Acclaimed author is voice of students’ game

Games students at Abertay University have pulled off a massive coup by enlisting worldfamous author Neil Gaiman as narrator for their student project video game.

Team Ghost Camp – made up of third-year students Thomas Mackinnon, Carla Begg, Claire McDonald, Allanna Maitland, Sam Flint, Oli Lerigo-Smith, and Lewis Thomson – wanted to produce a “choose-your-ownadventure” game with a twist.

Tales of Treachery sees players team up, using their phones as controllers, to dictate how the story pans out.

However, one player is secretly a traitor who aims to lead the other players down the wrong path.

Word of the party game reached Mr Gaiman through Douglas Mackinnon, father of team lead Thomas, who is directing the new Amazon Prime series Good Omens, based on the book Gaiman co-wrote with Discworld creator Terry Pratchett.

The author was so impressed by their creativity that when asked to act as narrator, he happily obliged.

Thomas said: “Neil thought the game sounded cool and we thought there was no better person to voice the introduction than the master of storytelling himself.

“He really fit what we’re trying to do – a game that’s about creating your own story that you can enjoy with your friends – and having such a big name involved is really exciting for us.

“We’re making a game we’re really proud of and Neil’s involvement has put more eyes on the project.

“I’m really grateful for his participation.”

When Ghost Camp posted their first trailer for the game on Twitter, Neil’s involvement helped the video go viral as it picked up more than 31,000 views in less than 48 hours.