Welcome, weary traveler, Rizzen has been expecting you.

Rizzen Means (he/him/his) is a narrative designer, writer, and wizard from the 16th realm (New York). His stories are set in strange, fantastical, and/or weird worlds that follow just as strange, fantastical, and/or weird characters. These narratives can be lighthearted and fun or grim and horrifying. His work frequently incorporates elements of death and what comes after, wizards and magic, creatures of the night, robots and mysteries.When Rizzen isn’t writing, he is collecting cups, dice, and socks, playing roleplaying games, becoming a part-time brewer, painting miniatures, or researching something silly. If you have a minute or an hour, you can talk to him about monsters, games, strange music, and recently the 30 Years War.

Of Mud and Monsters

As a seemingly endless war continues, you bring the corpse of a fellow soldier and friend, Ulrich, across the twisted, cosmic warzone of the Thirty Years' War. Armies of soldiers clash, leaving mountains of destruction. Otherworldly beasts feast on the rot created by the conflict. It is up to you to forge your own path forward through the wasteland and give Ulrich a proper rest.

The Monster of East Street

A choose your own adventure game where you play as a paranoid resident of East Street. Watch your neighbors as they go about their week, trying to figure out who is the Monster of East Street.

Dungeon Dating

You became an adventurer for fame and glory, but when you are several lairs deep in the necromancer's lair, you may just find true love.

Galactic Starforce

Join the interstellar federation, the "Galactic Starforce", a visual novel where you, the cadet, navigate a colorful crew in their quest to keep the cosmos sexy. Prove that Earth is sexy enough to stay and find love amongst the stars!

  • Wrote a compelling narrative and responsible for its implementation into the game engine

  • Utilized a Visual Novel Plugin for Unity called Naninovel

  • Created five new storylines consisting of 20k words of branching narrative

  • Thread narrative through predefined levels, and quests, maintaining tone and connecting to new sections.

  • Wrote story ‘bibles’ detailing characters, lore, and locations featured in the narratives

  • Provided feedback in editing rounds and made weekly reports to internal stakeholders

  • Worked with the development team to brainstorm creative ways to encapsulate the game’s core mechanics through story and narrative

  • Implemented story elements from writers on different assignments, threading events through the world

  • Tracked players' choices and progression in each story, allowing for branching narratives and unique reader experiences

  • Lead QA Testing cycles to make sure the script is correct and present in-app

Created as my senior thesis, I utilized Twine, Unity, and Unity Plugin Nani Novel. Wrote 65 thousand word game that emphasized player choice and took players through a cosmic horror reimaging of the 30 Years War. Play as a soldier trying to lay your friend's corpse to rest. Encounter original monsters inspired by medieval texts.A playable demo is available on my itch.

  • Researched real-life history as well as comparable horror fiction

  • Went through several sessions of ideation/pitching

  • Read and incorporated weekly feedback

  • Emphasises player choices

  • Part of senior exhibition show.

Created for a class final, I utilized Twine to create an immersive horror experience. Inhabit a voyeur who stalks the residents of East Street. Read through the character's journal entries and choose how you feel about certain events that unfold, all while you try to figure out who the monster is—inspired by my love of mystery and horror, like Papers Please and Dracula.A playable demo is available on my itch.

  • Four unique character storylines

  • Three endings

  • Emphasises player choices

Created for a class final, I utilized Twine to make an RPG with dating mechanics. The story centered around the player trying to romance one of four monsters that appear in the dungeon. It's a campy and funny experience as you navigate through the dungeon. It was inspired by my love of fantasy games like Pokémon and Dungeons & Dragons.A playable demo is available on my itch page.

  • Four unique character storylines

  • Turn-based combat system

  • Dungeon to explore

  • Random room generation as you go through the dungeon

Nixon and Me

A film script about a 5th-grade girl and her imaginary friend, Richard Nixon, trying to win her class presidency.

Robot Party Murder

A comic set in a cyberpunk future, the DJ LazerSound gets murdered, and it's up to an alcoholic, depressed detective Gabriel Milhaud, and a young DJ intern, DiscoStyle, to solve the case.

In the Eye

A comic script about the fall of Christian Caddell, the only woman who hunted witches through Scotland.

Page 1Panel 1: LazerSound, is a young DJ. She is dressed like a raver, but a raver in the year 2060. She opens the door to the club "The Neon Unicorn" like a rowdy gunslinger in the wild west with her full body shown.Panel 2: LazerSound is in the center of the panel, and her profile takes up most of the panel. Behind her are several people working on getting the club-ready. Some people are speaking to her as she walks by. The two DJs talking seem happy to see her, but her manager looks annoyed.BRICKFACE: Hey, Lazer! Did you get the message I sent?LAZERSOUND: Yeah, I got a show that night. Can you push it back?RATATTACK: Lazer! How are we feeling tonight?LAZERSOUND:  Good! I just got to get Muse in working order. Then we will be good to go!MANAGER:  Where have you been? You should have been here an hour ago!LAZERSOUND: I was busy trying to make you more money, so just chill out.Panel 3: LazerSound has her hand on a door that says "EMPLOYEES ONLY." It's a similar profile shot, but now only DiscoStyle is in the background that is in full detail. Disco has their hand raised like they are trying to get Lazer's attention.DiscoStyle has a disco ball helmet that just works, no eye slits or anything. They wear bright, loose-fitting party clothes. They take a lot of pride in their look. They wear nail polish and rhinestones, very stylish clothes, and they have a very fluid and model-like posture.DISCOSTYLE: Hey LazerSound! I was looking at Muse earlier, and they don't seem to be ready for the show.LAZERSOUND: Oh, don't worry about Muse, Disco. Muse is always ready to party -Panel 4: The entire panel is black, with the only light coming from the open door. The panel is looking up at LazerSound from the front, who is also somewhat obscured by the darkness. LazerSound looks menacing, a stark contrast to the more cheerful look she had in the other panels.LAZERSOUND: - and if it isn't…LAZERSOUND: … I will make it ready to PARTY.Page 2Panel 1: From the same angle as the last panel, the door is closed, and instead, LazerSound is illuminated from the front with a green light from Muse's screen/face. Lazer looks just as intimidating.LAZERSOUND: Hello, Muse. How are we feeling this evening?Panel 2: We See Muse in full view now from LazerSound's perspective. They are a DJ booth. On the front of them is their screen/face. The screen takes up most if not all of the front side of the booth. On either side of the booth, there are tall speakers, taller than LazerSound by a lot. They look kind of goofy but in a cool way. Their face shows a simple emoticon face like, ": |" but not sideways and a little more detailed. The only light is coming from their green screen/face. Consider maybe a robot font for whenever Muse talks.MUSE: I thought I might have the night off?MUSE: We have been working so hard.Panel 3: LazerSound laughs at Muse, still only illuminated by the screen, but now LazerSound is eye level with Muse by crouching. The panel shows this from a profile view of both of them.LAZERSOUND: Muse, something that you don't understand is that I own you, and I can do whatever I want with you.LAZERSOUND: So when I say we perform, we perform. If I say we disassemble you and scrap you for parts, then we disassemble you.LAZERSOUND: Do you understand?Panel 4: This panel is a close-up on Muse's screen. It's a simple emoticon smile. Even though it is simple, the screen looks devious.MUSE: I thought you would say that.MUSE: Goodbye, LazerSound.Panel 5: This panel is a close-up of LazerSound's face. Her neck should be in the frame. She looks confused.LAZERSOUND: What are you talking abo-Panel 6: The same angle and shot as before, but this time there is a dart in LazerSound's neck. Her eyes grow wide.SFX: pht (at the tail of the dart)Panel 7: The panel is taken from the top corner of the room from an angle that a security camera would have. She is lying face up with the dart in her neck, dead. Her body is right in the center of the panel, with the light from Muse's screen acting almost like a spotlight. Muse has a smile on their face.

PAGE 3Panel 1: An Accused Man sits at a wooden table with a few candles on it. He is being interrogated by Rory MacLean and John Neilson, but about the crime that was committed against them. The man being interrogated has his hair about ear length and a bushy beard. Parts of the beard are shaved off, and where it is shaved off, a mole or a wart is. He wears the clothes of a farmer. His arms are crossed, and he looks confused, almost like he has no idea why they would talk to him about this. The panel shows the right shoulder of MacLean and the left shoulder of Neilson. In between them is the Accused Man.MACLEAN: We know you have been accused of witchcraft…Panel 2: The same setup as before, but this time it's a pair of women. They are the same people that are scheduled to be killed on May 4th, the pair of Isobel’s. Their hair has not grown back, and they wear sacks as clothes. They look shy and ashamed. The older Isobel is comforting. The younger one looks a lot more upset and uncomfortable. The older Isobel is looking down at, the younger Isobel, her daughter. The daughter doesn’t look up at the investigators at all. She keeps her head down.MACLEAN: … But the hunter that tested you, he is under investigation…Panel 3: The same setup as the other two, but the final person being interrogated is a middle-aged woman. Her hair is short and shaggy. It was cut crudely and has grown back just as crudely. She is dressed in the typical commoner dress. She looks angry but attempts to hide it because of the misogynistic society that she is living in.MACLEAN: … And we could use your testimony to help with that.Panel 4: The setup of the panel remains unchanged. The two women from panel two, the daughter, still has her head down. The older Isobel looks at the two investigators. She almost looks hopeful.OLDER ISOBEL: If he’s found guilty…OLDER ISOBEL: … does that mean our trial will no longer stand?Panel 5: The setup of the panel remains unchanged. The older Isobel brings her daughter in tighter, and the younger Isobel puts her hands in her face as she begins to sob, neither of them like what the investigators are telling them.NEILSON: I am afraid not.MACLEAN: You may be able to plead to your accuser, but I wouldn’t count on that.NEILSON: We should get back to what we came here for.PAGE 4NOTE For the next three panels, imagine the symbol of the Goddess of Witches, Hecate. It is a full moon with a crescent moon on either side of it. This symbol is made with the faces of the accused witches.Panel 1: The panel shows the left side profile of the man. It's a close-up on his head. He is talking to them with a grim look on his face.ACCUSED MAN: Lots of animals died then, more than usual…Panel 2: The panel shows the two women head-on. It’s closer up, showing only their faces and shoulders. The older woman is sadly looking down at her daughter with her arms wrapped around her, comforting her.OLDER ISOBEL: My husband, her father, died of fever the same week she birthed a stillborn…OLDER ISOBEL: … that was enough cause for them.Panel 3: This panel shows the right-side profile of the shaggy-cut women. She looks pissed, not to the point of yelling but getting there.ACCUSED WOMEN: All the things I did for them, then they turn around and accuse me of dancing with the devil…Panel 4: The accused man is crying. He is running his hands through his hair. The panel is looking down at him while he is looking up. The light highlights the tears running down his face.ACCUSED MAN: … then they strung me up by my thumbs…Panel 5: The daughter now is bawling into her own hands. The mother has her face pushed up against her daughters, trying to comfort her. The mother still is looking at the pair of investigators.OLDER ISOBEL: … He took us outside to the well in the middle of town…OLDER ISOBEL: … stripped us …OLDER ISOBEL: … and shaved us head to toe.Panel 6: The woman has sunken back in her chair. She is crying from the exhaustion of this conversation. She thinks about it all the time, and now she is forced to talk about it. She is bitter, but she has no way to get revenge. She looks and feels defeated.ACCUSED WOMEN: … And then he took out the needle…ACCUSED WOMEN: … when no blood came out of my mark, I felt the heat of the pyre…

Anyone's Game: Opening Moves

I co-edited a micro-games anthology with Leila DeMarchi. The book contains 19 micro-games created by industry professionals as well as submitted designers.

Shift: A Journal of Literary Oddities

Shift is a student-run journal published by the Ringling College of Art and Design. I was the Lead Prose Editor for Issue #3