Our OJs continue to make their mark in exciting industries, and Holly Mahal (Pelican – 2019) is no exception. Now a Narrative Designer at Fireshine Games, Holly shared her journey from studying film at Falmouth University to crafting immersive stories for players worldwide.

“I didn’t even know the role of Narrative Designer existed until I saw it in the credits of a game I played”. In comparison to writing for film, Holly enjoys the ability to personally connect directly with each player.

On the growing conversation around AI in creative industries, Holly is clear: “I’ll never use AI for storytelling.” And so far it seems the players are ensuring the industry retains human writing.  Holly tells us that for the players, the perfection of AI just isn’t realistic. The need for emotional vulnerability and capturing raw human imperfections of the characters, means AI scripts are missing something and don't connect as well with the players.

Holly’s first released game, Tales of Seikyu, is her the highlight of her career so far:
“It’s funny, emotional, and the most collobarative game I have worked on, you can see a bit of each of the team in the finished game, we even worked with players to shape the ending.”

Read Holly’s full interview in the annual Hurst Foundation Magazine at the end of the year.