INFINITE JONATHANS
INFINITE JONATHANS
Game art by Ivan Maranan & Hasibe Erdemir, property of Simple Machine, LLC.
During my time as part of Simple Machine, I was the Writer & Narrative Designer of ‘Infinite Jonathans’ — a branching narrative sci-fi comedy extravaganza!
Infinite Jonathans follows the misadventures of every occurrence of “Jonathan” in the multiverse as they’re thrown into a series of absurd life conundrums. Players vote on how Jonathan will deal with his obstacles.
Help Jono thrive or ruin this man’s life?
The job:
Develop the overall narrative direction and voice of the project.
The tone/humor (dark comedy sci-fi).
Conceive and write the game’s stories, characters & events.
Worldbuilding.
Plotting / mapping and maintaining a branching narrative.
Player choices change Jonathan’s journey.
Tons of text editing.
Writing flavor text & game dialogue.
Feed writing into the game using in-house tools.
Working with the illustration team, directing all the visuals.
Leading a writers’ room.
Ideate and iterate gameplay mechanics.
Minor management of in-house branching narrative tool’s backend (JSON).
Writing copy for pitch materials (to AdMagic/Breaking Games).
Comps:
Spider-Man: Into/Across the Spider-Verse, Community (S3E4 - Remedial Chaos Theory), Rick & Morty, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Life is Strange, The Wolf Among Us, Mass Effect, BitLife - Life Simulator.
Tone/Vibes:
A unique blend of dark 4th-wall-breaky meta humor and “smiling-through-the-pain” optimism. Discussing political and socio-economic issues and promoting empathy through absurdist, fantastical stories.
The Infinite Jonathans story is a massive branching narrative, with 254 possible outcomes.
Watch: “STOCKBROKER” Story Path Highlights
The player starts at a randomized birth point for Jonathan (baby Jono). From there, player choices can send Jonathan down several different career paths (pilot, judge, dog walker, bodybuilder, etc.). "Stockbroker" is a favorite; it's the second story path I wrote for Infinite Jonathans, defining the darker humor and our signature “start grounded, then rapidly escalate into a total absurdist fever dream” structure.
The closing decision of the Stockbroker path is also the only way players can get onto the "Apocalypse" storyline — which is a special, extra-emotional Jono path with father/child bonding moments.
Watch: “MONSTER HUNTER” Story Highlights
Another favorite: our Monster Hunter path cracked everyone up in the writers’ room. This was the path where we hit our stride in using absurdist comedy to call out bigotry and closed-mindedness. This is also the first Jono love story — I’d say one of the iconic in-game romances. Forget Mass Effect hook-ups; we’re birthing the symbol of Human-Dergon peace with this one! Oh, also, this is the story path where we started exploring comically gruesome Jono deaths (game overs) — an absolute hoot!
The above GIF is an example of how the “STOCKBROCKER” path looks in our design map, and how that translates to the in-game experience.
GIFs cont: Navigating the story map to give a sense of scope — all the branches, outcomes, and connections.
The story map required consistent maintenance during development to ensure that worldbuilding is consistent and paths connect in a compelling way.
I was responsible for mapping out all the possible player paths and ensuring all story events link together, and advance the narrative.
Process:
I was contacted directly by the founder of Simple Machine, LLC, who was familiar with my work, particularly the comedic sensibility and topical interests present in games I had been showcasing around New York. I was given an overview of the project, then pitched my take for "Infinite Jonathans" through a short version of a game storyline, showing examples of how choices would be used, how I'd connect paths, and the personality. I went with a “night club” scenario for my pitch and used it as a jumping-off point to discuss toxic masculinity. I knew a big part of the interest in me was my unique approach to discussing social issues, so I made sure to showcase that through my test assignment.
The writing process started in January 2019 with a series of traditional writers’ room sessions. The core team consisted of five members, each taking turns leading the initial brainstorming, while I took the lead on story mapping. We covered the studio walls in post-it notes (many times)— timelines and maps of the story arcs (structures), key moments, and how they connect throughout the branching narrative. We tried mapping with Excel/Sheets but found that Jonathan’s scope and collaborative cadence needed something physical and tactile for the story planning.
I translated the post-it maps (rough outlines) into a digital map — presented through our in-house client below:
Path-by-path, I built out the worlds and characters, wrote the dialogue, and completed the stories — making sure each choice had a strong punchline or a moment of emotional weight.
I'd feed connected stories into the game in batches, and we'd play through the most recent writing I had done — this was also how work was submitted for review. Discussions were had, notes and revisions given, and I'd implement them within the week.
Stories, characters, and dialogue went through several iterations. I remapped certain branches so that each story path connected.
I was and still am committed to writing meaningfully diverse, personality-packed characters.
“Tokenization is so two thousand and late” — Fergie (I think.)
My Desk At The Office
Writers’ Room
I completed the game's writing in January 2020; a first build of the game with select story paths is now available on the App Store.
Infinite Jonathans also had several Twitch events with live voting on story choices & an open Beta (early-access dev build for Simple Machine’s core/Discord community).
In-game Screens/Early Dev Content:
Fans at Jonathans PAX EAST ‘19 booth
Game art by Ivan Maranan & Hasibe Erdemir, UI/UX by Danny Dang, programming by Will Enders, property of Simple Machine, LLC.
Testing The Text…
Your writing might work on paper or on a map, but what flows smoothly as pure text might feel rocky once plugged into a game. Narrative Design is storytelling through mechanics, in the case of Jono, it's storytelling through player choices.
Playing through new text as soon as drafts were ready was key for evaluating each story path’s pacing and flow.
Which sections are breezy? Which are overwhelming in text? Do the choices feel good and make sense? Are there certain choices that people lean towards? What are the player assumptions/deductions around the choices— and when should we reward those assumptions, and when should we subvert them? All important things I consider when crafting my Branching Narratives.
FAMILY FUN
FAMILY FUN
Team Post-KBBQ Wings
Pictured: Danny Dan (UI/UX), Ivan Maranan (2D Art Lead), Will Enders (Programmer Lead), The One and Only (Narrative Lead), Hasibe Erdemir (2D Art), Nao Shimizu (3D Art). On the pic to your right, right behind Ivan: Dalia Hierro (CEO).
