Manda Farough

A Little About Me

• Resume

I've been a professional writer in the video game space for the last 15 years. I got my start in games blogging at the tail end of 2009, moved into games journalism full-time in 2016, and left in 2020 to pursue a career in game development.My partner, Mike Futter, and I co-founded F-Squared (a video game consultancy) in 2020 to help developers and publishers with a wide range of needs, including mock reviews, go/no-go analyses, white papers, pitch deck review, etc. We also provide pro-bono services for pre-funding indie studios who need assistance with business.In 2022, I made the leap into games narrative working on my first indie game with Redstart Interactive (release date TBA) as narrative designer and writer. I've since worked on two other games with two other studios (Strange Scaffold and WDR Studios). Terrible Lizards is available for wishlist on Steam. Strange Scaffold's game, TMNT: Tactical Takedown, is my first Executive Producer role, in addition to writing a chunk of the script. Yndurvaetra, the setting and lore project I worked on with DayLITE Publications, came out in 2023.As a genre agnostic writer, I'm comfortable writing horror, science fiction (cyberpunk is a cherished subgenre of mine), fantasy, adventure, comedy (especially throwbacks from the '90s), and even romance.Like all writers in this space, I'm constantly improving on my craft through my own studies, as well as through courses at The Narrative Department (three-time alumni) and ELVTR (completed with distinction and will be an upcoming lecturer in the Advanced Writing course). I also mentor narrative/writing students at Gameheads, in addition to mentoring fellow "multiclassers" in the game industry wherever I can.I'm a compassionate, generous team player who can as easily take direction as lead a team. I appreciate the complexities of large teams and thrive in smaller ones where there's the potential for deeper collaboration.In my "off" hours, I'm a mom to four kids and two dogs in suburban New Jersey (though I'm originally from British Columbia, Canada). I bake, cook, and dabble in both embroidery and interior design. I'm learning to garden and tend to my (somehow still alive) indoor plants.

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Shipped and In-Progress Games

While I'm listed on a number of other games on MobyGames, these are the games that I directly contributed to (or am actively contributing to) as writer, narrative designer, and/or producer.Not listed here: Pigeon Simulator at HakJak Studios (cancelled), where I was the studio's producer and worked partially on the writing team.

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