Galen Skibyak

She/Her
Master of History
Game Writer & Designer

About Me

Hello! I'm Galen Skibyak (she/her), a game designer and writer! Whether it is on the table or the screen, I want to write and design it.With a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in History, as well as a minor in Anthropology, I love researching and writing, especially for videogames, board games, and TTRPGs. I have a dream of making games with deep, fantastic lore, historical influence, and memorable and fun characters and stories!Furthermore, I am certified and have 3 years of experience in the field of education and I love tangential learning! I believe gaming is a great medium for introducing people to new concepts and cultures!I'm also available for live streams and actual play content.

Resume

Writing Samples

The Anafrustima: A Worldbuilding Zine (2024)

Work in Progress

An upcoming Zine in the style of an anthropological journal studying the Anafrustima, a culture of the distant planet, Adelfós d. Stemming from a college assignment, this expanded story will include everything from the written script of the culture to samples of their origin stories and a family tree of the gods. Coming in 2024.

Kitsune: A Look into the Lasting Presence of the Fox Spirit in Japanese Culture (2020)

This Master's history thesis encapsulates a dive into the the representation of foxes in Japanese culture as far back as the 7th century C.E. and up until the modern era. It covers folklore, oral storytelling, Noh and Kabuki plays, paintings and Netsuke carvings, mascots, and even anime and video games as it delves into the vast and fascinating history of kitsune in Japan.

Sample Here!

Game Design

Video Game Development

Moving In and Moving On
Ludum Dare 55 with Cat Tale (2024)

Moving in and Moving On Title Screen

Created with the outstanding help of the following:
Ally Studham "Vulspera" - character art, concept art, animation, pixel art, game design
Cris (Christine) Luu "Ariyassa" - sound design, music, production, programming
Sisi Peng "artmuse62" - narrative design, game design, marketing, production
Tess Winlock "Miraiya" - programming, game design
Jenna Ivey "soulpuncher" - voiceover
"waterhog" - voiceover

Moving In and Moving On Screenshot of Outdoors

After an outstanding experience at Indie Game Academy Level 1, a few companions from my cohort and I came together to form Cat Tale! Over the 72 hours between April 12th and 15th, we created our first game together, Moving In and Moving On, using Game Maker. This visual novel about summoning ghosts and helping them find peace was submitted to Ludum Dare 55 and was in the top 30% overall (3.56 from 41 user reviews) and the top 15% in mood (3.95 from 43 reviews).My role in the jam as a Narrative Designer and Writer was to:

Help with overall Game Design.
Collaboratively craft concept, story, lore, aesthetics, environment, etc.
Design and write of most dialogue/narration/interactions.
Use Crochet to create a Yarn script.
Assist teammates where needed to produce a working game in 72 Hours. (Adding interior design to level, fixing Yarn script and minor bugs, etc.)

LudumDare 55 Reviews:"So much work put into the depth of your game: great audio, I imagine a lot of time spent on writing the sceneario, the dialog, the interactions, the branching system..." -@deformhead"What a wholesome story! The ghosts weren't scary at all, everyone is so nice. I like the vibe of the old manor..." -@woona"Good game with an engaging storyline. Not my favorite genre but this game drew me in-- the story is not complex but it's touching and atmospheric..." -@alexascher

Indie Game Academy Level 1: Embark Program (2024)

A WIP Gif of my game from the weekend, titled "Pirate's Plunder" made over the course of one day.

Over the course of one weekend, I was introduced to new principles of game design through a crash course with Indie Game Academy. With the help of their amazing instructors, I learned valuable information about:

Level and game design
Narrative design and writing
Building games in Godot
Making a functioning game in less than 48 hours
Networking

Though I had never used Godot before, by the end of the weekend, I felt much more confident modeling stages, editing textures and scripts, and overall trying to make something work in the engine. Most importantly, I felt more confident in my knowledge of the gaming industry and design principles.

A quick video of the game as it was by the end of the day.

The Wizard of POGZ
POG Jam 3 (2023)

From May 1st to May 8th of 2023, YouTuber Thundaga and co-host ENLS put on a 1 week long solo game jam known as Pog Jam 3. The goal was to create a Pokémon fan game and to:

Make a game within the one week time frame.
Work alone in teams of no more than one person.
Choose from one of three provided themes.
Include 3 mandatory assets revealed at the beginning of the jam, as well as 3 more revealed midway through.
Create all assets within the time frame.

The tournament was very meme-y and fun, and I decided to try my hand at creating a game in just one week. However, before this week, I had only a handful of hours in the platform I used, RPG Maker XP. Still, over the course of one week, in the hours after my full-time job, I was able to craft a very small game based on the Wizard of Oz for the jam. Though it is simple, I am happy with the result and proud that I was able to do something so different and challenging in just one week. That game can be found here or at the button below.

The Wizard of POGZ Download

A Certain Malady
Fictory Interactive (2019-Present)

Work in Progress: On Haitus

Starting in 2019, I began work as a writer for Fictory Interactive's Visual Novel, A Certain Malady. As a founding member of the team, I worked as a writer, narrative designer, lore master, world builder, and all around story lead. The project is currently on hiatus.

I was in charge of about four of the main characters of the game, including designing their briefs for the team and artists and writing their dialogue and the branching story paths that they influenced.
These are two of the characters I created and for whom I wrote dialogue and managed art and story briefs.

A Certain Malady Character Briefs

Maeve McGowan
Doctor Koji Ikeru

Made with Milanote

Board Game Development

A Favor for the Gods: Greece
(2021)

Work in Progress

A Prototype by Galen Skibyak
1-4 Players, Ages 8+, 30-60 Minutes
"The gods need a favor: destroy Kronos. Gather the strength of three gods—one from each realm—and travel to Tartarus to face Kronos once and for all. Roll dice, trade with others, strategize, and take on the task ahead."In March 2021, I developed the first prototype of this game which is hopefully the first in a series of games centered on the pantheons and geography of people and places around the world. It was presented at Protospiel Online in July 2021 and is currently still under development.