DAN DAWES
Supernatural Horror
Webby Award winner for Best Branded Podcast
Webby Award nominated for Best Limited Series
As part of my role at Supermassive Games, I wrote Episode Four of the podcast series The Sounds of Nightmares, based on the Little Nightmares games universe. The series received both critical and public acclaim, winning a Webby Award for Best Branded Podcast and a nomination for Best Limited Series. As of November 2023, it has been listened to over one million times, and has been translated into French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
Stage play (London 2018-19) and UK tour (2021)
FMV adventure game (cancelled).
Sci-fi, Historical, Drama, Political
After being staged in London in 2018, my play Tales from Star City went through a process of being developed into a independent video game, in collaboration with BAFTA winning games designer, Imre Jele. Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic would ultimately lead to the cancellation of the project, a text only chapter is available to play.
GAME EXTRACT: The player (Polina) is forced to watch a dog named Laika go through a grueling test in a centrifuge.
PLAY EXTRACT: Polina meets the play's antagonist, Viktor Volkov, for the first time.
Interactive fiction with branching narratives
I regularly wrote story prompts for authors on the social storytelling platform, Dorian, as well as writing episodes myself. I also helped develop the app's streaming service, creating an acting troupe called The Dandy Actors which broadcast dozens of stories from authors all over the world.
All the stories I created are interactive fiction, with branching narratives, and are available by downloading Dorian onto a smartphone. Just search for The Dandy Actors in the main menu.
The following is an extract from Secret Santa, a Christmas comedy where the player's new boyfriend reveals a fittingly festive surprise.
Supernatural Horror
As the lead narrative designer for Little Nightmares, I was tasked with creating an antagonist for its first DLC, The Backstage.
The Puppeteer is based on several exhibits from the now closed Museum of Automata which I visited as a child. The uncanny movements of the automata both terrified and fascinated me as a child, so I figured I'd bring that experience to the world of Little Nightmares...
By request, I am able to share some of the early design work for The Puppeteer, as well as other documentation for the DLC, such as the trophies and achievements guide.
Supernatural / Psychological Horror
The Signalman is a modern day adaptation of the ghost story by Charles Dickens of the same name. It was performed as a stage reading at The Courtyard Theatre in London and is scheduled for a full production at The Bridewell Theatre, also in London, in October 2026.
The Signalman, a night watchman on the London Underground, is being haunted by visions and apparitions that he cannot explain. He confides in a mysterious young man who has missed the last train home, and has found himself embroiled in The Signalman's disturbed narrative.
Comedy
Everlasting Cake was commissioned by Play GC Theatre in 2020. A staged reading was presented at MAST (Mayflower Studios) in 2021 before a full production at The Questors Theatre in Ealing in 2026.
In this scene, Janet - a new 'inmate' at Sleepy Brook Care Home for the Elderly - is being wheeled in by Faye, one of the owners of the home. Already present is Elsie, the longest serving 'inmate'.
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