_blank">Breathe as you Bloom (2019)</a>
A narrative-based exploration game about a young man returning to his childhood farm. Made in Bitsy. Solo project.
<a href="https://ryanicale.itch.io/apop" target="_blank">aPOPcalypse (2018)</a>
A colour-based shooter where you fight off a diverse horde of monsters at the end of the world. I was the lead game designer and writer, and also composed original music for the game.
<a href="https://vforvesta.neocities.org/thirst.html" target="_blank">thirst (2020)</a>
A hypertext Twine piece that curates various moments from pieces of media, associating them with Mary Oliver’s poem //Thirst//, alongside originally composed music. Solo project. Play here.<u>[[2KNIGHT TILL DAWN (2021)]]</u>
A narrative role-playing tactics game for two. Card-based chess with all the operatic drama of fanfiction tropes. I was the lead game designer and writer.
<a href="https://vforvesta.itch.io/how-to-graduate" target="_blank">how to graduate (2021)</a>
An anthology of 7x2 lyric games about undergraduate life. Solo project.
<u>[[Planting Seeds (2018)]]</u>
A competitive two-player tactical board game, where your goal is to be the first to plant 23 seeds across the board, aided with special-powered seeds to shake things up. I was the lead game designer and writer.<a href="http://hotpottalk.sg/" target="_blank">HOT POT TALK: The Measure of a Meal (2021)</a>
An online exhibition featuring four multimedia, hypertext stories centering around food in Singapore. I was the sole programmer, in charge of putting together the website in Twine based on the media and materials given to me, as well as aiding in web hosting solutions.
[[Dreamcatcher <3 (2021)]]
A speculative design project using Arduino electronics. It reimagines a dreamcatcher into an artifact used like a dating app, that subliminally influences its users while they are asleep through audiovisual effects that will nudge them towards their matched partners when awake.I was a Contributing Writer at RICE Media in the latter half of 2019. The following are a selection of pieces I wrote.
<a href="https://www.ricemedia.co/culture-events-arts-mental-health-acting-mad/" target="_blank">Are All ‘Artsy’ Singaporeans Struggling With Mental Health? (2019)</a>
A preview piece for The Necessary Stage’s //Acting Mad//, about artists and their relationship with mental health.
<b><a href="https://www.ricemedia.co/culture-life-sentosa-cove-lonely/" target="_blank">Is Sentosa Cove A Metaphor For How Lonely It Is At the Top? (2019)</a></b>
I kind of trespass into Singapore’s most exclusive neighbourhood to find out what the fuck is going on there.
<a href="https://www.ricemedia.co/culture-people-male-virgins-late-20s/" target="_blank">In Their Late 20s, and Still A Virgin. Yep, These Singaporean Men Exist (2019)</a>
Self explanatory. I’m still filled with puerile pride at the photoshoot for this piece which I provided creative direction for.
<a href="https://www.ricemedia.co/culture-life-braiding-sweetgrass-relationship-reciprocity/" target="_blank">We’re Taught That Most Relationships Are Transactional, So We Treat Nature the Same Way (2019)</a>
Yes this is sponsored content for an audiobook company but I got to do a book review on why reciprocity is fundamental to our humanity and the earth, so win-win?
<a href="https://www.ricemedia.co/culture-life-broken-economics-content-creation/" target="_blank">Why Is There So Much Sponsored Content? The Broken Economics of Content Creation (2019)</a>
I hate the current economics of “creating content”, and in this piece analyse why the media landscape has basically become secondhand advertising, and propose alternative possibilities for sustainable creative work.<a href="https://vforvesta.neocities.org/revival-2024.pdf" target="_blank">revival (2024)</a>
A short story about a girl trying to revive her beloved pet hamster.
<a href="https://vforvesta.neocities.org/welp-2024.pdf" target="_blank">welp (2024)</a>
A short story about the release of a controversial new manga chapter, the fan response, and the response to the response.
<a href="https://vforvesta.neocities.org/petrichor.pdf" target="_blank">Petrichor (2020)</a>
A short story about a swarm of bees in the shape of a human struggling to play baseball in the rain.
<a href="https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/15629007" target="_blank">nyeusi | fararen | ብናማ | grẹy (2018)</a>
Four colours, four short stories, four years after Ferguson. A personal introspection about black lives.
<a href="https://www.archiveofourown.org/works/9367745/chapters/21206960" target="_blank">Soundscape (Incomplete, 2017-2018)</a>
A 170,000 word crossover fanfiction epic about a group of girls brought into a different world while playing a game.I mean I have many academic essays I’m proud of but none of you want to read that so.<b><u>The Mountain (2017)</u></b>
Composed to form the backing music to a monologue during a student theatre performance of Eleanor Wong’s //Exit//.
<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1100438701%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-x6By3AL4vXp&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/vforvesta" title="vesta" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">vesta</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/vforvesta/the-mountain-final-cut/s-x6By3AL4vXp" title="The Mountain (Final Cut)" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">The Mountain (Final Cut)</a></div>
<b><u>experiments in synthetic nylon (2020)</u><b>
Scored as a backing track for a podcast assignment. I think it’s funky.
<iframe width="100%" height="300" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1100438860%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-i0YYZS9mMQo&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/vforvesta" title="vesta" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">vesta</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/vforvesta/experiments-with-synthetic-nylon/s-i0YYZS9mMQo" title="experiments with synthetic nylon" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">experiments with synthetic nylon</a></div>[[about]]
[[digital games]]
[[physical games]]
[[editorial]]
[[fiction]]
[[design]]
[[music]]
2KNIGHT TILL DAWN was designed to balance between competitive and cooperative play. While the base cycle of the game was a sort of card-based tactical chess which pits both players against each other, there is also the meta-layer where players are telling a story together through the mechanics. By roleplaying as these two knights in a fight to the death, thinking about how they gain resources and deal damage, alongside narrative prompts drawn from a deck, intentional play and serendipity collide to create a novel narrative experience each time.
Excerpts from the playbook:
<img id="imgst" src="images/2k_1.jpg">
<img id="imgst" src="images/2k_2.jpg">
Screenshots of play:
<img id="imgst" src="images/2k_3.png">
<img id="imgst" src="images/2k_4.png">Excerpts from the playbook:
<img id="imgst" src="images/ps1.jpg">
<img id="imgst" src="images/ps2.jpg">
<img id="imgst" src="images/ps3.jpg">
<img id="imgst" src="images/ps4.jpg">Preliminary sketches:
<img id="imgst" src="images/d3_0.jpg">
Prototype:
<img id="imgst3" src="images/d3_1.jpg"> <img id="imgst2" src="images/d3_2.gif">
<img id="imgst" src="images/d3_3.jpg">
<img id="imgst" src="images/d3_4.png">Low-fi Prototype Demo Video:
<iframe width="960" height="540" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hBYwgc6WLNo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Excerpt from Storyboard:
<img id="imgst" src="images/mm2.jpg">