Leilani Kaiser

Award-Winning Game Writer & Narrative Designer

About Me

Oh, hello there! My name is Leilani Kaiser, and I am an Asian-American game writer/narrative designer based in Florida. I have worked in the game industry for 2 years now, but I have many more years of experience writing and designing games from my time at Ringling College of Art and Design, as well as making personal projects!I am a former writer for Pixelberry Studios' Storyloom platform, where I created works of nonlinear interactive fiction ranging from romantic, to dramatic, to fantastic, and sometimes even a little spicy. Shoutout to my editor Isa, who always made sure my work was at its best!I have also written multiple Twine games, with my creation Parabiosis having received a runner-up award for a narrative-based game jam. You can find that game and others like it here!Currently, I'm working at Alternate Games as a narrative designer! My first game with them is in the works, so stay tuned for more information in the coming months!When I'm not typing away at my computer, you can most likely find me playing video games, listening to new wave music, or crocheting anime-themed toys and figures.I'm always on the hunt for a new writing opportunity (I can be a lone wolf or a team player), so if you're interested in taking me on for a project, please feel free to contact me!Email: [email protected]

GAMES

Professional Work

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Personal Projects

Strange New Tides is a game that I worked on with the Indie Game Academy's game jam team for Ludum Dare 56. You play as Munch, a young amnesiac Cthulhu who wakes up on a beach after a storm. Unsure of what to do with yourself, you decide to make yourself at home by upgrading your house, playing games, and chatting with your neighbors.This game was made in 72 hours, and I am super proud of my work on it! I wrote both ending cutscenes and designed and wrote the dialogue for Amaretta, who contributed a lot to the humor of the game. The whole team did an excellent job, and the game is now on Steam!You can find my work on the game in the samples section of this website, and you can play the actual game on itch.io or Steam!

Storyloom shuttered its app and website back in February 2024, thus it can no longer be accessed.Just Like Other Girls was the first interactive narrative I wrote during my time with Storyloom. I hold it very near and dear to my heart, as it deals with many personal themes, such as judgement based on appearance and internalized misogyny.In the game, you play as Kira Ramsey, a college student who is, loudly and proudly, NOT like other girls. But when Melanie Conners joins her video game club at college, Kira’s views towards girly-girls get tested. Walls are let down, toxic societal cycles are broken, and a romance between two unlikely lovers blossoms before your eyes.You can find a dialogue excerpt from the game in the samples section of this website.

Storyloom shuttered its app and website back in February 2024, thus it can no longer be accessed.Fanfic Fiasco was my second interactive narrative with Storyloom, and a fun one to write at that! The whole concept revolved around romance/fanfiction cliches, so I really leaned into the cheese with the writing.In the game, you play as Talia Lambert, a girl who falls asleep in the woods and wakes up to find herself in a world that isn’t her own. Everyone is young, hot, and trying to flirt with her, and she must choose whether to stay or leave! This is the first story to feature branching narratives, with multiple endings depending on your choice of love interest (or no choice at all!)

Storyloom shuttered its app and website back in February 2024, thus it can no longer be accessed.Concerto in RPG-Minor was my third interactive narrative with Storyloom, and my most ambitious story to date! I'm incredibly proud to say that with my editor helping me clean up the formatting, I was able to create a basic turn-based battle system within the confines of a visual novel program!In the game, you play as Beck, an elven bard that has been requested to play at a royal wedding across the country. Throughout the game, she forms a party and defeats enemies hindering her journey, including an evil warlock threatening to take over the world! Though linear in plot, the battles could have multiple outcomes based on damage done and damage taken.You can find a dialogue excerpt from the game in the samples section of this website.With the closure of Storyloom, these are some of the only images I have from my time with the platform.

Storyloom shuttered its app and website back in February 2024, thus it can no longer be accessed.Iron MerMaiden was my fourth interactive narrative with Storyloom. The concept for the story actually dates back to a writing assignment from my senior year of college, in which I wrote a brief interaction between a tone-deaf mermaid and a young metalhead.In the game, you play as Angie, your run-of-the-mill mermaid, except for one crucial detail: she can’t sing! Her whole world changes when she meets a human metalhead named Mari who shows her a brand new style of music. This was also my first game to implement the number variable, a brand new feature to Storyloom at the time. With certain choices, the "love interest" variable would have a set amount of points added, culminating in multiple endings based on points accrued throughout the game.

Storyloom shuttered its app and website back in February 2024, thus it can no longer be accessed.Plumeria Blooms was my fifth and final interactive narrative with Storyloom, and possibly the most challenging story (content-wise) I've written thus far. It required that I tackle my final frontier of genre writing, a world that I had not yet dipped my toes into: steamy romance.In the game, you play as Plumeria Lee, a young woman whose life has been all work and no play. Everything gets turned upside-down when she meets a sexy, yet enigmatic man who offers her a well-paid job to live with him on his private island. Many hours were spent on rewrites of the first chapter to make sure it had a good hook, countless more on ensuring the scenes with "spice" were titillating. I'm very proud of this game and the way it pushed me out of my comfort zone.You can find a dialogue excerpt from the game in the samples section of this website.

Runner-Up for the Narrative Design Awards 2024 game jam!Parabiosis is a text-based Twine game that I entered into the Narrative Design Awards 2024 game jam on itch.io. You play as a male anglerfish searching for a mate, meeting different sea creatures and questioning life, death, and desire.I had a wonderful time putting this game together in 2 weeks for the jam, and my first one at that! I've received a lot of positive feedback from my fellow creators, and I'm so, so proud that it received recognition from the judges!You can find a dialogue excerpt from the game in the samples section of this website, and you can play the game here!

Enter the Moon is my first published foray into the horror genre. It's a text-based game that sends the player on a mission to explore the moon's interior, featuring a branching narrative and four different endings to discover. It's a love letter to cosmic horror, to the strange and unexplainable and the fear of the unknown.Though I've been familiar with Twine since college, Enter the Moon is the first game to really demonstrate my proficiency with the medium. Timed transitions, link reveals, and colored text build tension and unease as you inch closer to the inner core.You can play the game here!

Mud Bourbon is a text-based game that I made for the Neo-Twiny game jam. You play as a cowgirl on the last day of her horse's life, as you mentally prepare for his upcoming passing.This was an interesting project to take on, as the rules of the jam limited the word count to only 500 words! I had to get creative and really cut down my story to its most important and emotional bits. It was a great experience in learning how to say a lot with very little!You can play the game here!