Anna Megill is an American video game writer and developer. In 2014, conservative trans activist Brianna Wu optioned Megill’s idea about interactive novels for development as Project Untold, but Megill left after three months, noting “NDA active” and releasing no further details. Project Untold was never released.
Background
Anna Megill was born on December 28, 1971. Megill worked as a bartender before deciding to write for games and going to college as a 30-something:
“I studied English literature and computer science at (very) traditional colleges and got my first break as a QA tester on Playboy: The Mansion. I worked my way through school with various QA gigs. By graduation, I was QA Lead at Pileated Pictures (now Happy Giant Games). From there, I worked my way up through the ranks to become a writer and narrative designer.”
Megill earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College in 2008. Megill has worked for many notable video game studios, including Pileated Pictures, Nintendo, ArenaNet, Square Enix / Airtight Games, Ubisoft, Project Untold, Arkane Studios, Remedy Entertainment Plc, Massive Entertainment, Playground Games, and CD PROJEKT RED.
Megill was a writer on Guild Wars 2, Hearts of the North, Guild Wars: Winds of Change, War in Kryta, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Inseciticide, Littlest Pet Shop: VIPs, Playboy: The Mansion, Murdered: Soul Suspect, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Control, Control: AWE, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Fable.
Megill joined the International Game Developers Association (IDGA) in 2014.
Project Untold
During the Gamergate harassment campaign, Brianna Wu began devising a scheme to raise $23 million in venture capital “to build games that are going to let you interact with stories and in extremely organic ways.” Wu hoped to “replace Twine,” an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.
Around August 2014, Megill was contacted by Wu for a pitch meeting. For three months from November 2014 to January 2015, Megill was Creative Director for Project Untold (originally called Project GoGo), an interactive novel project optioned by Giant Spacekat. Megill’s LinkedIn notes:
• Conceived, wrote, and edited text for unreleased Project Untold.
• Wrote and maintained narrative design documents.
• Wrote copy for promotional materials and news releases.
• NDA active.
On November 25, 2014, Wu and Megill both announced the project. The next day, Megill was profiled in The Mary Sue:
Currently, I’m the creative director of a new game project for Brianna Wu’s company, Giant Spacekat. The project is in pre-pre-production right now—if that’s even a thing. That means we’re assessing the project needs, estimating budget and timeline, and [hiring] a team.
As I mentioned earlier, a lot of what I’m doing these days is logistical. But once we get those details out of the way, I can start on the fun stuff: world-building, character bios, and plotting. After that, I’ll sit down and write the full script.
I can’t reveal too much, but the players, as a community, will have some say in how the stories unfold. They’ll directly affect the plot. I get excited thinking about the narrative possibilities.”
On December 19, 2014, Megill incorporated CYNIXY, LLC in Delaware.
On December 24, 2014, Megill appeared with Wu and Giant Spacekat co-founder Amanda Warner on After Isometric to discuss the project and promote Wu’s Patreon, which was generating about $3,000 a month in revenue at that time, allegedly to hire someone to deal with Gamergate harassment (see “Natalie O’Brien”). Warner announced Giant Spacekat’s new children’s division called Giant Spacekittens and the planned app Cupcake Crisis. Megill said:
I wanted to start working on my own projects, and this year I put together some game pitches, and I was shopping them around at studios. And Brianna Wu called me up one day and said, ‘Hey, I want to hear them.’ And then the magic started to happen. And now we’re working on this wonderful project, and they’re going to be a reality, so I’m excited to talk about it.
[to Wu]: “As someone who works at Giant Spacekat trying to get a project done, I can vouch for the fact that your energy and your time has been so sucked away by different kinds of harassment that we have not been able to get the things done that we need to get done for this project. We’re a couple of months in now, and this has actually affected our timeline, it affected our ability to meet milestones. If it continues, we’re not going to be able to do this project, and it’s very near and dear to me, and I want to see it made. So I’m here to help you get the help you need to find someone to handle this for you and free up your time so you can focus on the work that needs to be done.”
In January 2015, Megill began freelancing and launched a Patreon, writing: “Giant Spacekat is funding Untold with venture capital, but that takes time. I have to survive in the meantime. So I set up a patreon.” Megill’s Patreon was later removed.
On February 13, 2015, anti-trans extremist Milo Yiannopoulos wrote an exposé confirming that Wu is transgender and proving that Wu falsely claimed to have a college degree. On February 19, Wu announced that Giant Spacekat was withdrawing “our presence from the Pax East 2015 Expo Hall,” reportedly due to security concerns. The announcement led to significant press coverage for Wu, and critics called it a publicity stunt. Wu responded to those critics: “No. This is honestly about safety. I do what I think is right. If you talk to my employees, I deeply care about my team. Also, the logic of skipping a PR event for PR escapes me.”
Wu and other Giant Spacekat employees attended PAX East panels. On March 7, 2015, Megill participated in a panel with Kim Swift, Brianna Wu, Mike Bithell, and John J. Ryan titled “Do Game Devs Have Creative Freedom?”
Megill’s business relationship with Brianna Wu appears to have ended soon after that. Project Untold was never released. Cupcake Crisis was never released. Amanda Warner left Giant Spacekat in May 2016.
References
“Hoskstation” (July 27, 2016). Additional Evidence That Giant Spacekat is a Scam Artist. Medium https://medium.com/@HoskStation/additional-evidence-that-giant-spacekat-is-a-scam-artist-7e238c3399cb
Sarner, Lauren (December 3, 2015). Video Game Developer Brianna Wu Is the Heroine She Wanted to See. Inverse https://www.inverse.com/article/8774-video-game-developer-brianna-wu-is-the-heroine-she-wanted-to-see-job-hacks
Megill, Anna (February 28, 2015). Censorship, Empathy Games, and Project Untold. https://www.annamegill.com/blog/2015/2/28/empathy-games-and-project-untold
Wu, Brianna (). Responding to PAX East Withdrawal Criticism. Space Channel 6 https://spacechannel6.com/post/111472538568/responding-to-pax-east-withdrawal-criticism
Handrahan, Matthew (February 20, 2015). Death threats prompt PAX East exit for Brianna Wu’s Giant Spacekat. Games Industry https://www.gamesindustry.biz/death-threats-prompt-pax-east-exit-for-brianna-wus-giant-spacekat
Wu, Brianna (February 19, 2015). Why GSX is withdrawing from PAX EAST. Space Channel 6 https://spacechannel6.com/post/111384260988/why-gsx-is-withdrawing-from-pax-east
Megill, Anna (February 4, 2015). PAX East Panels on the Horizon. https://www.annamegill.com/blog/?offset=1423682403785
Megill, Anna (January 12, 2015). Project Untold and Patreon. https://www.annamegill.com/blog/2015/1/12/project-untold-and-patreon
Wu, Brianna () So, the structure of GSX moving forward will be, @AnimatorMommy as creative director of Giant Spacekittens, @cynixy running Project Gogo. (25 Nov 2014)
Fissenden, Emma (November 26, 2014). Game Changer: Developer Anna Megill Talks Representation, Riven, And Ragequitting. The Mary Sue https://www.themarysue.com/game-changer-anna-megill/
Megill, Anna (November 25, 2014). Giant Spacekat Options My Interactive Novels. Anna Megill https://www.annamegill.com/blog/2014/11/25/giant-spacekat-options-my-interactive-novels
Wu, Brianna (November 25, 2014). https://spacechannel6.com/post/103560575748/announcing-giant-spacekats-next-game original url: http://spacekatgal.tumblr.com/post/103560575748/announcing-giant-spacekats-next-game
Books
Megill, Anna (May 22, 2023). The Game Writing Guide: Get Your Dream Job and Keep It. CRC Press, ISBN 978-1032252360
Megill, Anna (November 30, 2023). The Pocket Mentor for Video Game Writers. CRC Press, ISBN 978-1032252476
Media
Kent Benson (March 7, 2015). PAX East Panel: Censored: Do Game Devs Have Creative Freedom? with Kim Swift, Brianna Wu, Mike Bithell, and John J. Ryan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UEn6hsVZBU
“Creative freedom in games has been a hot topic lately. But what’s the truth? Do game developers have the freedom to make the games they want? Five industry veterans give you the inside story. From ‘too much’ sex and violence to the ESRB, find out what it takes to overcome industry restrictions and turn creative ideas into games.”
Broken CRT Productions (March 7, 2015). All the Feels: Empathy in Indie Game Narrative. PAX East 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzcIa7P3ksY
- Karol Zajaczkowski (Marketing Manager, 11 bit studios)
- Anna Megill (Creative Director, Project Untold)
- Logan Harrington (Creator, Gone)
- Nicole Stark (Director, Disparity Games)
- Justin Amirkhani (Creative Director, Vagabond Dog)
- Ken Gagne (Host, IndieSider)
Indie games are creative not just in mechanics but in narrative, telling stories and creating safe spaces for dealing with real-life issues. Empathy games have helped us understand and address the struggle for survival by a war-torn country’s civilians, bullying, and physical and mental health. Hear from the developers who are exploring the boundaries of interactive storytelling and transcending gameplay. Moderator: Ken Gagne. Panelists: Nicole Stark, Justin Amirkhani, Logan Harrington, Karol Zajączkowski, Anna Megill
Brianna Wu (December 24th, 2014). 495: After Isometric 34: “You Listen to our Show?!” Megill: “I chat about my new game project for the first time. With Brianna Wu and Amanda Warner.” https://5by5.tv/afterdark/495 [archive] alt url https://afterdark.fireside.fm/489 “Giant Spacekat superstars Amanda Stenquist Warner and Vice Admiral Anna Megil stop in to endure Brianna’s special brand of nonsense. Plus some stuff about GSXs plans for 2015.”
Aleen Simms (November 17th, 2014) #15: Kabe Wilson & Anna Megill. Less Than or Equal https://www.relay.fm/ltoe/15
Aleen Simms (October 14th, 2014). #11: Brianna Wu & Anna Megill. Less Than or Equal “Brianna, Anna, and Aleen talk about threats Brianna has received and being a woman in the gaming industry.” https://www.relay.fm/ltoe/11
Aleen Simms (September 15th, 2014) Less Than or Equal #9: Anna Megill. Less Than or Equal https://www.relay.fm/ltoe/9
Resources
Anna Megill (annamegill.com)
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)
IMDb (imdb.com)
- Anna Megill
- imdb.com/name/nm7178380
OpenCorporates (opencorporates.com)
- CYNIXY, LLC
- opencorporates.com/companies/us_de/5661825
Bluesky (bsky.app)
MobyGames (mobygames.com)
- Anna Megill
- mobygames.com/person/168813/anna-megill
Giant Spacekat (giantspacekat.com)
- Anna Megill, Creative Director: Project Untold
- anna@giantspacekat.com
Patreon (patreon.com)
- Anna Megill is creating Games
- patreon.com/cynixy [2015 – archive]
- Anna Megill
- patreon.com/profile/creators?u=276114
X/Twitter (x.com)
- cynixy [deleted]
Literary Ninja (literaryninja.com) [listed on Twitter profile – not archived]