EarReality

Narrative Designer 

Screenwriter

Paralect

Full writing support for the needs of the company:
- Writing articles and guest posts
- Creating case studies and video scripts
- Writing ads for various online channels
- Interviewing
- Supporting sales, product and marketing activities

Left the company to study full-time for MA Serial Storytelling in Germany

Copywriter

StockBattle

Worked on several web and mobile games aimed at crypto and stock market education. 
- UX writing
- Social media writing
- Blogging

Media Manager

FBS Inc.

- Managing a creative team (6 people) of the traffic department, later - of the FBS Global product, team lead.
- Copywriting for websites, landing pages, offline and online materials of the company in English.
- Creation of creative concepts, UX copywriting
- Editing and proofreading of materials for novice copywriters, training for copywriters

Creative Team Lead / Copywriter 

Heads and Hands

Content marketing and PR for Russian and International markets:
- Strategy planning
- Content marketing (blogging, SMM, ratings, etc.)
- PR
- Online Marketing

Marketing and PR specialist

Reksoft

Marketing Manager

Marketing Assistant

All my life I’ve been a fierce force of imagination, persistence, and hard work: like a dragon hunting for gold. But instead of treasure, I’ve been searching for stories to tell and ways to make an impact.

Born in Belarus, I studied journalism in Bulgaria and worked in marketing in Russia, but storytelling has always been my true passion. I create narratives that allow people to explore fresh perspectives in a safe, immersive way.

As a queer, neurodivergent woman from a patriarchal country, I’m passionate about shedding light on complex topics through my work. Over the years, I’ve designed more than 100 LARP games, written 10+ original tabletop campaigns, and worked as a script supervisor on the short film Mein Name Akim (2024), which tells the story of transgender refugees in Germany.

During my MA in Serial Storytelling at IFS Cologne, I honed my skills across genres, working on solo projects as well as collaborating in Writers' Rooms.

Currently, I’m co-developing a visual novel game with a co-author as a passion project.

Now that I've completed my degree, I’m eager to bring my creativity to TV and gaming, crafting stories in both English and German.

Dragons never stop breathing fire. And neither do I, with an endless flow of ideas and stories I can’t wait to share.

Alena Lysiakova 🐉 🔜 GAMESCOM

In audio games, players can’t scroll back. 


They can’t “check the log.” They’re usually listening while cooking or commuting, not taking notes like a detective.

So if your story relies on the player remembering a random detail from minute 3 to survive minute 22, good luck. Your plot may be brilliant, but the format will eat it alive.

🐲 Audio narrative design has to support memory.

 Not through exposition dumps, but through systems that anchor recall:
+ Recurring motifs (a phrase, a sound, a location)
+ Audio cues that repeat at key moments
+ Mirrored consequences that call back to earlier actions

💡 These are structural tools, not flavor text. They let players remember without needing a rewind button. Because if your story only works when someone can reread it: you didn’t design for audio. You designed for a book.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #StoryArchitecture

Alena Lysiakova 🐉

Narrative designer and screenwriter ▶️ Let's create stories that make an impact

If your characters agree too often, something is wrong. 🎬

Harmony might be great in real life (depending on who you ask), but on the page it’s story poison. When everyone shares the same opinion, makes the same choice, or nods politely in every scene… there’s nothing to watch. No movement. No friction. No reason for us to lean in.

Stories don’t run on plot twists alone 👉  they run on pressure.

Tiny disagreements. Conflicting priorities. One person wanting something now while the other wants it later. A silent “no” that derails a plan without a single shout.

Characters don’t need to scream at each other to create tension. 💡 They just need to want things that don’t align. Even slightly. That’s enough to make a scene feel alive.

🐲 So if your dialogue reads like everyone attended the same group therapy and agreed to be mature about it, throw in a value clash. A boundary. A secret. A refusal that doesn’t look like one.

#Screenwriting #Storytelling #GameWriting

I just finished reading HOW TO WRITE A VERTICAL SERIES IN 10 DAYS by Isabel Dréan, and honestly, it exceeded every expectation I had. 💜 

I went in hoping for a few insights.

What I got was a full, practical roadmap: tasks, exercises, industry guidance, and a crystal-clear breakdown of how to actually enter the vertical series world. It's easy to read, but more importantly, it's easy to apply. 🐲 The book basically screams, “Start now,” and as a screenwriter, that was exactly the push I needed.

Now I know exactly how to structure my vertical series portfolio and how to approach producers with my concepts. Huge thanks to Isabel for creating such a sharp, actionable guide: it immediately earned a place on my “write with purpose” shelf.

👉 If you're a new creator or screenwriter who wants a real, practical entry point into the vertical series industry, this book is a must. 
https://lnkd.in/eaKhHw2w

#Screenwriting #VerticalSeries #BookReview

Some interactive stories love throwing choices at players like confetti.


A choice here, a choice there: none of them actually do anything, but hey, it feels interactive, right? 

🐲 No.

 That’s writing pretend-agency. It’s a novelty menu. It’s decorating the game with buttons that aren’t hooked to anything. 

Real narrative design is systemic.
👉 Choices should connect to variables that influence:
+ relationships (trust, fear, loyalty)
+ difficulty (risk, scarcity, knowledge)
+ consequences (routes, scenes, endings)
+ pacing (when info drops, when tension spikes)

If your branching doesn’t change the system, it’s not interaction: it’s decoration.

💡 Players don’t remember how many buttons you gave them. They remember how their choice changed the world, the character, or the story’s tone. We’re not designing “options.” We’re designing impact.

#NarrativeDesign #GameWriting #AudioGames

Everyone loves saying “games are the new IP goldmine”, until it’s time to adapt one and suddenly half the story disappears and the other half gets rewritten into something no fan recognizes. 🎮📺


So I wrote about what makes good adaptations work.

How to translate gameplay into story, treat worldbuilding like a character, and keep both longtime fans and newcomers hooked without bending the source material into something unrecognizable.

👉 Game Over for Bad Adaptations 
https://lnkd.in/ejp-QaQF

If you care about storytelling across mediums,  this one’s for you.

#Adaptation #Storytelling #Screenwriting

Open article: Game over for bad adaptations by meer.com

Let’s be honest, most early world-building documents look like Pinterest boards in disguise. 👾 

Pretty aesthetics. Moody adjectives. 

But in audio games, vibes won’t save you. 👉 Rules will.

If the player can’t predict how the world behaves, they can’t make meaningful choices.

And if they can’t make meaningful choices… well, what are we even doing here?

Strong audio world-building isn’t about lore dumps: it’s about systems thinking:

🧩 Consistent logic
 Magic works the same every time.
 Social rules don’t change based on a writer’s mood.
 Danger has clear signals that the player can learn.

🔊 Predictable sensory cues
 A sound has a purpose. A silence has a consequence.
 The player should learn the world’s language without needing a codex.

👤 NPCs follow world rules too
 If everyone except the protagonist behaves like they’re in another genre, your world collapses faster than a badly mixed audio cue.

🗺️ Boundaries that define possibility
 The world needs limits. What can’t happen is just as important as what can.
Because a world with vibes but no rules isn’t a world. It’s a mood board with dialogue.

🐲 Design your world like a system, and the player will believe in it instantly.

#NarrativeDesign #Worldbuilding #AudioGames

Writers love to obsess over genre:
 “Is it a drama? A thriller? A dark comedy?”


👉 Here’s a secret: your tone decides that long before your logline does.


Take this:
 A couple argues in a car during a thunderstorm.
 💔 In a drama, it’s the last fight before they break up.
 😂 In a dark comedy, lightning strikes right as one says, “At least things can’t get worse.”
 🔪 In a thriller, someone’s bleeding in the trunk and the argument’s just a cover.

Same setup. Totally different story: all because of tone.

Tone tells your audience how to feel about what’s happening, even before the plot fully unfolds. It’s the lens through which they interpret every line, every silence.

🐲 So before rewriting your script for the tenth time, don’t change the plot. Change the tone. Sometimes it's even more effective.

#Storytelling #WritingTips

Here’s something I learned writing for audio: if you build your episode like a typical visual game, escalating scene after escalating scene, your listeners will mentally check out by minute 12.


Why? 
👉 Because audio burns brainpower faster than visuals.
There’s no UI, no map, no screen to anchor attention. Just the player, their imagination, and whatever chaos you hand them.

That’s why audio episodes need chains, not ladders:
🔗 Repeat anchor points
 A recurring sound, phrase, or location the player can “grab” onto.

🔗 Linked beats instead of vertical escalation
 Scene → consequence → micro-turn → reorientation → next link
INSTEAD OF
Action → Bigger Action → Biggest Action → listener meltdown.

🔗 Reorientation moments
 Tiny resets that say, “Here’s where you are. Here’s what changed.”

🔗 A rhythm, not a sprint
The emotional pulse matters more than the scale of the event.

🐲 Because if your episode structure only works when players can stare at a screen, it won’t survive in audio. 

💡 Design for the listener’s brain, not the writer’s adrenaline.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #StoryArchitecture

EarReality is hosting a free webinar for anyone curious about interactive audio.

🐲 And yes, I’ll be one of the hosts.

Here’s what we’re diving into: 

✅ The TWIST Engine: A clean, no-nonsense intro to the tool we use to build interactive audio stories (the same one I used to write all my audio games).

✅ Business & Publishing Opportunities: self-publishing, collaborations, monetization: the whole ecosystem and how you can actually earn from your stories.

✅ Live Demo: we’ll start with a 30-minute listening session so you can hear what interactive audio feels like before we break down how it’s made.

If you’ve been meaning to try this format, want to explore it for your professional projects, or you’re just audio-curious, this webinar will save you weeks of trial-and-error.

🗓️ The LinkedIn Event link is right below. Seats are capped at 100, so grab yours before it fills up. And if you want to support the event, a like, share, or repost would make my day. 😎

#EarReality #TWIST #NarrativeDesign #Storytelling #InteractiveAudio

Helping Media Companies, Game Studios & Brands Expand Their IP Through Interactive Storytelling | CEO @ EarReality | TWIST Game Engine | Transmedia Strategy | In-Car, Mobile & Web Experiences

🎤 🎧  Finally, we’re hosting a FREE webinar for authors, narrative designers, and brand marketers who want to understand how interactive audio works and how to create it. 🕹️

What the session covers:

✅ TWIST Engine
A clear introduction to the tool we use to create interactive audio stories.

✅ Business Opportunities
How self-publishing, collaborations, and monetization work on TWIST and TWIST Tales.

✅ Practical Demo
We begin with a 30-minute listening session so you can hear an interactive audio story before learning the production workflow.

If you want to create interactive audio, evaluate the format for professional use, or explore future publishing opportunities, this session gives you the essentials.

This webinar is listed as a LinkedIn Event.
The registration link is directly beneath this post.
Seats are limited to 100 participants, so register early to receive the meeting link.

If you want to support the event, feel free to like, share, or repost 😎 

#EarReality #TWIST #marketing #storytelling #games #gaming #stories #audiobooks #audio #RPGs #writing #books #narrativedesign

Christian Mahnke, Anastasiia Chetverikova and 28 other attendees

View event: EarReality Webinar: The Business of Interactive Audio & TWIST - Part 1

EarReality Webinar: The Business of Interactive Audio & TWIST - Part 1

🐲 Just a quick reminder: this week we’re hosting our interactive audio webinar: a deep dive into TWIST, storytelling tools, and how creators can actually publish and monetize their work in this format.

If you’re curious about interactive audio or want to explore new opportunities as a writer, narrative designer, or creator, join us. 🎧🔥

#NarrativeDesign #InteractiveAudio

⏰ Starting in ONE hour! 🎧🎤


Our webinar on interactive audio storytelling and the business behind it is about to kick off.

If you’ve been curious about how interactive audio works, how creators can actually publish and monetize their stories, or what the TWIST Engine looks like behind the scenes… this is your chance to join live.

 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ek5wHQJ2

See you there: bring your questions and your curiosity. 🎧 🐲 

#InteractiveAudio #Storytelling

Executive coach helping professionals who love gaming achieve their dream careers.

Let me level up your career game! I'm all about helping you turn your career dreams into reality. Let's take a pit stop to refuel and retune your career ambitions. Upon this journey, we'll come across:

- Your personal compass, syncing your career with what truly matters to you
- Our game map, plotting a course from your current position all the way to your dream level
- And the booster - the actions and energy that'll speed your career advancement. 

Let's power up and start levelling!

My own personal experience
* Video Game and Esports Leader - 6 Years
* Digital Advertising Agency Head and Entrepreneur - 10 years
* Senior Consultant - 10 years

Selected  Speaking Engagements, Panels and Interviews
* "Metaverse Opportunities for Esports and Music" - All That Matters
* "Esports - Future in Smart Cities and Blockchain" - SPECTRUM Global 
* "How to build a career in esports" - Singapore Games Association 
* "Beyond Gaming" - Yahoo Finance Singapore 
* "Future of Esports" - The Drum "Can Do" Festival 2020
* "Living the Gamer Dream" - Phillippines Youth Esports Program  
* "Mobile Games Takeover" Asian Pacific Broadcasters Tech Summit 2018 (APOS Tech 2018) 
* "Building an Esports Platform" - All that Matters 2018 

Selected Media Mentions
* "Why Singapore is important to the games industry" - NME.com - 
* "SEA Games features female-division Wild Rift Esports" - Yahoo News Singapore 
* "Marrying Esports and Music" - Marketing Interactive 
* "VALORANT Colleges and Cybercafes in the Phillippines" -SPIN Magazine
* "Riot Games and CTBC Partner Up for the Pacific Championship Series" - TechBeat
* "Esports - A growing digital playing field" - Singapore Sports Hub

Coach

Riot Games

* Launched and managed iconic esports across eight countries to serve 8M esports fans
* Led Esports for League of Legends, VALORANT, and Wild Rift Esports across Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau
* Created the three largest esports products in SEA, the League of Legends Pacific Championship Series, the VALORANT Championship Tour, and the Wild Rift Icon Series
* Executed global and regional esports events including Hyperplay, Rift Rivals, Mid-Season International 2019, and Wild Rift Horizon Cup 2021
* Sold Riot’s largest IP Licensing and Esports Sponsorship in Southeast Asia
* Managed relationship with Garena to publish League of Legends

Head of SEA Esports

Country Manager SEA

Country Manager Vietnam

Daybreak Digital

* Bootstrapped Daybreak Digital into one of Vietnam’s leading digital advertising agencies
* Build fun-loving, results-oriented and learning oriented work environment
* Recruit and develop talent in business culture, ethics and pro-active, open-communication management
* Manage all business development activities, including RFP responses, business pitches and conferences 
* Develop multi-channel marketing strategies utilizing events, PR, digital and social media for clients to introduce new services, sales promotions and generate deeper brand affinity
* Lead team to develop marketing strategies, design creative collateral, program microsites and Facebook applications and plan, book and manage cross-channel digital media
* Manage and partnered with event and advertising agencies including Grey Group, Saatchi&Saatchi, Hakuhodo, DatViet Media Group, Omnicom Media Group to deliver fully integrated campaigns via TV, print, PR and online channels
* Deliver mobile game installs on a CPI basis for VNG games via DSP partners
* Introduce new technologies, media products and platforms from region to Vietnam market

Managing Director

Edge Marketing Vietnam Ltd

Director of CRM and Digital

Admax Network

At Admax Network, we have built Vietnam's premier advertising network.  We partner up with the best websites in Vietnam and provide adserving to ensure great ROI, reaching your target market with the efficiency required to survive this economic downturn.

MD Vietnam

EXO Travel

*      Manage Marketing department for Exotissimo across Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand consisting of expatriates, locals and freelance writers to produce marketing and advertising materials
    *      Create, write and edit all B2B marketing materials, including Professional’s Guide, Tariff, Responsible Travel Guide, Destinations Newsletter, eBlog and monthly electronic newsletters
    *      Develop, manage and implement strategies for Internet and other emerging markets
    *      Coordinate and oversee development of Exotissimo print and on-line advertising across all five countries
    *      Issue press releases and liaise with journalists to establish Exotissimo’s leadership across the industry
    *      Develop and maintain strong relations with partners, including foreign tour operators, corporate clientele and local hoteliers
    *      Provide website content regarding industry news, hotel information, product updates and promotions

Lockheed Martin

*      Led and trained team of four engineers for the United States Air Force Global Combat Support System website, supporting over 1 million users using BroadVision and IBM WebSphere
    *      Implemented and wrote training materials for all Air Force content managers and staff
    *      Designed content management system between Air Force divisions and centralized portal operations

Framework Operations Manager

Deloitte Consulting

Clients – UBS, London, UK, Basel, Switzerland; Bayer AG, New York City, NY; Holcim Ltd, Toronto, Canada, Sprint Communications, Kansas City, Kansas
•	Coordinated and managed team of systems administrators, focused on change and project management to develop e-hosting platform for Sprint Telecommunications
•	Implemented and maintained configuration management and testing tools including ClearCase, ClearQuest, CVS and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe		
•	Designed and implemented web production environments for Sprint Telecommunications and Holcim Ltd at Genuity Webhosting 
•	Led systems management team performing builds, tracking changes and managing various environments 
•	Trained developers and testers in using automated testing tools from Mercury Interactive
•	Implemented and designed picking, packing and shipping processes using SAP R/3 Warehouse Management and Sales and Distribution

Consultant

SEA Esports and Gaming Expert | Launched League of Legends and VALORANT Esports | I help gaming professionals get career fulfillment with coaching

I help Gaming Professionals level up their careers and secure higher-paying roles.

Most of my clients are struggling with:

- Not getting recognized for their achievements
- Getting underpaid compared to their skills and market value
- Not knowing how to get a raise (but want one)
- Being unable to progress their career forward

And so, I take them through a process to land them at a higher salary role:

1. Understand your personal impact on the business
2. Define what you want in a new role
4. Create your own growth plan
5. Design a business case for your own growth/promotion
6. Build strategic alliances with stakeholders and decision makers
7. Execute and iterate

Using this process, I've helped 30+ gaming professionals level up:

- Helped David secure a 20% salary increase with 3 job offers in 2 months
- Guided Jeff to a senior producer role with a 15% raise in 4 months
- Assisted Zach in landing a director position at a studio 2 months post-layoff

If you’re a professional in the Gaming Industry who wants to land a higher-salary role,

Click “Book a Discovery Call” at the top of my profile to see how I can help you.

Chris T.

I turned 50 recently, and there’s one story I’ve rarely share.
In 2015, I survived an earthquake in Nepal.
Five days sleeping on the street.

No passport.
No phone.
No food except instant noodles and Coke.

My family thought I was dead.

And in the middle of that chaos, one thought hit me:
“If I die today, I die doing something I hate.”

I was miserable,
and the earthquake forced me to admit it.

So when I got home, I decided to get a job at Riot Games
Not apply, but to go out and "get."

13 rounds of interviews later… I got in.

At 50, here’s what I know:
1. Crisis creates clarity
2. Preparation creates leverage
3. You don’t wait for opportunities.  You engineer them

You don’t need an earthquake to change your career.
But you do need to shake up your life before life shakes you.

Full story here:
 👉 How Surviving an Earthquake Rejuvenated My Career
https://lnkd.in/gCPeZM-z

(As I really AM turning 50, I'd really really REALLY appreciate some engagement love here.  Closed mouths don't eat.  :)  )

I Empower Laid-Off Gaming Professionals to Get Rehired, Recognized, and Rewarded | ex-Riot Games

Open video: How Surviving an Earthquake Rejuvenated My Career (Riot Games Veteran) on youtu.be

How Surviving an Earthquake Rejuvenated My Career (Riot Games Veteran)

What if the system isn’t broken by accident… what if it’s working exactly as designed?
Because right now, it feels broken.

Layoffs that used to happen once a decade now happen every year.
Full-time jobs replaced with contracts.
Entire teams disappearing overnight.
Offers rescinded.

And somehow, the stock price goes up.

You work your ass off. 
You get results.
And when the restructuring hits, you’re out.
And WORSE! you are judged for “job-hopping.”

It’s dehumanizing.
It’s exhausting.

And it’s not just gaming
It’s happening across every industry.

AI is accelerating it.
Cost-cutting is glorified.
And people are treated as numbers, not humans.

I’m not saying this to spread doom.
I’m saying it because if you want to survive this next era, you need to take control.

That means:
- Building rare, valuable skills.
- Creating a personal brand that attracts opportunities.
- Documenting your wins so you’re never caught unprepared.
- Leveraging your network before you need it.

The rules of the game have changed forever.
You can’t rely on companies to take care of you anymore.
You have to build a career that can’t be taken away.

I talk about all of this, and where we go from here, in this video:
 👉 I’m Concerned About the Future of Careers in Gaming (Riot Games Veteran) - https://lnkd.in/gi2XQ6iM

If you’ve felt lost, angry, or anxious about where the industry’s heading, watch this.

You’re not crazy. 
You’re not alone.
And there is a way forward.

Open video: I’m Concerned About the Future of Careers in Gaming (Riot Games Veteran) on youtube.com

I’m Concerned About the Future of Careers in Gaming (Riot Games Veteran)

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Alena Lysiakova 🐉 🔜 GAMESCOM

Chris T.

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The Battle

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Chris T.

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