Released on July 15th, 2025

Crash land on a mysterious planet with this link: store.steam/Star_Rift_Saga/

From the Steam page: On a distant planet, rifts in space are opening — threatening to release planet-devouring monsters into the galaxy. Close the rifts and save the galaxy in this modern Metroidvania quest with tight platforming, fast-paced combat, and deep RPG progression.

How I found this project: For this project, I searched for indie teams needing writing assistance. Be it for dialogue, plotting, polishing, or world building. I also wanted to work on a science fiction project but for the short-term.

Discord servers and itch.io are where I looked around. One developer, a member of an indie scene local to me, reached out via Discord with his project: a 2.5D sci-fi, side-scroller shooter, where each time your character died you got reset. He wanted a writer to read through his script, and then offer suggestions for polishing.

While I am not well-versed in that gameplay style, the concept he presented intrigued me. It checked off every box I was looking for. So, I signed an NDA and dove in.

My Creative Process: I began by reading the script. Then suggesting places to improve dialogue, character voices to be more distinct from one another, and narrative. For this, I used Google Docs’s highlighter and commenter functions.

While there was only a little bit of talk about my title, my role was essentially Contributing Writer and Editor. I focused on revising/polishing the narrative, and helping the dialogue sound unique. All with a deadline of the end of July/beginning of August 2025. Just north of two weeks of work.

The Result: What a fun little project! From diving into its technical details to seeing big picture scenarios for the player experience. And he was pleased with the feedback I provided.

I came away with learning a few new things. One, working under a tight deadline. Two, improving in providing constructive feedback, and collaboration with the Team Lead of a small project.