Susan Harding
Writing, Game Development, & More Magic
Hello, there! I'm on a journey to foster a more empathetic world by bringing stories to life. So far on my quest, I've gotten a degree in creative writing, interned at Pixelberry Studios and 2K Games, and tutored at Chapman University's writing center. I adore writing about nature, twins, love, and other kinds of magic. Welcome to my website and I hope you enjoy your travels through these pages!
About Me
I have recently graduated from Chapman University with a B.F.A. in creative writing and minors in computer science and game development. Most recently, I was a creative writing intern at Pixelberry Studios where I wrote two visual novels for StoryLoom, Season of Love: Knight at the Opera and Heartbreak Hotel, with the guidance of some of the best narrative leads in the industry.
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At Chapman, I explored and experimented in a wide variety of mediums through specialized classes, resulting in a portfolio that demonstrates fluency in writing for video games, screen, graphic novels, short stories, and more. The experience I've gained through these workshops and work as a Writing Center Tutor has made me efficient and thorough in giving and receiving feedback as well as an expert in editing my own writing. I leveraged my writing and communication skills in game development courses, especially in my capstone course where I lead the team for Sewer Rats which was awarded for Inclusive Design at IEEE's 2024 GameSIG competition.​
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I’ve published the visual novels mentioned above as well as a number of short stories and poems in Ouroboros and Calliope. My stories are characterized by their subversion of genre, creative magic, and approach to ethical issues with integrity – especially in regard to representation, appreciation for nature, and the complex relationship between humanity and technology. Being an identical twin, I’m particularly passionate about twinship and its representation in media which I analyze in my blog, The Twin. My favorite genres to write in are romance, fantasy, and science fiction.
Publications
Video Games
Sewer Rats
itch.io, May 2024
Awarded for Inclusive Design at IEEE's 2024 GameSIG competition!
For the capstone for my Game Development minor, I led a team of four individuals to develop Sewer Rats. In this dystopian visual novel, a civil war with Gloomsdale’s robot overlords looms on the horizon, causing a young teen and their friends struggle to find their humanity, but it’s nothing attending a unlawful rave won’t fix. The ending is influenced by the choices the player makes throughout the hour-long game. It also features save functionality for returning to any point in the narrative, character customizability, and original music and voice acting.
StoryLoom’s Heartbreak Hotel
StoryLoom, November 2023
In this contemporary romance created during my internship at Pixelberry Studios, your boyfriend's dumped you right before your anniversary vacation. Fortunately, your smoking hot coworker has volunteered to come along... just as friends, of course. Players can customize the look and gender of both the main character and love interest in this game.
StoryLoom’s Season of Love: Knight at the Opera
StoryLoom, June 2023
An official installment in StoryLoom's Shared World, Season of Love, this story follows Aurelia Knight, a rising opera star, and her secret romance with her patron. This game features challenges such as selling tickets and remembering lines for rehearsal which influence the ultimate success of the opera.
Short Fiction
A Year to Trees
Calliope, Spring 2024
A literary short story about a couple’s break up during their trip to Monterey.
The Boneyard
Ouroboros, Vol 6, Spring 2023
A speculative short story about trespassers wandering an airplane boneyard.
Catch a Falling Star
Ouroboros, Vol 3, Fall 2021
A dystopian flash fiction piece about the end of the world.
Academic Projects
The Parent(hood) Trap: Motherhood in The Parent Trap (1998)
A poster presentation analyzing the characters, particularly the depiction of mothers, in The Parent Trap (1998) for the internationally attended conference hosted at Chapman University – Motherhood to motherhoods: Ideologies of 'The Feminine.' The analysis and design of the poster was my own independent work. Click on the poster to zoom in.
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Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift
Presentation, February 2023
A slide presentation that compares the rhetoric of Taylor Swift’s and Ticketmaster’s statements on the disastrous ticket release for The Era’s Tour. It includes a lottery-style activity that simulates the sale and discussion questions. This was made for Chapman’s Composing New Media course and was a smashing hit with the class.
Creativity in the Scientific Paper
Notion, November 2022
This interactive research paper was written to critique and explore the scientific paper genre and IMRAD structure, the very same framework the paper itself is based off of. I really enjoyed playing with the multimodality and meta-ness of this project to make it an example of the changes in scientific communication that I’m advocating for. This was made for Chapman’s Theory and Practice of Writing, Tutoring, and Conferencing course and helped me get my position as a writing tutor.
& More
The Twin
Substack, April 2023 - Present
A Substack blog about twin culture inspired by my desire to learn more about what exactly being a twin means. The brief posts analyze depictions of twins in media as well as reflects on personal experience in an effort to bring attention to the common misconceptions and stereotypes haunting twins. The Twin demystifies the nuances of identicality, individuality, estrangement, and other ways twinship impacts the greatest and smallest details of life.
The Dragon Tears
Webtoon, April 2020
This short story webcomic was entered into Webtoon's 2020 short story competition under the "Heart" category. It’s about orphans Cyrus and Eli and their quest to retrieve tears from a dragon, though after years of conflict with mortals, it’ll take a miracle to get one of the scaly beasts to shed any tears over their plight. My favorite part of this project was working with my illustrator, Savanna Nygard, on all the different designs for the dragons and developing their personalities.