A lively discussion with Flatpak and Full Deck creator Stephen Lockyer about his history of designing puzzle books, his discipline of creating content, and how the every day and mundane inspires his process. Stephen has a dry sense of humour and I could have chatted with him for hours about his puzzle making process. His is an enthusiastic creator and very helpful and open contributor to the puzzle community. He has launched numerous successful Kickstart campaigns and he and his business partner are responsible for several renowned puzzle books. This episode we discuss his process and how to c ..read more

LA based experience designer Tommy Honton joins me as we discuss his journey from a film and tv writer in the wild and wacky world of experience design. This is the 10 episode of season 2 of Fictional Reality. In this season I talk to experience designers from around the world about how they design puzzle experiences, mysteries, immersive theatre, and escape rooms.  Today I chat with Tommy Honton an award winning experience designer with a passion for the fundamental experience of the player. He has designed and created experiences such as the Museum of Selfies, Stash House, Arcana, All ..read more

The Wild Optimists are the creative duo behind the first mass markte escape room in a box game and work as puzzle designers whose goal is to discover new ways to play. This week I chat with two very clever, generous, and creative puzzle designers Ariel and Juliana. Together the are The Wild Optimists, two women who are constantly pushing themselves to discover new ways to play. They have created in home experiences, online puzzle quests, are the minds behind Vampire Pizza (a quarantine solution), and have also launched a puzzle workshop among many many other projects. Their laundry list is as ..read more

A chat with experience designer Ben from Mystery City Games, an outdoor puzzle adventure company who specialise in "puzzlefying" historical stories. EPISODE NOTES: Ben and his business partner decided to make use of all the great history, stories, and mysteries that lay hidden within the bricks mortar of Amsterdam by creating a puzzle led narrative adventure that would take visitors on a mysterious self guided tour of the city. Two years of development and testing resulting in a successful model that had his company growing rapidly to expand to more cities, developing more true historical puz ..read more

Jack Ford Morgan is the founder and game designer for Half-Monster Games, an independent Australian board game producer. We talk about his latest game Animal World War, the question of "what is good", and designing player experience. EPISODE NOTES: Jack and I talk about the importance of designing the player experience in our latest episode. We discuss how immersive approaches to game design help build a narrative and universe that sustains player imagination throughout gameplay. We digress slightly into trying to answer the question of What Is Good and easily dispatch the answer, I don't know ..read more

Paul Adams is a multi-modal creator specialising in theatre production and business development. He is a true renaissance man, and believes in surprising the customer with value. EPISODE NOTES: This is the sixth episode of season 2 of Fictional Reality. This season I will be interviewing experience designers, puzzle developers, and escape room enthusiasts to find out how they design experiences. This week I chat with Paul Adams from Small Crown Productions, a local Brisbane based theatre producer and creator. Paul has extensive experience not only in theatre, live action role play, re-enactmen ..read more

This week I chat with Doctor Cameron Cliff. He develops multi-platform experiences and uses storytelling to solve strategy problems. EPISODE NOTES: This is the fourth episode of the new season of Fictional Reality. This season I will be interviewing experience designers, puzzle developers, and escape room enthusiasts to find out how they design experiences as well as tips and tricks for you how can too. This week I chat with Doctor Cameron Cliff. He develops multi-platform experiences and uses storytelling to solve strategy problems. From immersive, interactive theatrical productions that expl ..read more

This week I chat with Michelle and Yacine from Society of Curiosities and Kauai Escape rooms. In the COVID business pivot they released a play at home adventure subscription service. EPISODE NOTES: This is the third episode of the new season of Fictional Reality. This season I will be interviewing experience designers, puzzle developers, and escape room enthusiasts to find out how they design experiences. This week I chat with Michelle and Yacine from Society of Curiosities and Kauai Escape rooms. In the COVID business pivot they released a play at home adventure subscription service. We chat ..read more

Today I chat with Rita Orlov, the creator behind the mail-out mystery website PostCurious. She is a narrative puzzle adventure designer, illustrator, creator, maker extraordinaire. EPISODE NOTES: This is the third episode of the new season of Fictional Reality. This season I will be interviewing experience designers, puzzle developers, and escape room enthusiasts to find out how they design experiences. Today I chat with Rita Orlov, the creator behind the mail-out mystery website PostCurious. She is a narrative puzzle adventure designer, illustrator, creator, maker extraordinaire. We discuss h ..read more

This week I chat with Chris Waters aka The Architect and owner of Constructed Adventures, an individualized treasure hunt experience designer from Portland, Oregan USA EPISODE NOTES: This is the second episode of the new season of Fictional Reality. This season I will be interviewing experience designers, puzzle developers, and escape room enthusiasts to find out how they design experiences. This week I chat with Chris Waters aka The Architect and owner of Constructed Adventures, an individualized treasure hunt experience designer from Portland, Oregon USA. Chris is a wealth of knowledge when ..read more