ABOUT THE STUDIO
Manifold (noun)
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“a whole that unites or consists of many diverse or branching elements”
Manifold Studios is an independent game studio helmed by solo developer Lena Nguyen, sometimes known online as rinari. Manifold Studios creates interactive fiction games and text-based RPGs: branching narrative adventures that are crafted to respond dynamically to your choices, immersing you in stories that bend, weave, and evolve according to the decisions you make. These games are focused on blending artistry with interactivity through meaningful, challenging choices; unique and inspiring worlds; diverse found family casts and rich character relationships; customizable protagonists; and thoughtful, visually-lush gameplay experiences.
The name and theme of Manifold Studios stems from origami. Just as origami structures turn a paper source into a “many-folded,” interconnected composition, so too does Manifold Studios create stories that can be configured and shaped in a thousand different ways.
Lena is an award-winning author whose first novel, a science fiction thriller titled WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HERE, was published by DAW Books and Penguin Random House in the midst of developing Shepherds of Haven. She has an MFA in Fiction from Cornell University and has worked as a lecturer, editor, and creative consultant. She had no background in coding or programming prior to gaining an interest in interactive fiction and choice-based games, and initially used material from her unpublished novels in order to craft small demos and teach herself different scripting languages. This eventually blossomed into Shepherds of Haven, the first chapter of which was published as a public demo in 2018.
ABOUT
The DEVELOPER
