Photo: Daniel Adams
Worldbuilder
Designing and building the environments, settings, and immersive worlds within video games.
I build worlds from myth, memory, and metaphor. Worlds that can stretch across centuries, crossing borders of time and genre, yet remain deeply rooted in culture and place.
I imagine storyworlds with the scope to become franchises — transhistorical, cinematic, alive — blending pulp, grit, ritual, and the supernatural into unforgettable experiences.
For me, food, folklore, mysticism, and myth are not surface details — they are the foundations of culture and play. I create narrative systems that breathe: arcs and hooks, logic and lore, playful frameworks that invite players to return, explore, and belong.
At the heart of my work is symbolic storytelling: translating artifacts, resources, and rituals into living metaphors of power, corruption, guardianship, and resistance. My practice bridges writing, design, and gameplay — building not just worlds, but meaning.
— Bernice Chauly
As Senior Writer & Cultural Advisor at Avalanche Studios, Stockholm, Bernice Chauly is currently working on the AAA, co-op, open world video game ‘Contraband’ set in 1970’s South East Asia.
Contraband – a co-op smuggler’s paradise
From Avalanche Studios and Xbox Game Studios, a co-op smuggler’s paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan.
Welcome to Contraband, a co-op smuggler’s paradise set in the fictional world of 1970s Bayan, brought to you by Avalanche Studios and Xbox Game Studios, and exclusive to Xbox consoles and coming to Xbox Game Pass, Steam, and Windows.
“Worlds Upon Worlds: Writing for Video Games” by Bernice Chauly
Video games are the future of storytelling. Merging art, tech, design, and narrative is a critical and daunting task in building worlds that matter, in giving meaning and purpose to the narrative-driven games we try to create. Making video games is incredibly difficult, and every game that is released is a miracle in itself, so how does one begin to understand the complex, chaotic world of gamedev?
The writer’s task is crucial in this process, and creating world logic is integral to world building and the creation of characters that inhabit our fictional worlds. Writers are integral in creating better games, and as video games soar to becoming the biggest form of entertainment on the planet, this task becomes more vital than ever.