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I’m Martin—an experienced game and toy industry writer, designer, and producer who loves building rich worlds people want to jump into. Over 20+ years, I’ve led narrative design and interactive storytelling across video games, electronic toys, and animation, helping teams deliver high-quality content that’s age-appropriate, entertaining, and meaningful. I’m comfortable owning everything from world lore and story arcs to quests, branching speech, barks, flavor text, educational gameplay, and design/production documents. I also bring production leadership to the table—aligning stakeholders, coordinating across time zones, and tuning content through implementation, testing, and iteration—so the work ships with fun, clarity, and impact.…I’m Martin—an experienced game and toy industry writer, designer, and producer who loves building rich worlds people want to jump into. Over 20+ years, I’ve led narrative design and interactive storytelling across video games, electronic toys, and animation, helping teams deliver high-quality content that’s age-appropriate, entertaining, and meaningful. I’m comfortable owning everything from world lore and story arcs to quests, branching speech, barks, flavor text, educational gameplay, and design/production documents. I also bring production leadership to the table—aligning stakeholders, coordinating across time zones, and tuning content through implementation, testing, and iteration—so the work ships with fun, clarity, and impact.

Martin DeRiso

Writer, Game Developer, Game Designer, +2

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I’m Martin—an experienced game and toy industry writer, designer, and producer who loves building rich worlds people want to jump into. Over 20+ years, I’ve led narrative design and interactive storytelling across video games, electronic toys, and animation, helping teams deliver high-quality content that’s age-appropriate, entertaining, and meaningful. I’m comfortable owning everything from world lore and story arcs to quests, branching speech, barks, flavor text, educational gameplay, and design/production documents. I also bring production leadership to the table—aligning stakeholders, coordinating across time zones, and tuning content through implementation, testing, and iteration—so the work ships with fun, clarity, and impact.…I’m Martin—an experienced game and toy industry writer, designer, and producer who loves building rich worlds people want to jump into. Over 20+ years, I’ve led narrative design and interactive storytelling across video games, electronic toys, and animation, helping teams deliver high-quality content that’s age-appropriate, entertaining, and meaningful. I’m comfortable owning everything from world lore and story arcs to quests, branching speech, barks, flavor text, educational gameplay, and design/production documents. I also bring production leadership to the table—aligning stakeholders, coordinating across time zones, and tuning content through implementation, testing, and iteration—so the work ships with fun, clarity, and impact.

Available to hire

I’m Martin—an experienced game and toy industry writer, designer, and producer who loves building rich worlds people want to jump into. Over 20+ years, I’ve led narrative design and interactive storytelling across video games, electronic toys, and animation, helping teams deliver high-quality content that’s age-appropriate, entertaining, and meaningful.

I’m comfortable owning everything from world lore and story arcs to quests, branching speech, barks, flavor text, educational gameplay, and design/production documents. I also bring production leadership to the table—aligning stakeholders, coordinating across time zones, and tuning content through implementation, testing, and iteration—so the work ships with fun, clarity, and impact.

Skills

Copywriting

Game Design

Experience Level

Copywriting

Expert

Game Design

Expert

Work Experience

Lead Content Producer · Writer/Designer/Producer at Mattel (Fisher-Price, Imaginext, Thomas, Barney, Laugh & Learn)

January 1, 2016 - January 1, 2024

Directed interactive narrative content design and development for children’s entertainment products and properties. Spearheaded narrative/gameplay vision across multiple projects, overseeing software development from concept to release and aligning cross-functional stakeholders. Created new IP, original characters, and content for apps, games, toys, cartoons, and music. Wrote educational and entertaining branching-path scripts and gameplay, and coordinated with licensors to ensure IP-appropriate narrative content and gameplay. Produced innovative product lines on tight timelines and served as a creative producer/product owner for an animated YouTube series for preschool products. Also wrote, implemented, reviewed, tested, and tuned narrative and speech content, coordinating delivery and approvals across remote stakeholders.

Director of Development & Co-founder · Writer/Designer/Producer at Digital Steamworks LLC & 3D MVP LLC

January 1, 2003 - January 1, 2016

Co-founded and led a distributed contract game development studio producing over 40 games and game-like applications for a diverse clientele across PC, mobile, and web. Worked with clients to translate ideas into executable designs, development plans, scope, budgets, schedules, and deliverables. Created and refined branching-path narrative and gameplay assets, and directed distributed internal and contracted developers. Specialized in IP-based educational entertainment software for young children, developed internal and client prototypes, and maintained delivery quality through production oversight and implementation/tuning support. Opened opportunities with major partners through prototype work and co-development efforts.

Lead Producer, Producer/Designer · Producer/Writer/Designer at MicroProse Software (under Hasbro, Infogrames & Atari)

December 30, 1996 - December 30, 2002

Managed small and mid-sized game development teams and contributed to design and development of award-winning PC and console titles including Dungeons & Dragons Heroes, Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds, and European Air War. Coordinated as a central hub across internal teams and external contractors/licensors, planning, tracking, scheduling, and resolving production issues. Led and organized teams (up to 45+ disciplines) from planning through launch, helping salvage troubled projects and rebuild teams when needed. Authored gameplay and narrative content (quests, puzzles, encounters, attacks), and wore multiple roles across production and creative responsibilities. Supported production workflows and ensured milestones were delivered successfully.