WHAT I DID
- creative direction
- product management
- world building
- narrative design
- game design
PROJECT INFO
- Website
- Duration: 2020 – 2023
OVERVIEW
I always wanted to create my own worlds. That’s what motivated me to pursue game design in the first place. One avenue where I could let that passion loose has always been role-playing games. I’ve been an avid game master for a long time, so when I stumbled upon Dungeon Realms, I knew I had to jump on board.
Dungeon Realms is a mobile RPG based on the fifth edition D&D rule set played over text chat. It’s tagline was “D&D on mobile” and it had very lofty ambitions when I joined. The basic rules of D&D are covered by an open creative license, so they can be freely used by anyone. The plan was to create a mobile platform that could support the game with a team of developers, adapt the ruleset and create everything else from scratch. That was my job.
I had to really stretch my creative muscles designing every aspect of Dungeon Realms’ content, from world building to the narrative. While the developers worked their butts off building the app, I and a team of writers and artists created a campaign setting with unique regions and lore, built a product pipeline for playtesting and releases, and designed several story-driven, full-length adventures. It was exactly the creative outlet and leadership role I needed, and now Dungeon Realms has a fully adapted ruleset, hundreds of original monsters and characters, and an entire world full of delightful stories.
Because I wore many hats and had to deliver multiple large projects, I decided to describe each of them in detail in the sections below. I gave everything working on Dungeon Realms, so I really wanted to delve into how I approached the project and where it lead me. If you’re interested in that journey, check out the Creative Direction, Production and Worldbuilding and Narrative Design pages.
TOM GESTINGER 