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

🎧 Too much sound can ruin your audio game.

Audio designers love layering: music, background ambience, footsteps, breathing, radio static, wind, distant sirens, and emotional underscore. 

And suddenly your “immersive experience” feels like standing inside a broken washing machine. 

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most people don’t play audio games in perfect silence. They’re commuting. Cooking. Walking. Folding laundry. 

Audio storytelling competes with real life. If your game requires 100% concentration at all times just to understand what’s happening, you’re designing against the format.

Cognitive overload is real:
🐲 Constant SFX + dense dialogue = fatigue
🐲 Overlapping voices = confusion
🐲 Permanent music bed = emotional flattening
🐲 No breathing room = listener burnout

Immersion doesn’t come from “more sound.” It comes from intentional sound. Silence matters. Contrast matters. Clarity matters. Design audio like oxygen.

Good audio narrative design respects the listener’s brain, because the worst experience isn’t “hard,” it’s exhausting.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames

Alena Lysiakova 🐉

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

Here’s something most audio writers don’t plan for 👉 players will mishear things. 


Names. Instructions. Locations. Important clues. And no, it’s not because they’re inattentive. It’s because audio competes with real life.

If your entire branching logic collapses because someone misheard “Mara” as “Nara,” that’s not player failure. 👉 That’s architectural fragility.

Designing for mishearing means:
👾 Avoid critical distinctions that rely on similar-sounding names
🐲 Reinforce important information through variation, not repetition
👾 Use context to clarify meaning instead of assuming perfect recall
🐲 Make systems resilient to imperfect listening

In audio, clarity isn’t about simplifying the story. It’s about building redundancy intelligently. The player shouldn’t need studio-level focus to follow your game.

If your structure only works in perfect silence with perfect attention, it’s not built for the real world.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #InteractiveStorytelling

Not every choice needs to derail the plot. 👾 


But every choice should change the experience.

In audio games especially, meaningful choices aren’t always about branching into entirely new storylines. They’re about shaping how the story feels to the player.

Good choices can:
🐲 Shift tone (kind, cautious, reckless, ruthless)
🐲 Redefine relationships and trust
🐲 Change how the player sees themselves in the story
🐲 Unlock bonus lore or small secrets that reward attention

One of my favorite design approaches is building narrative branches as journeys between fixed plot points. The destination stays the same, but the path there changes who you are when you arrive. The agency lives in letting the player leave their fingerprints all over it.

👉 If a choice makes the player think, “This felt like me,” then it worked, even if the plot stayed exactly where it was.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #GameWriting

Dating used to be awkward dinners and nervous eye contact… now it’s co-op bosses and shared loot drops. 🎮💘

In my latest article, I dig into why playing together is becoming the new dating, and how games are quietly reshaping connection, chemistry, and even heartbreak.

👉 https://lnkd.in/eU6XgMn8

If you’re into storytelling, relationships, or just fascinated by how games intersect with real life feelings, this one might hit a nerve.

#GamingCulture #Storytelling

Open article: Why playing together is the new dating by meer.com

The uncomfortable truth about writing for audio: sometimes experience gets in the way. 🐲 


I coach a lot of writers transitioning into interactive audio, and I keep seeing the same pattern: the more experienced the writer, the harder it can be to adapt.

Not because they’re not talented, but because they’re used to controlling the frame.

In audio, you don’t have visuals to lean on. You don’t have text people can reread. You don’t have cinematic shortcuts.

You have a voice. Timing. Space. Silence. Choice phrasing. Cognitive load.

And if you try to force screenwriting logic or prose logic onto audio without adjusting, the story simply doesn’t breathe. 

💡 Audio is a different architecture. It demands different pacing, different exposition control and different emotional calibration.

That’s why transitioning with a coach helps. Not because you don’t know how to write, but because someone needs to point out the invisible friction early.

You can read all the documents you want. Clarity usually comes when someone listens and says, “This works. This doesn’t. And here’s why, specifically for audio.”

Different medium requires different muscles. And once they click, audio becomes addictive.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #StoryCoaching

In visual games, players always know where they are. There’s a map, a UI, and a quest log. Basically, something grounding them.

In audio there is nothing like that. Which means if you don’t deliberately build structural anchors, your story starts to drift.

Structural anchors are recurring elements that help listeners orient themselves without realizing it.

It could be:
🐲 A specific location you return to
🐲 A character who always reappears between major beats
🐲 A ritual moment (a radio check-in, a diary entry, a nightly call)
🐲 A recurring sound cue that signals transition

These anchors are architecture. Without them, scenes blur. Branches feel random. The player doesn’t feel lost because the plot is confusing; they feel lost because there’s no spatial or emotional reference point. Audio needs repetition with intention.

When players hear that familiar voice, that recurring space, that structural checkpoint, their brain relaxes. Orientation returns. Engagement stabilizes.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames

Choices without context aren’t suspenseful. 💀 


They’re just guesses.

🐲 When a player is asked to make a decision, they need enough information to imagine possible outcomes, not the exact result, but the shape of the risk.

Take this:
“Should he hide or confront the burglar?”
That’s not a meaningful choice. It’s a coin toss.

Now compare it to:
“Hiding is probably the safer choice, but what if he can stop the thief right now? Should he hide or confront the burglar?”

Same options. Completely different experience.

💡 The second version gives the player something to weigh: safety vs. action, fear vs. responsibility, risk now vs. regret later.

Good narrative design isn’t about revealing consequences. It’s about framing decisions so the player can reason emotionally, not randomly.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #GameWriting

🎧 Your audio game must survive interruptions


People don’t play audio games the way they play visual ones.  They’re walking. Cooking. Commuting. Someone asks them a question. A notification pops up. The subway arrives.

And suddenly your carefully crafted scene is paused for five minutes.

🐲 When they come back, the player shouldn’t feel lost. That’s why good audio narrative design builds re-entry points into the architecture, those small structural cues that help the brain reconnect:

👾 A character briefly restating the immediate goal
👾A reaction that reminds the player what just happened
👾Environmental cues that re-establish the situation
👾A choice that naturally summarizes the stakes

These moments are navigation; because audio games exist in the middle of real life, not inside a perfectly controlled gaming session. 

💡 If your story only works when the listener gives it uninterrupted attention, you’re designing for an ideal player that doesn’t exist. Good audio architecture assumes interruptions and quietly guides the player back in.

#audiogames #narrativedesign #storyarchitecture

I’ll be attending Series Mania Forum on March 24 to 26.


Do you want to talk series and verticals? 🎬  
🐲 Let's meet and talk over coffee in Lille. 

#SeriesMania #VerticalSeries #Networking

(1) Getting B2B CMOs a LinkedIn-literate team | (2) 12-week enquiry generation program *only* for consultants | +$300K in client pipeline | Message "Curious" to know more.

"Popular" content never impresses buyers.

It impresses the "LinkedIn Famous" (who don't buy from you.)

If posting worked,

And 5 of your team members just posted then everyone would be winning.

After working with leaders from multiple B2B industries, dealing with complex buyer behavior, and business problems....

It's *always* about sales psychology.

What triggers your clients?

What makes them go "We need this team on our side ASAP"

Content, profile, DMs are methods, 

The core is the trigger.

Once you figure out what makes them tick, you are golden.

You learn that with training. 

In 6 weeks business starts coming in,

In 12 weeks our partners need to outsource because they are over occupied.   

Many spend $15K for months and see no growth at all...

Which is why I want you to vet me.

Because if you want a solid business, you need a solid partner.

I would do the same.

My only condition is you evolve. I hate un-invested people.

You can see my case studies now, message me "Curious."

Ciao.

Sadiya Mulla

“Nice” founders are never DM’d by buyers. Because they. Just. Don’t. Shut. Up.

If you are just a creator whose business model is followers, share it all. 
Sell cohorts and $39 templates.

But if your business model is to stop companies from crashing on hot concrete via your solutions

and exchange $20k–$120k in return –

Be very careful about how much you give away.

Because serious enquiries only happen when there is a huge gap between what the buyer knows and what you know.

The moment they see you as an encyclopedia
You have the same value as a Google search

They feel no pull to work with *you.*

Because your approach told them your consulting is free and accessible 24/7/365.

They have 0 curiosity to DM you.
To get private access to your mind.
Instead, they will use you to browse options.

And find someone “better” to DM.

Simply put,
If buyers can't mentally justify buying access to you -

They won't.

Sadiya M.

Hate ads, so I nailed inbound · Engineering B2B enquiries for $45k–2m deals · Deploying in-house sales

Founders who post “consistently” are the bane of their own existence.

More content does not cause more enquiries.
More content does not cause more enquiries.
More content does not cause more enquiries.
More content does not cause more enquiries.
More content does not cause more enquiries.

Content is a half-asleep trigger.
It only triggers serious buyers *if* your presence is nailed.

And I don’t mean a nice profile headline and a loud banner.
Your buyers couldn’t care less that you post 25x a month.
Or that you have 10 case studies.

Your. Profile. Is. Your. Disposition.

When its wrong, buyers don’t DM.
They mentally blacklist your name and justify it as:
“Too pushy”
“Didn’t feel the pull”
“Not interesting enough”

When I start with a company -
The first phase is their perceived market value.

Then, the productized service map.

Then, the founder’s story.

That’s what triggers content.

And that’s what forces content to trigger the best inbound.

I love working with 55+ founders. We use “boomer” as an insult, but these folks are THE business builders.

They've watched the industry break and regrow many times.

Heck, they made the industry what it is today.

They know when the hype is just noise.
And when serious change is coming.

So when we start working, they tell me this outright:

“I want less random posts or followers.
I want a strong circle of partners (buyers).
I want to build a legacy.”

This looks like:
Way less noise in their business.
No FOMO strategy changes.
No cringe tactics.

They don’t doubt themselves no matter who yells online.

I know they are bound to win.

DMs from prospects NEVER start with “Hey, we need help. What’s your price?”

But with 2 paras explaining:
a. What they want
b. Where they are stuck
c. A request to hop on a call. ASAP.

Every business needs reliable partners now more than ever.

But when you push for more salesy content, lead magnets, and likes

They think you are a mere creator.

Not an actual service.

While I was building their inbound system

My clients were having dinners with their prospects.

Not worried about where the next enquiry will come from.

They call less.
Play golf.
Sell high.

I will bet on a 55+ founder over an “AI, tactics, go viral” founder any day.

“Ideal clients never like our posts. BAD sign for inbound...?” my greentech client asked. I sighed, this myth never dies. Here’s the truth:

His buyers were fin. institution CEOs AND their close advisors (more imp. than buyers). Deal size anywhere from $200k to a million.

I asked him: “Did YOU like any of my posts before you approached me?”

Client: “No."

“Did you like them after we started our partnership?”

Client: “No.”

“Why do you think prospects would stick their neck out to like your posts then? Especially with problems that need large capital.”

Client: /still processing/

Me: “It’s like expecting mice to dance in front of a starving, feral, ginger cat.”

He got the mechanics at play. 

Buyers never like posts because they hate being seen. Being pitched.

And with tools like Clay, it’s easier than ever to call some stranger a prospect and DM them every 18 hours.

Companies that are serious about you will NOT show up with weak signals like reacting to your posts or asking stuff in the comments.

They lurk.
They judge you.
They check if you can be trusted.

Then they DM you.
On their terms.

That's inbound 101.

So if an ideal client actually likes your post,

that’s a bad sign.

They want free info.
They won’t sign with you.

Likes don’t predict sales;

The trifecta of selling signals do:
I. Profile views (repeat views >>>)
II. Silent follows
III. Companies in search appearances

“Never thought LinkedIn was this powerful,” said my client after 5 posts and $2mn in DMs. I could hear the smile in his voice. All because I went anti-influencer;

4:30 am. I wave to my client sitting in windy Texas.

Their real estate project will launch soon —

His LinkedIn has no hint of it.
No demand from investors.
No interest from partners.

He assumed he needed:
• a PR agency
• conferences
• 10,000 cold emails
• a 132-slide deck
• a team of 12

To make it happen.

He requests me to take over his LinkedIn. Build his authority in the market.

But I know what's coming.

So I map the LinkedIn campaign at dawn. 

His partner nods to it.
I execute. We go live.

They expect “press leverage.”

The next day:

He opens his DMs.

He gets enthusiastic messages to meet up over brunch. 

Strong real estate and multi-industry partners and investors. 

He sends me a thank you. 

All DMs were:
• Long paragraphs with business details 
• What they expect to achieve
• How much capital they want to invest
• When they can meet in person

Serious. Intent. To. Partner. Up.

7 posts.
Across 4 weeks.

Outperformed the avg. 30 posts/month “strategy.”

No video.
No sob stories.
No salesy CTAs.
No lead magnets.

Just LinkedIn engineered right.

Don’t expect $35K prospects when you have a $200 LinkedIn.

Buyers aren’t sitting there waiting for you to finally show your worth.

They are swiping fast and choosing your competitors because they •look• better.

So while you question why they choose companies that don’t have nearly enough case studies

And shady, lousy, embarrassing execution -

You don't see that your LinkedIn looks shady, lousy, and embarrassing, too.

Even if your work speaks for itself, no buyer will DM you and wait for you to slowly reveal how great you are.

You are not in a romance novel.

Either upgrade your profile and prospects' touchpoints so they know your worth and finally DM you.

Or drop your expectations of getting great prospects. Take in cheap clients.

Ciao.

“Authenticity” is NOT a public right; it’s a privilege.
And it’s why clients don’t DM you.

Ask me why you don’t get serious enquiries on LinkedIn -

And I will ask you why you use LinkedIn as your therapy room.

Your buyers don’t care that you slept on the office floor with no pillows.
Or that you are building in public for the 167th day now. 
Or that you hit $5m 3 years ago. But felt numb.

They need you to be a partner.
They need your content to *subtly* prove your mastery. 

So they can let go once you take over.

Instead, their feed is full of “I am the most vulnerable” people.

Inbound is simple when you know your real selling points.

And they sure aren't coming out of pop psych slang and trauma speak.

You aren’t actors.
You aren’t just creators.
You aren’t enlightenment gurus.

Your business comes from clients, not followers.

Your business lives on potential clients’ opinion of you.

And on the relief they feel because you signed the contract.

Your best inbound will happen when your value is undeniable.
Not when your feelings are. 

Ciao.

taplio

The Battle

Alena Lysiakova

Sadiya Mulla

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAlena Lysiakova's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSadiya Mulla's LinkedIn Performance

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taplio

The Battle

Alena Lysiakova

Sadiya Mulla

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Alena Lysiakova's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSadiya Mulla's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAlena Lysiakova's LinkedIn Performance