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Nathan Savant

@baldsavant.bsky.social

2.4K followers 580 following 2.6K posts

Actions Speak Louder Than Words ✍️ Systemic Narrative Designer 🧭 Quest designer and world builder 🧠 Psychology and Sociology in #GameDesign 🧙‍♂️ Wizard in need of a pointy hat Currently @ Unemployed He/Him

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 4d

NEW BLOG POST!

This time I'm talking about systems-driven narrative design and how YOU can tell a story with your gameplay, whatever that gameplay happens to be. We start from Bananza and build into a systemic approach anyone can use.

www.nathansavant.com/post/systemi...

Systemic Narrative: A How-To Guide

After my last blog post on Donkey Kong Bananza, I threatened to take what I’d learned and tell you how to do that for yourself. Well here I am, looming in the shadows with the knife of knowledge in my hand. Waiting just for you.Now you may look at this blog title and think to yourself “But Nathan, Bananza doesn’t really have a systems-driven narrative, why are you talking about that topic?!” and to you I would say “welcome to my unhinged corner of the internet, you must be new here!”. Donkey Kon

www.nathansavant.com

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 8h

It's necessary to have recruitable people in the story, but they could've done more to make them more powerful.

It's weird how useless they all are compared to the normal classes. Except Orlandeau, of course.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 8h

Jokes on you. The artists were all being commissioned for art of hot women in armor, and the scientists had been charged to create technology that lets me look like I'm a powerful wizard in front of the hot armored women.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 8h

Artists and scientists. I would simply become a medieval patron, funding people to make things and learn things until the money ran out.

doctober @docseuss.bsky.social · 1d

lets say a wizard has cursed you with a lot of money. you are going to become permanently brain damaged simply by being in possession of so much money. the only way out of it is to spend a lot of money on something ridiculous and not at all useful

what would you buy to break the curse?

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Reposted by Nathan Savant

Glen 🇨🇦 part owner of Canada* @honestcanadian.bsky.social · 1d

This is huge news!
UBC has developed an enzyme that can convert donor organs to type O, making them universal.
Normally a using organs of the wrong blood type causes the recipient's immune system to attack the organ, leading to failure.
❤️🇨🇦⚕️
news.ubc.ca/2025/10/univ...

UBC enzyme technology clears first human test toward universal donor organs for transplantation - UBC News

UBC-developed enzymes successfully converted a kidney to universal type O for transplant, marking a major step toward faster, more compatible organ donations.

news.ubc.ca

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

It's excellent and not as long as I was expecting! About 50 hours or so for me, so a lot but not a Persona or etc.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

Really highlights why so much theater advice tells you to start off grounded.

If you go too big too fast, you'll lose the people nearer the bottom.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

Congrats on the PhD!

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

Always been one of my favorite final fantasies, but I may have to elevate it up to one of my overall favorite games now I've seen the end.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

Truly truly impressed by how consistently the theme of the game is written into it all the way to the end.

Villain literally dies screaming "if only I'd had more power!!" Just the perfect last line for his story.

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Reposted by Nathan Savant

Fun @funkelly.bsky.social · 16h

how happy we’d all be if this was all the internet was for

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

Thanks timeline!!

Two posts on BlueSky:

1. IGF this year is going to kill me

2. IGF has started which means it's time for me to message all the devs who forgot to... Submit a game

Reposted by Nathan Savant

Jacob Garbe 💀 @logodaedalus.bsky.social · 15h

Nice! Looking forward to reading a deep dive on a tough design space many designers engage with.

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 10h

Psionic cows, paralyzed third eyes due to plastic surgery, I'm loving this world building let's get a first script started!

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 13h

First time ever hitting credits on Final Fantasy Tactics!!

Wow what a game!

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Reposted by Nathan Savant

i sob hell @isobel.top · 27d

maslow's hierarchy of needs but with hollow knight silksong fleas and it says "when you find one of these little guys and he goes "awooo"

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 17h

Steam Next Fest demos really solidifying my distaste for lore being the first thing in a game. If I haven't played your game yet, I don't need to know what caused the events of it.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 19h

Congrats!!

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 19h

like we all post about it, but I need a buffer between, ya know? Show me your cats, show me the pie you made, THEN put some news in there, but I need like 3/4 cats and pie.

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 19h

I've been making it a real hard point to unfollow people who flood my feed with depressing news. You may be a cool person and all, but I need a non-doom-scroll feed!

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Reposted by Nathan Savant

Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 4d

Systemic Narrative: A How-To Guide

www.nathansavant.com

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Reposted by Nathan Savant

Karla Ortiz @kortizart.bsky.social · 20h

Just heard Drew Struzan passed away 😞 His incredible work has given me and countless others so much awe, joy and inspiration!

I had posters of his work as a teen, I began using color pencils because I thought he used them too. Always inspired by him. Just utterly heart broken.

RIP Drew Struzan.

Drew Struzan’s poster of Big Trouble in Little China

Drew Struzan’s poster of Pan’s Labyrinth

Drew Struzan’s poster of Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom

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Reposted by Nathan Savant

Hard Drive @hard-drive.net · 22h

Sam Altman has said any workers who are displaced by OpenAI will be given free transportation to the nearest culling facility where they will be summarily slaughtered and converted into a nutritious paste meant to be consumed by busy tech executives who don’t have time for regular meals.

Sam Altman explains Open AIs vision for a world where no one goes hungry because all the displaced workers will be converted into essential nutrients for other tech executives.

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Reposted by Nathan Savant

Old DeuTaranomy 🧶⚒️ @kindofstrange.com · 21h

Nice little initiative from Owlcat

owlcat.games/learning

Owlcat Games - We create cRPGs

We create cRPGs

owlcat.games

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 21h

People are about to have a very hard realization that the reason they enjoy TV/movies/games so much is because of the social aspects.

Chris Franklin @errant-signal.com · 22h

Even putting aside the fact that AI can't do this and will never be able to do this

Who would *want* this? Who wants a bespoke personal TV show? That they can't meaningfully engage anyone else with? That no human had a hand in crafting? You might as well tell someone about a cool dream you had.

Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 2d

Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies

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Nathan Savant @baldsavant.bsky.social · 22h

[Nausicaa Intensifies]