Meredith Katz

About Me

Who am I, when I'm at home?I live with my lovely partner and our three dewy-eyed cats in an Edmonton house with themed rooms (currently, we're decorating a cottagecore spare room). I play a lot of tabletop games and have recently been enjoying spending time with my new PS5. I like to read sci-fi/fantasy, write romance, and play horror... and swap those around once in a while.

My Work

Narrative Design & Game Writing

SINGLE CITY

Single City is a 4X LiveOps mobile strategy game by A Thinking Ape. In it, the player runs a house of influencers. They must take in new Roomies (heroes) and send them out to Collab or have Drama (PvE and PVP), as well as doing part-time jobs at workstations and decorating their home. Overall tone is upbeat, yet dramatic. Event stories are limited-time, while Hero Stories permanently unlock when a player first receives an Epic-rarity Roomie. I was the sole writer on stories through 2023.

Hero Quest: Morgan is a true crime influencer and the Halloween 2023 Roomie release. My goal was to make her spooky but keep her evergreen, as she's unlockable any time.

Event Quest: The Pride 2023 Event stars Billie, a nonbinary roller derby captain, and Anita Mojito, a seasoned drag queen, helping each other overcome a Pride disaster.

Copy: I also wrote all copy for releases through 2023, including furniture for the house decoration mechanic, player avatar names and descriptions, and event items.

• Hero Quest
• Event Quest
• Copy

OTHER GAMES

Disney-Pixar: Brave
"Disney-Pixar: Brave" for the LeapPad (developed by InLight Entertainment and published by LeapFrog) is an educational point-and-click adventure for ages 5-8 that uses Princess Merida to teach science. I did the game concept, GDDs, dialogue scripts, and directed audio sessions. A sample from the first area is below.

• Sample

Test Sample: K-pop Game
I created a sample of a narrative script for the story campaign for a non-existent K-Pop game in order to demonstrate a strong narrative focus. The prompt was: "The player is the manager of a K-pop-band, tasked with developing the members' skills and careers. They often come to you with their problems and ask for advice."

• Sample

Tabletop Games

Till the Last Gasp
Till the Last Gasp (Darrington Press) is a 2-player storytelling game of dramatic duels that spans genres and invites players to envision climactic showdowns.I was the managing editor on the project, and one of the writers (with specific focus on the Scenarios). A link to the rulebook is below. Scenarios start pg 30.

• Rules

Came Back ...Wrong?
Came Back ...Wrong? is a GM-less, 1-page story-heavy RPG for 2+ players, about committing atrocities to bring back a deceased loved one and then being unsure if you brought them back right. I wrote it for the One-Page RPG Jam 2023.

• Rules

Fiction

The Cybernetic Tea Shop
Originally published by Less Than Three Press, self-published since their closure, The Cybernetic Tea Shop is a sci-fi novella with asexual romance themes, about a mechanic with a case of wanderlust meeting a nostalgia-driven robot. It is a soft, warm examination of grief.

• Excerpt

Empty Vessels
Likewise first published by Less Than Three Press and since self-published, Empty Vessels is a queer paranormal novel about a psychic who must protect local cryptids from worse creatures. It has heavy themes around death and identity, but is ultimately about overcoming anxiety.

• Excerpt

Reader-Driven Fiction
On a nearly annual basis, I write reader-driven "interactive" fiction. Blurring the line between traditional writing and RPGs and demonstrating my ability to adapt to audience reactions on the fly, readers comment to each part with suggestions for the protagonist that I then fold into the next part. Below, I link to the opening of "Body of Work", a dark academia story about a magician professor uncovering his forgotten past.

• Excerpt

List of Published Titles

For a complete list of published titles I have contributed to, see below.

• List of Published Titles

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All Work

Video Games

Tabletop Games

Fiction

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Testimonials

"Meredith is so talented and so kind. One thing I always heard from everyone who worked with Meredith was -- Meredith is amazing! She can do anything!If you’re looking for a Narrative Designer with strong technical skills to boot, please get in touch!- Tayber Voyer, CEO @ A Thinking Ape

"Not only is Meredith a narrative powerhouse, but they have incredibly strong technical skills. Meredith embodied live ops and QA excellence by writing thorough documentation and test plans that will benefit the team for years to come."- Meghan Voyce, Lead Game Designer

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