The Game Editors – Professional Editing for Games

Rosewater

Grundislav Games, Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH Games)

Harley and her ragtag posse embark on a harrowing journey across Western Vespuccia, facing bandits, rebels, ruthless oil barons, and many more obstacles on their quest for fame and riches.

Writing, editing, voiceover production

The sequel to Lamplight City, Rosewater is the latest point-and-click adventure game by Francisco González, voiceover producer for The Game Editors, with Jess serving as cowriter and script editor.

We've always loved working with actors and emphasized high-quality dialogue and performance. Rosewater is fully voiced, with an all-star cast including Roger Clark (Red Dead Redemption 2), Cam Clarke (TMNT, Metal Gear Solid), Cissy Jones (Firewatch), and Dave Fennoy (The Walking Dead Season 1). (Check out the behind-the-scenes recordings to see them in action!) With Rosewater, we were among the first to take advantage of SAG-AFTRA's little-used low-budget indie agreement to hire amazing union actors without breaking the bank.

Excited to share our expertise from Lamplight City and Rosewater, we now offer à la carte and package voiceover production services to clients.

Coral Island

Stairway Games

Coral Island is a re-imagined farm sim game set on a tropical island that is inspired by the classics. You're finally leaving Pokyo behind and moving to Coral Island. Grow crops, nurture animals, and befriend the islanders. Decide whether to revitalize not only the town, but also the surrounding coral reefs. It may get tough, but stick with it, because the island is ripe for change.

Website

Trailer

Coral Island screenshot showing recipe UI screen with many icons of food

Editing

Stairway Games is a new studio based in Indonesia with a widely distributed multinational team. The Game Editors was tapped to handle the game's editorial needs.

Jess served as lead editor, with colleague (and mother) Sandra Degnan working as primary associate editor on the game.

We edited character dialogue, quests, recipes, hundreds of items, and other in-game text. We also developed a custom style guide for the team and performed extensive QA of text implemented in the game. (Fun fact: "Fall" with a capital F isn't an oversight; it's a style decision. Because the game's calendar has dates like Winter 12 and Spring 3, we decided seasons were like months in this world and should be capitalized!)

We also fell in love with Coral Island. When our work was done, we each spent hundreds more hours simply tending our farms, exploring the ocean floor, and befriending the island's cute villagers.

Cell to Singularity

Computer Lunch

Cell to Singularity is an idle clicker game about the evolution of life on Earth and the history of technology. Discover the origins of life, learn the history of science and civilization, and unlock the mysteries of the universe as you climb the Divine Tech Tree.

Website

Trailer

Cell to Singularity screenshot showing clicker gameplay of Philosophy event.

Editing, writing, narrative consulting

Jess consulted on story and plot progression during the development of the base game in 2019. The question was posed: "The game is called Cell to Singularity. So, what could happen after the Singularity?" Touching on galactic exploration, becoming a multiplanetary civilization, Dyson spheres, transhumanism, friendly vs. non-friendly AI, and the "paperclip problem," the discussion went to some interesting places!

Since 2021, we have returned to consult, write, and edit for the game's second expansion, The Beyond, about exploration of the solar system, the galaxy, and the universe. We also contributed content editing and copyediting for a series of limited time events (LTEs) on topics as diverse as the James Webb Space Telescope, fungus, philosophy, pollination, mass extinction events, and deep sea life.

The Longing

Studio Seufz, Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH Games)

An unusual mix of adventure and idle game. In utter loneliness deep below the surface, it's your task to wait for the awakening of your king...for 400 days. In real time!

Website

Trailer

The Longing screenshot showing a character sitting in a cave living room reading a book.

Editing

A sleeper hit created by German developer Anselm Pyta, The Longing was originally written in German and simultaneously translated into English. The publisher, ASH Games, approached The Game Editors to edit the English version of the script and get the text polished and ready for localization into nine additional languages.

Really, the Longing is a game of few words—you have 400 real-time days to spend alone, underground, with no one but yourself to talk to—but that meant that the words that are spoken carry that much more weight. Our task was to honor and enhance the wry, laconic, poetic tone of Pyta's script, smoothing out the language while taking care not to lose an essential element of strangeness .

(After release, the game was updated with a considerable library of public domain literature players can read in their entirety to pass the time. While it would have been a hoot, editing books such as the Iliad and Moby Dick was not part of our remit.)

Lamplight City screenshot showing two men standing on a Victorian city street corner at night.

Lamplight City screenshot showing a dialogue screen with portraits of a man and a woman'.

Editing, narrative consulting

Lamplight City was the first Grundislav Games project that Jess collaborated on.

As script editor, she polished and copyedited all the game's text and extensive character dialogue. As worldbuilding and narrative consultant, she helped develop the game's diverse cast of characters, structure the episodic mystery plot, and shape the Poe- and Dickens-inspired, steampunk-inflected, alternate-history setting of Vespuccia and New Bretagne, the titular Lamplight City.

For some insights on our process, check out the Lamplight City narrative commentary post series. Topics include catching anachronisms, addressing gender diversity, finessing subtext, and punching bigots.

Lamplight City

Grundislav Games, Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH Games)

For police detective turned private investigator Miles Fordham, Lamplight City's shadowy corners are just part of the territory. But with his former partner constantly speaking to him from beyond the grave, his grip on sanity is slowly loosening. Can Miles find justice for his clients and track down his partner's killer before his entire world comes apart?

Get your game edited!

Hi! I’m Jess Haskins.

I’m an editor, narrative designer, educator, and founder of The Game Editors.

Why launch the Game Editors?

We offer:

“So nice to have such a great partner! You are amazingly thorough… love, love, love working with you! Wow!”

—Lia L. Kennett, Kennett Productions

“Your insights and recommendations from our last consulting sessions have been instrumental in our recent development work on our game!”

—Alex Tissiere, Director of Story, Camp Half-Blood/Plato Learning

“Jess understands that a game, especially a narrative game, should be greater than the sum of its parts.”

—Baxter Crabtree

“Jess is a superb narrative designer and working with her has been a seamless experience. When she builds game worlds, she takes gameplay, player experience, visual storytelling, and project scope into account. Hire her now!”

—Roman Sharf, Chaotic Formula

“I can’t talk about Lamplight City without mentioning something about the voice acting. The voice acting is honestly my favorite aspect, and easily brought life into every character you come across.”

—Save or Quit, Lamplight City review

Featured Projects

Rosewater

Grundislav Games, Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH Games)

Writing, editing, ​voiceover production

Coral Island

Stairway Games

Editing

Cell to Singularity

Computer Lunch

Editing, writing, narrative consulting

The Longing

Studio Seufz, Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH Games)

Editing

Editing, narrative consulting

Lamplight City

Grundislav Games, Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH Games)

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Writing, editing, voiceover production