I’m James Martini, a game designer and writer. This website features all of my work.
Check out the links below to see some selected works and learn about me. Below the list are all of the posts on the site. Feel free to use the categories in the top bar to sort by the kind of work you want to see.
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BYTE

itch.io link Wishlist BYTE on Steam Write your vows in blood! Estimated demo play time: ~2 hours BYTE is a tactics RPG that adapts the classic novel Dracula, by Bram Stoker, with an emphasis on the themes of queerness and technology.You play as Jonathan Harker, Dracula’s real estate agent, completing work tasks while exploring the
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Yvain and Gawain: The Game

Play it on itch right now! Yvain and Gawain: The Game is a small tactics-RPG based on the story Yvain, the Knight of the Lion, by the medieval French writer Chrétien de Troyes. The game explores the moment that two best friends, Yvain and Gawain, must fight each other in order to defend the honor
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Apricot and Fern

Itch.io link In Apricot and Fern, have a relaxing evening exploring this cute cafe nestled deep in the woods. Talk to the patrons, who love to spend their time lounging, playing games, and chit-chatting the night away. Technology Timeframe 5 months Role Sole developer
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BYTE Devlog 2/5/24: Gigabytes of GIFs

I don’t remember what I said I would do last week but what I did do was create several gigabytes of obscenely large GIFs. I sent my pitch deck to a bunch of my coworkers to get feedback (all of which was very helpful) and the most significant note I got was that all of
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BYTE Devlog 1/29/24: PITCH DECK

It’s a new year and BYTE‘s back with new goals! In particular, this is the semester where I will be pitching BYTE to as many publishers as I feel fit. I’m getting money for this game! Or not. But I’ll at least try. This week I was pretty solely dedicated to creating a pitch deck
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BYTE Devlog 12/1/23: A brand new game!

Over the past two weeks, I have done roughly four weeks’ worth of work. If that sounds unhealthy, it sure felt like it, too! In all honesty, I fell into a bit of a UI hole over the Thanksgiving break where I wanted to get the ClawCaptain pause menu done and then that just kept
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BYTE Devlog 11/17/23: ACTUALLY Content Complete!
Frankly, I don’t have a lot of visual stuff to show for this week but take a look at this log! I did all of this in the last week! It’s been a big week in BYTE and I now have all the core content. It’s playable from start to finish (it took me an
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BYTE: Write your vows in blood! Content Preview

Est. release date: December 12, 2023 Follow the game on itch.io: https://jamesmartini.itch.io/byte BYTE is nearly back and it’s time to write your vows in blood! This new content update for BYTE introduces bundles of new mechanics, characters, and scenarios, dragging you further and further into Dracula’s castle. Follow Jonathan as he learns more about himself,
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BYTE Devlog 11/3/23: Art, Battle, and Church

This week in BYTE was a full content week, just churning out the next steps in the plot. Firstly, I created the final round of battles. There are another three battles, one per computer in the chapel, and the player needs to install the DJ software on the computers so it’s ready when they get
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BYTE Devlog 10/27/23: Meet Arthur and Lucy

Delightfully, we’re running out of new mechanics and systems that need to be added to BYTE. For this week, because I was a little busy, I focused just on getting the story to the next big combat section, where Jonathan needs to install the DJ equipment on the computers in the chapel. To do that,
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BYTE Devlog 10/20/23: Just some art

This was a lighter week in BYTE, but I still managed to make some good progress and also get some good polish elements in. My first chunk of work was making a couple of small bug fixes on Keons’ sitting animation, ensuring that his robes were properly bending with his knees, and then adding the
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BYTE Devlog 10/13/23: GARGOYLES

(Happy Friday the 13th of October, btw. I will be celebrating today by watching Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola if anyone would like to join me in honoring the occasion.) Last week I made very little progress. THIS WEEK I MADE A LOT OF PROGRESS. The major thing I did this week was
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BYTE Devlog 10/6/23: Welp, I tried!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Listen, last week, when I said that I wanted to get the entire next week of content into BYTE I did say that I thought it was an unrealistic goal. I knew that it probably wasn’t going to happen. Unfortunately, I undershot expectations even with those caveats. Largely this had to do with me