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Storyteller interview: Creating your own fairy tale

Daniel Benmergui's Storyteller has been in the works for nearly a decade. Shacknews recently chatted with him about the Steam demo, publisher Annapurna Interactive, and more.

Ozzie Mejia

November 3, 2021 4:00 PM

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Earlier this year, Annapurna Interactive announced that it would be adding to its already impressive library of games with an interesting puzzle game centered around telling stories. Developer Daniel Benmergui has been working on Storyteller for many years, previously showing it off at events like IndieCade and the Independent Games Festival. With publisher Annapurna Interactive now at the helm, the game looks to be closer to completion than ever. We recently spoke with Benmergui to learn more about his puzzle game.

"I wanted to make a game where instead of playing stories, you would create stories," Benmergui told Shacknews. "It all started when I was a kid and I read fairy tale books and all, that came with illustrations. As I read those stories, I always wondered or wished I could change things in the story, like what would happen if this character did this other thing? What would happen if somebody warned this character that this was happening? How would the story have gone?"

Storyteller's premise is that players are given a title, characters, and settings and must use those in order to create a comprehensive story. Benmergui's game has undergone several visual revisions over the years, but Annapurna Interactive's guidance has led to a visual style that utilizes fairy tale-style illustrations and comic book-like layouts.

There's no word on when Storyteller will release. Whenever it's finished, look for it to come to PC and Nintendo Switch. If you want a taste of what to expect, there's an updated demo available now on Steam. For more interviews like this, visit Shacknews and GamerHubTV on YouTube.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?