Imaginary Worlds Scarlet Hollow Draws a Picture of Success
Jan 28, 2026
Abby Howard, artist and co-founder of Black Tabby Games known for hand-drawn character design; Tony Howard-Arias, game designer and co-founder focusing on branching narrative and systems. They discuss hand-drawn animation, designing reactive branching choices, balancing romance and solo play, letting players avoid the plot, and Southern Gothic roots shaping characters and tone.
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Two-Person Studio Makes Big Games
- Abby and Tony are a married two-person studio who hand-draw Scarlet Hollow and split design and art duties.
- They paused Scarlet Hollow for two years to make Slay the Princess, which later made finishing Scarlet Hollow financially viable.
Allow Player Agency Without Breaking Drama
- Let players avoid plot beats but still give interesting consequences and scenes to keep them engaged.
- If a choice leads to boring outcomes, change the scene or block the option earlier to keep narrative satisfaction.
Hard Choices Drive Better Storytelling
- Abby and Tony prefer outcomes that force players to explore moral complexity rather than safe, consequence-free wins.
- They avoid death and reload mechanics so players feel repercussions but keep playing through the narrative.