Dr Holly Nielsen

Always up for talking history and games! My DMs are open (or WhatsApp if you’re not doing age verification/VPN)

Should also say these are all European (or European style) settings!

So all of these are non-combat and “history” in that they have historical settings, -
Pentiment
The Lion’s Song
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow
The Case of the Golden Idol
Return of the Obra Dinn
Card Shark
Valiant Hearts

(If you’re okay with being spooked and stealth - Mundaun)

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I think a great game can be many things because games take many forms, it’s one of the joys of the medium. For me personally DE is a fantastic example of meaning in player decisions and mechanics, because the entire game is a constant negotiation between the “game”, player, and the world

The moment of “oh this is a great game” with DE was when out of curiosity I was choosing the middle of the road choices that most games either don’t know what to do with or encourage you to take as the “reasonable” option, & it actively called me out for thinking I was smart & did something with it

Also going to shamelsssly use this as a reminder that if you would like me to apply my expertise to make *your* game’s world/narrative/mythology accurately vague, contradictory, and incomplete (in the best way)- I’m open for narrative work at the end of summer.

A photo of a batch of cheese scones cooling on a wire rack

Made it Pilates, had a good class, and now Lewis has made cheese scones.

A good Sunday so far

Stayed up too late playing the Sims forgetting I have a Pilates class in the morning- a very “woman with no kids in her thirties” problem.

Photo of an open shop door with a cute little dog peaking round it

Caught a cute guy looking at me

this reminds me a lot of those old caesar PC games in the best way possible. so excited for this one.

Going over my PhD thesis to correct some typos, and I actually sound pretty smart

Apart from the odd typo

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My shirts are only getting bigger and I am curious to see how far I can take this

Selfie in a mirror. I’m wearing wide leg blue jeans, and a white striped very oversized shirt, gold earrings, and a dorky yellow Fitbiton my wrist

God bless whoever first saw a shirt and thought “let’s make this oversized”

Ah I’m sorry to have missed you!

Going to be writing a little dev diary soon touching on this and also about bringing a historical perspective

Yep!

You know it’s a good project when in the worldbuilding docs you don’t just have “this is a thing” but also “here’s how people feel about and perceive this thing”

It’s really lovely seeing people get excited for Amberspire

Oooo the vibes on this one are immaculate

History is a written crafted thing. Full of contradictions, power dynamics, and competing methods and sources. It’s helpful for many reasons, but I think it’s really interesting when applied to narrative design (because history in many ways is narrative design)

(Thank you Nic for clarifying what I didn’t have the energy to)

This is a great encapsulation of why working with Nic is a total delight, and why historical expertise is such an interesting aspect to bring to world building and narrative design

I want to quickly clarify (though this could a blog post) that Holly's historian expertise is actually to ensure that the world's mythology and lore remains accurately vague, contradictory, and incomplete.

We feel this is more realistic to history as we see it and far more interesting for the game

“What can I say, I’m a woman of expensive taste”

I say as I put Lurpack in the shopping basket

Feel free to DM about it!

Friends, my book HOTEL LUX is currently available for £0.99 on the Kindle Store. An intimate view of the revolution that changed the world, based on 7 years of research in archives across the globe.

Please do check it out! www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Lux-In...

This is a fantastic looking game. Do wishlist it.

I saw an early build of this like two years ago and was immediately charmed; really recommend wishlisting if you’re a fan of city builders, simulation, or thinky games