WE ARE A WRITING STUDIO
We craft and develop fictional content for all modern media. Our methodology ensures that worlds are scalable and serve as meaningful metaphors for contemporary themes.
SERVICES
WRITING FOR ALL MEDIA
Video games have been the motor for developing novel IP concepts for the past two decades, and we have honed our skills and forged our content development tools while working on over 100 fictional worlds, both traditional and interactive.
- Every concept has a voice
- Your world is a metaphor
- A real choice has world impact
- The rules of the game tell a story
SCRIPT DOCTORING
The difference between a good story and a great one is often just a question of craft. We can help ensure that your narrative resonates with your target audience and help you remove structural obstacles, erratic pacing, and stylistic contradictions.
- There is structure in everything
- Each character has a unique voice
- Story Plot versus Character Arcs
- Read it out loud
FIRST LANGUAGE LOCALIZATION
English is often the first language voiced in multimedia projects, and other translations use the English language script as their source. We ensure that no matter what the authors’ mother tongue, the narrative experience will be respected and reach its intended audience.
- English Adaptation and Tuning
- Style and Writing Guides
- Localization Q&A
- Casting & Studio Recording
INTERACTIVE MEDIA
Digital media are not new: they are the sum of all the media that went before them. Whether relaying an adventure through a video game or mobile app, a comic book, or a song, the tools for forging these experiences have not fundamentally changed since the dawn of humanity. Good stories start with three questions:
What do you want to say?
What emotion moves you to say it?
Through whose eyes do you want to share it?
The rest is craft.
STORY
Taliespin was founded in 2012 as a US writing studio by Kurt McClung and Simon Mackenzie to cater to the needs of indie video game studios in search of quality game writing with meaningful choices. Their first clients were Spiders, PassTech, Vector Cell, Ubisoft and Deck 13. Over time they expanded their services to script doctoring, world design and first language localization, bringing in Stephen Rhodes and Kallie Frances to complete the core team and open up a second office in Belgium.
Taliespin has worked on over 100 projects to date in video games, cinema and animation for more than 30 studios worldwide, providing opportunities for dozens of writers and designers.
KALLIE FRANCES
Partner
KURT MCCLUNG
Co-founder
SIMON MACKENZIE
Co-founder
STEPHEN RHODES
Partner
TALENT
Christopher Morrison
Multi-talented writer-director-educator with a diverse creative background spanning films, theater, VR, and video games on over 150 projects. His VR work, The Werewolf Experience, played at Cannes in 2023. His feature film, The Bellwether, amassed 80,000 views, and he’s recognized as a narrative designer for video games
Luciana Cioca
Luciana Cioca is a narrative designer, writer, and worldbuilder. She has previously contributed to an unannounced title and original IP developed by Goldilocks, and is currently working on InXile’s upcoming game Clockwork Revolution
Antoine Henry
Antoine is a multi-talented creator who has contributed to large franchises such as Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed and League of Legends. His long passion for linguistics developed into the rare expertise of creating fictional languages, which he puts in service of fleshing out immersive worlds and engaging audiences with deep lore (Isu language for Assassin’s Creed and Yecht Fradí for Greedfall)
Azizah Assattari
Azizah Assattari, a visioner CEO of Lentera Nusantara, stands as a driving force in Indonesian game development. Known for signature dark fantasy style, she’s a multitalented 2D painter, 3D artist, art director, and webcomic writer. Her notable creation, Ghost Parade weaves narratives from 101 Indonesian folklores, showcasing her talents in an expansive ecosystem of IP creation that is shaping Indonesian Intellectual Property. She also works as an AI consultant in a national projects titled Sosio that dedicated to emphasizing Gen-Z creator interaction.
David Gallaher
Editorial Ambassador. Harvey award-winning graphic novelist behind Iron Man, Archie Comics, and Green Lantern. Writer for Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
Gautier Durrieu de Madron
Originally from southern France, I’m a fantasy author, mythology expert, lecturer, narrative designer, and host of the podcast « Le Comptoir des Légendes. » With 6 books published and more in progress, I’ve collaborated on video-game projects with Taliespin, including « Clockwork Revolution, » « Legends of Awen, » and the Escape Game at Château d’Azay-le-Rideau.
Théophile Bouche Le Peltier
I studied Anthropology (M.D) and Philosophy (M.D) in French and international universities.
I then worked as a philosophy professor in high school.
And since 2020, I have been working as a World Designer, helping studios craft rich and vibrant IPs: Clockwork Revolution (InXile) and other unannounced narrative-focused RPGs.
Marie-Sophie Gandy
Marie-Sophie has worked as a producer in TV documentaries and video games (unannounced T-RPGs). As an author, she works as a screenwriter for French TV and as a Narrative and World Designer and Writer for video games (including an unannounced T-RPG and a cultural VR game, Azay-Le-Rideau).
Lindsay Hemingway
Lindsay Hemingway is an American writer of both music and words. She has a degree in music composition and theory and has written music for all sizes of ensemble, from solo to orchestra, and even wrote music for Dexter the (improv) Musical. Lindsay received many accolades in school for her writing as well, be it stories or poetry, and has been delving back into the world of word craft. She has worked on two currently undisclosed games, and looks forward to many more!
Zachary Martinez Parris
Award-winning American writer-director in both big and indie Hollywood projects and AAA video games. As a Sundance Institute and Sloan Foundation Fellow, his work as a screenwriter has been praised by the Academy and recognized by studios such as 30West and 20th Century Fox. In AAA gaming, he’s contributed as an in-house screenwriter, senior writer, and IP consultant on both games and game trailers: Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, Beyond: Two Souls, Detroit: Become Human, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla…
Maxime Lidolff
Maxime Lidolff est diplômé d’un master de Sciences Politiques à la Sorbonne et d’un master de Game Design à l’ENJMIN. Il a travaillé 2 ans en tant que game designer dans un studio de serious games et 3 ans au sieÌge d’Ubisoft sur des jeux AAA, comme la licence Watch Dogs. Il a par la suite fondé Pocket Story, un studio de création de jeux mobiles narratifs. Il est actuellement lead narrative designer chez Hawkswell et intervient régulièrement à Isart Digital Paris.
Félix Tievant
With more than ten years in the video game industry and 11 games shipped on brands like Assassin’s Creed, The Witcher or Prince of Persia, Félix is an Audio Swiss-Army Knife, familiar with all aspects of game audio whether it be on the artistic side (music, voice and sound design direction and creation), the technical side (pipelines design, audio integration in engine), or the production side of things (team management, production planning, coordination with outsource).
Emil Daubon
Emil Daubon is a 22-year veteran of US Army Special Forces and a Columbia University graduate with a degree in theatre and dramatic writing. He has worked on numerous AAA video game titles, has written and directed several short films, takes his coffee black, and loves canelés.
CREDITS
UBISOFT
Action-RPG
Lead Writing, Writing
RPG
Localization, Writing, Conlang
INXILE
RPG
Writing
PASSTECH GAMES
Roguelike
Writing, Lore Design
MICROIDS
Action
Writing
Action-RPG
Additional Writing
Tactical RPG
Writing, Story
Tactical Card Game
Lead Writer
RPG
Writing, Localization, Conlang
RPG
Lead Writer & World
Action
Writing, Storytelling Consultant
Action Roguelike
Lead Writer, Narrative Design, Conlang
Strategy Tactical
Lead Writer, Writing
Action
Story, Dialogues
RPG
Lead Writer
Action-RPG
Writing
RPG
English Editor, Script Doctoring; Localization
Strategy Tactical
Lead Writer, Writing
Action
Story, Dialogues
Strategy Tactical
Writing
UBISOFT / CAPYBARA
Puzzle
Story, Dialogues
Educational
Story, Dialogues
UBISOFT / NIVAL
Strategy Tactical
Writing
Action
Script
Action
Title Song / Copywriting
DON’T NOD
Action-RPG
Localization
BIG BAD WOLF
Action-RPG
Localization
HOMO LUDENS
Simulation
Narrative Design, Writing
Action-RPG
Localization
VR-Arcade
Writing, World Design
Action-RPG
Writing
VR-Arcade
Writing, World Design
Action-RPG
Script Doctoring, Localization
VR Escape Room
Writing
Adventure RPG
Script Doctoring
MMO RPG Online
Writing, World Design
Action-RPG
Conlang
MANA CUBE
Dungeon Crawler
Writing, Full IP Development
Interactive TV, Mystery
Writing, World Design
Apple Game App
World Design, Writing
Arena Battle Sim
Writing, World Design