Joanie Rich - a.k.a. "Bubbly Oasis"
Companies I've Worked For:
Oh, wow! You actually want to know more about me!? Well, alright then!
I’m a tomboy from the Midwestern United States who grew up watching way too many cartoons and playing way too many video games. I’ve studied theater since I was a kid and spent most of my high school and college years either on or back stage. I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri with a B.F.A. in Creative Writing and Graphic Design. I later earned an additional diploma in Classical 2D Animation from the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts in beautiful British Columbia, Canada! I’m a world traveler who’s lived in London, explored across Europe, and fulfilled my childhood dream of visiting Japan.
After college, I followed my dreams of working in the animation industry in Hollywood, California, eventually discovering my place in the video games industry and moving up north to Seattle, Washington, where I currently reside.
I’ve spent the last 11 years at Big Fish Games where I started as a contract Quality Assurance Tester and left as an experienced Narrative Designer. I worked with casual game developers all over the world, teaching them how to bring their ideas to life. I worked on hundreds of casual premium titles and several free-to-play mobile games. I built worlds, created characters, and weaved together intersecting questlines.
I’m currently available for work! In the meantime, I’m writing more stories, making indie games, and enjoying any stories I can get my hands. I enjoy teaching people how to create their own games, and encouraging others to go for what they want in life.
My Writing Philosophy:
Narrative is more than just text.
Stories are told through color, through shape, through timing and movement. Even if there are no words said, feelings can be felt by interacting with and forming a bond with characters in a game, even when those characters are silent… like the companion cube.
In the game Portal, players form a bond with a simple object: the companion cube which they use to shield themselves and help solve puzzles. But when the game’s antagonist GLaDOS demands they must “euthanize” the cube in order to proceed, many players pause and are blown away by how much they’ve grown attached to their cube. This seemingly ordinary game object that would have otherwise been an unmemorable heavy object in just another test chamber puzzle has been given meaning and even character. Many players point to this moment as the saddest moment in the game and it made them motivated to get revenge on GLaDOS for manipulating their emotions.
“Game story fails when the game is beautiful, but there is no reason to care about the characters.”
– Robert Ferrigno
Narrative begins the moment a game launches, immersing the player in the game world.
The intro and main menu of the game Brutal Legend by DoubleFine Games is a perfect example of how developers can inject story elements into traditionally standard designs like the opening menu of a game. It perfectly sets up the world of the game, making you feel like you’re inside the world of the music.
The best kind of narrative is invisible, woven so tightly with the mechanics that you can’t separate them without losing the heart of your game.
It’s really difficult to describe how to play the game Papers, Please without mentioning anything about story. As the guard at a border station, it is your job to choose whether or not each person is allowed to enter your country – and there are consequences to your character and the game world based on what you decide. One of the most memorable characters in the game is an NPC named Jorji who keeps trying to sneak past the border with often-hilariously bad counterfeited papers. You learn a lot about him just by the way you interact with him and the fact that he keeps coming back day after day. That tells a story in and of itself, even without his dialogue.
