Post Games Adapting Life into a Video Game (Meredith Gran)
Jan 19, 2026
Meredith Gran, a talented game creator and cartoonist known for her work on Octopus Pie and Perfect Tides, explores the art of adapting personal experiences into interactive storytelling. She delves into how interactivity enhances reader engagement, using second-person narration to create unique emotional distance in her characters. Meredith also reflects on the significance of early internet culture, the blending of real-life elements with fiction, and the impact of memoir games on players. Her insights illuminate the innovative mechanics that transform life into immersive gameplay.
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Memoir Games As A Flexible Form
- Meredith Gran frames a growing subgenre of autobiographical games as "memoir games," blending true memory and autofiction.
- She sees memoir games as expansive, allowing factual recall, fictionalized truth, and hybrid narratives.
From Webcomic To Point‑And‑Click
- Meredith adapted her comics experience into Perfect Tides by borrowing classic point-and-click structures and infusing personal history.
- The first game mixes adventure-game skeletons with her island upbringing and early-2000s emo internet culture.
Games Deepen Reader Engagement
- Gran finds games add experiential depth beyond comics by combining writing, animation, and player interaction.
- She noticed players engaged more deeply with game stories than with her comics.
