Share
My Perfect Console with Simon Parkin
Meghna Jayanth, narrative designer (80 Days, Sunless Seas, Thirsty Suitors).
Ep. 45
•
My guest today is an award-winning writer and narrative designer for video games.
As a child she split her time between Bangalore, London, and Saudi Arabia before settling in the UK to study English Literature at University. After a stint commissioning games for the BBC, she wrote the script for 2014’s BAFTA-nominated narrative adventure game, 80 Days, then contributed to the hit indie titles Sunless Seas and Boyfriend Dungeon, as well as the Sony blockbuster Horizon: Zero Dawn.
My guest has won two Writers' Guild Awards for Best Writing in a Video Game, hosted the Independent Games Festival, and become a sought-after speaker, known for her sharp critiques of game mechanics that, as she describes it, promote colonialist values.
Her latest project, Thirsty Suitors, a stylish, story-driven adventure that unfolds through turn-based battles, skateboarding, and cooking, is set for release later this week. Welcome Meghna Jayanth.
Thank you for listening to My Perfect Console. Please consider becoming a Patreon supporter; your small monthly subscription will help to make the podcast sustainable for the long term, and you'll receive bonus content, and access to the My Perfect Console community: https://www.patreon.com/myperfectconsole
(Photo by Darren Salanson for EGM)
More episodes
View all episodes
110. Seamus Blackley, originator of the Xbox.
01:19:25||Ep. 110Seamus Blackle is a physicist, game designer, and technology visionary best known as the originator of the Xbox. After studying physics at Tufts University, he began his career in high-energy physics before pivoting to the video game industry. He worked on titles including System Shock and Flight Unlimited. In the late nineties, while an employee at Microsoft, he led the development of a bold new console project. The Xbox revolutionised the video game landscape, introducing hit series including Halo, Gears of War and Forza. Since he left Microsoft, my guest has worked across entertainment, venture capital, and even experimental archaeology, famously recreating ancient Egyptian bread using 4,500-year-old yeast.
109. Keith Burns, artist.
01:19:44||Ep. 109Keith Burns is an award-winning aviation artist and illustrator. As a student he dreamed of becoming a comic book artist but after his teachers at art college discouraged him from the career path, he dropped out and became a bus driver. Ten years later he received an email inviting him to submit a comic strip to a talent finding project. His submission led to a meeting with Dave Gibbons, co-creator of Watchmen. Gibbons encouraged my guest to pursue his gift, which eventually led to a long-standing collaboration with renowned comic book writer Garth Ennis. In 2012 he joined the Guild of Aviation Artists, in 2015 won the Messier Dowty award for Best Acrylic Painting, and in 2016, the Aviation Painting of the Year. In 2023 in collaboration with James Holland he published The Second World War: An Illustrated History, for which my guest produced nearly 300 illustrations during the course of five years.
108. Marjolein Robertson, comedian.
01:23:08||Ep. 108Marjolein Robertson is a Scottish comedian, improviser, and storyteller. Born in Lerwick, on the Shetland Isles, she first started performing with Shetland Youth Theatre at the age of 13. After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, she was working as a town planner, saving for a mortgage, when she and her partner decided to move to Amsterdam on a whim. A series of catastrophes followed. Marjolein lost her home and her job, then landed in a Dutch improvisational comedy class, and began studying improvised comedy and stand up. Since then, she has become one of Scotland’s most exciting young talents, reaching the finals of the BBC New Comedy Awards in 2022 and Channel 4's Sean Lock Comedy Awards in 2024. Her solo show ‘Marj’ was nominated for two awards at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 and released as a comedy special, and she is about to embark on a UK-wide tour with her new show 'O'.
107. Steffan Powell, BBC's Gaming and Culture Correspondent.
01:27:03||Ep. 107Steffan Powell is a reporter, television and radio presenter. Born in the Amman Valley in South Wales he joined the BBC while in his twenties, soon working his way up to the position of senior broadcast journalist for Radio One’s Newsbeat. In 2021 he became BBC News’ first ever Gaming and Culture Correspondent, appearing across the broadcasters’ news programmes whenever a video game-related story hit the headlines. Currently, he hosts the behind-the-scenes programme, Doctor Who: Unleashed, as well as the recently re-launched podcast Press X to Continue. For that show he has interviewed celebrities including Keanu Reeves, Usain Bolt and Bukayo Saka about their love of video games.
106. Dr. Greg Zeschuk, co-founder Bioware.
01:26:17||Ep. 106Greg Zeschuk is the co-founder of Bioware. While a medical student at the University of Alberta he told his future wife that, if he could, he’d make video games for a living. After he graduated, the dream came true when, in 1995, he and two friends founded Bioware in his basement. The following year the trio released Shattered Steel and, two years after that, Baldur’s Gate, which revolutionised the world of computer role-playing games. In the years that followed Bioware released a string of blockbuster hits, including Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In 2007, just 12 years after its founding, the company was sold to Electronic Arts as part of a deal worth $860 million. In recent years, my guest started a brewing company, Blind Enthusiasm, and today runs two microbreweries and a restaurant in Edmunton, where he has spent most of his life.
Listener Console Special #2
54:15|In this special episode, five My Perfect Console supporters share the games they would like to put on their ideal, fictional games machine, and the reasons behind their choices.If you would like to share your console with the My Perfect Console audience, head to this post for more details.
105. Basia Bułat, folk musician.
01:21:20||Ep. 105Basia Bulat is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. Born in Toronto into a family of Polish immigrants, music was always a close presence in the family home: her mother taught piano and guitar. After graduating with a degree in English literature from the University of Western Ontario, she began to pursue music as her own career path. Her debut album, Oh, My Darling was released by Rough Trade in 2007, and blended traditional folk with modern sensibilities. The record garnered critical acclaim and set the tone for a career marked by emotional depth and melodic richness. Known for her intimate live performances, my guest has earned a devoted international following and multiple award nominations, cementing her place as a vital voice in contemporary folk music. Her new album, Basia’s Palace, is released later this week, and was produced in between bouts of playing RPGs.
104. Adanna Nedd, narrative designer (Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To).
01:20:27||Ep. 104Adanna Nedd is a narrative designer and writer for video games. Born in the Chesapeake Bay State of Maryland, she studied Information Technology & English at Penn State University as a Millennium Scholar. While at Penn State, she started multiple research projects investigating how players represent themselves in video games through their choice of skins. After graduating, she began writing for games, specialising in character-driven stories focused on people of colour. My guest has written for projects including Celestia, the romance game Kiss U, and, most recently, Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To, released this month.
103. Daniel Pemberton, composer (Slow Horses, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Concord).
01:20:58||Ep. 103Daniel Pemberton is an Academy Award-nominated English composer and songwriter. In 1994, at the age of 16, he recorded an album in his bedroom using a multitrack cassette recorder. It caught the attention of the music producer Pete Namlook, who released it on his label, leading to a flurry of soundtrack commissions. In the years that followed, my guest wrote music for TV shows including Peep Show, The Dark Crystal, Enola Holmes, and Slow Horses.But it’s his feature film work for which he is best known. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading directors, composing for Ridley Scott's The Counselor, Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Michael Mann’s Ferrari, and Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 –– for which he was nominated for an Oscar. He has also composed the soundtrack for the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and several video games including LittleBigPlanet and Concord. In 2009, the Guardian's Paul Moody said of my guest: “few know his name but millions hear his music almost every day.”