About Matthew

I sunk who knows how many weekends into videogames growing up, between high school and college. Now, I play and write them.

Okay, this version of ‘About Me’ is less formal than what is on my homepage. I wanted to take this space to share details about my writing experiences, what inspires me, and more.

My goal is providing your studio with compelling writing involving engaging characters, storylines, and a player-first mindset. While I work alone very well, I love collaborating to achieve outstanding results. It often takes a village to create a videogame.

My passion is in developing high-fidelity, single player titles, ranging from science fiction and fantasy FPSs, RPGs, and branching narratives. However, you can see my range of contributions is also in pixel art sci-fi, fairy tale fantasy, and RPGs. Additionally, you will see smaller bits, like item descriptions and multiplayer callouts in my portfolio. If I had to describe my writing style, it might be hard to. It can be shaped to whatever the project needs.

A few of my favorites that represent those are Marvel's Spiderman, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Life is Strange, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Walking Dead by Telltale Games, and Halo 3. Aloy learning how her birth is connected to the reborn, post-apocalyptic world around her was so intriguing to see unfold. A nameless player-character waking up in a certain carriage later gets saved by a dragon once thought disappeared. Brothers bantering with each other while chasing pirate treasure before their nemesis does. Or Master Chief splattering Flood Infection forms with a Warthog, driving at top speed, to the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn before the Halo ring detonates. Those moments encapsulate my passion for videogames and game writing.

But wait, that’s not all! From Battlefield to PubG, Call of Duty to Gang Beasts - playing with others creates lasting memories and relationships. Mostly, I dive into Halo. That franchise hooked me in over twenty-one years ago. Having the opportunity to stuff like voice-acting, level design, or writing on a multiplayer game would kick butt.

What made me want to write creatively?

Oh, brother - that’s a long-winded question. Hmm. Besides that my college grades improved dramatically, I fell in love with the process of it, of storytelling. Every. Single. Step. Of constructing something purely from my imagination. Of having a sandbox of ideas that I can build upon. Of providing the world with stories of powerful, or quiet, themes and goofy characters, that have a power to point readers to a great hope. Now, combine that art with interactive entertainment, and you have the most influential form of storytelling today. The most unique. There’s reason why videogames earn more than music and Hollywood combined.

Lemme share a little more…

Since 2015 I have also swam in the rivers of prose. All of a few short stories and a novel that fill time. My other writing goal, then, is becoming an author! To get me there, I am writing my first novel, a space opera story with humor and heart currently called Project Ellexis. Between fine-tuning space fights to my main character piecing together plot twists with her brother, it is in the challenging phase of developmental editing. Additionally, as an aside I have a few by-lines of videogame journalism with Love Thy Nerd.

To wrap this up, I received that piece of paper called a diploma from Portland State University as a B.S in English Literature and a Minor in Creative Writing Fiction, in 2018. That’s what happens when you start college as a computer science major - you change to writing!

Addicted to chocolate chip cookies. Can listen to Skillet on repeat. Sucks at volleyball. Overdoes “your mom” jokes.