Summer is here my friends, and it comes with a brand new interview! Meet Emmett Nahil, Narrative Director at Perfect Garbage and writer of a queer horror graphic novel set to be released on October 3rd.
Emmett seems to be one of those people that are good at different stuff, and that you look up to when trying to get better at what you do. While working on Love Shore and Grave Seasons at Perfect Garbage, he also co-created an exciting piece of literature, Let Me Out. Let’s learn more about his journey, shall we?
It is so nice to meet you, Emmett! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi there! I’m the Narrative Design Director (and one of two cofounders) in Perfect Garbage Studios. I’m also a writer, a script editor, and a jack of all trades, sort of.
When was the first time you were introduced to video games?
Probably when I was very young, going over to our neighbor’s house to play DDR and Guitar Hero. In terms of solo play, the first games that I fell in love with were Assassin’s Creed 2 and the first Mirror’s Edge.
How did you end up working in our industry?
Son M., a good friend and the other half of Perfect Garbage, called me up one evening and asked if I wanted to make a video game. I’d already been getting into writing for comics, and we both were interested in what kinds of stories we could tell through games.
What is your role as a Narrative Director?
As a Narrative Director in a relatively small indie studio, I have a lot of diverse duties that a Narrative Dir. in AAA might not have. I write a huge percentage of our game’s scripts. I’m responsible for managing script integration and advocating for the story itself as we go through the design process.
I help with a lot of Creative Direction duties as well, and help set some of the tone artistically and thematically for our games, alongside Son, as we go through development. Essentially, I help create all story elements and put those words through the wringer.
Do you have a specific creative process when it comes to writing for games?
Yes and no. My personal writing work tends to be a solo endeavor, and so when I am writing for games I really like to dig into collaboration, and into ping-ponging ideas between myself and the other creative heads in-studio. I bounce ideas off people when they’re ready, and try to integrate feedback as I go. But it’s different for every project.
Did you face some challenges that you were able to overcome since you became a Narrative Director?
I didn’t attend university for game design or creative writing, and so I do a lot of on-the-job learning. I have to be internally motivated, and figure out what I don’t know, because indie is such a self-directed venture.
Do you have examples of games with great narration to share with us?
So many! But narration is different than narrative design, right? Hades is a huge inspiration to me, in terms of how Supergiant brought a kind of narrative voice to the roguelike genre. Obviously vastly cinematic games like Red Dead Redemption 2 are appealing to me, as well as games with heavily invested worldbuilding, like Dishonored.
What qualities do you have that make you good at what you do?
You’d have to ask my co-workers about that! To toot my own horn, I like to think that I’m good at being flexible with fairly few resources. I find it fun and interesting to work within mechanical limitations, it’s a great challenge for me.
Are there projects you have been very proud to work on?
To be honest, anything Perfect Garbage makes I’m proud of. I’m exceptionally proud of our debut game, Love Shore [which came out in May 2023].
To you, what could be improved and changed in our industry?
So many things. We’ve already come a long way in terms of representation of marginalized identities across indie and AAA, but I’d really like to see a more thorough reckoning about how we treat marginalized developers, from all economic backgrounds.
Games are expensive to make, and I really wish there was a better system of pitching and funding games that wasn’t so opaque, in order to help folks make a living outside of AAA.
Any last words?
Thanks for chatting with me. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at @_emnays, and as I mentioned, Love Shore [was released in May]!! Check it out on Steam and on Xbox if you want a narrative-driven cyberpunk noir game.
Emmett Nahil – Narrative Director
Twitter / Instagram
Thank you Emmett for sharing your work with us! On my side, it is time for a little break, I will try to take a month to meet new people and prepare some interviews in advance for August and the rest of 2023. In the meantime, stay safe!
