Episode 010 – Saying YES to Imagination with Jean Leggett of One More Story Games

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Episode 10 features a great interview with Jean Leggett, CEO and co-founder of One More Story Games. After her husband Blair’s near-death experience in 2012, the two embarked on a journey back to his childhood hometown to each pursue their life’s passion which includes the company One More Story Games and their software, StoryStylus, which simplifies video game creation for storytellers to create, publish and share story-based games.

In their discussion, Mark and Jean discuss:

• The origin of the company One More Story Games that involves the creation of interactive narrative story games
• How StoryStylus is the underlying engine of One More Story Games that allows authors the ability to create a narrative-based game without needing to have technical know-how
• The 10 minute game that an 11 year old girl created using this software which is called “Attack of the Killer Zombie Cats”
• The game adaptation of the Charlaine Harris novel Shakespeare’s Landlord featuring Lily Bard (part of a five-book series by the author)

• Julia Gibson, the voice actor for Lily Baird in the game
• The “smart games for smart women” and “games for word nerds” branding that One More Story Games employ, which breaks the mold for stereotypical violence of many video games
• How story is the central driving mission of this company
• Where authors who are interested in using this tool can start
• The “how to” YouTube videos authors can use to get started using StoryStylus
• Jean’s recent TEDx Talk: “What 10 year olds taught us about our gaming tech startup”
• The experience of being hired by Microsoft to teach a group of 7 to 12 year old girls and how they each gravitated to areas that best suited their personalities and talents
• How important music is towards adding an atmospheric ambiance in a game
• What is possible when you say YES to imagination and you don’t shut people down
• The award-winning game Danielle’s Inferno created by Olivia Rivard and inspired by her story of the same name (Tied for Toronto Game Devs 2017 #1 PC Game of the Year)

After the interview, Mark talks about the inspiration he derives from a company like One More Story Games and how a great tool like StoryStylus offers new hope and opportunities for writers. He then compares the training he has been doing for a half-marathon with the writer journey and goals he has been working on and addresses ideas on how he is planning on getting both the training and the writing back on track.

This episode has been sponsored by Findaway Voices. Findaway Voices provides all the tools that an independent author or small publisher needs in order to get into the digital audiobook market. Check them out at www.starkreflections.ca/findaway.

Links of Interest:

• One More Story Games
• StoryStylus
• Jean Leggett’s Website
• Jean’s Fireside Chat with Charlaine Harris
• Jean’s TEDx talk
• LilyBard Website (the Shakespeare’s Landlord game)
• Charlaine Harris’s Website
• Spirits Untapped

Jean Leggett is the CEO and co-founder of tech startup One More Story Games. After her husband’s near-death experience in 2012, Jean and Blair embarked on a journey back to his childhood hometown to each pursue their life’s passion. Jean developed a 6-week mindfulness program called JOY Bootcamp, taught laughter yoga and improved her stand-up comedy routine. In 2014, Blair and Jean combined forces as the hacker and hustler for One More Story Games and have raised over $360,000 for their startup. Their software, StoryStylus, simplifies video game creation for storytellers to create, publish and share story-based games. Jean travels worldwide to deliver keynotes and workshops on joyful mindfulness, entrepreneurship and her experience as a hard of hearing child in a deaf family.

The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

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