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TOM FRANCIS
REGRETS THIS ALREADY

Hello! I'm Tom. I'm a game designer, writer, and programmer on Gunpoint, Heat Signature, and Tactical Breach Wizards. Here's some more info on all the games I've worked on, here are the videos I make on YouTube, and here are two short stories I wrote for the Machine of Death collections.

Theme

By me. Uses Adaptive Images by Matt Wilcox.

Tom’s Timer 5

The Bone Queen And The Frost Bishop: Playtesting Scavenger Chess In Plasticine

Gridcannon: A Single Player Game With Regular Playing Cards

Dad And The Egg Controller

A Leftfield Solution To An XCOM Disaster

Rewarding Creative Play Styles In Hitman

Postcards From Far Cry Primal

Solving XCOM’s Snowball Problem

Kill Zone And Bladestorm

An Idea For More Flexible Indie Game Awards

What Works And Why: Multiple Routes In Deus Ex

Naming Drugs Honestly In Big Pharma

Writing vs Programming

Let Me Show You How To Make A Game

What Works And Why: Nonlinear Storytelling In Her Story

What Works And Why: Invisible Inc

Our Super Game Jam Episode Is Out

What Works And Why: Sauron’s Army

Showing Heat Signature At Fantastic Arcade And EGX

What I’m Working On And What I’ve Done

The Formula For An Episode Of Murder, She Wrote

Improving Heat Signature’s Randomly Generated Ships, Inside And Out

Raising An Army Of Flying Dogs In The Magic Circle

Floating Point Is Out! And Free! On Steam! Watch A Trailer!

Drawing With Gravity In Floating Point

What’s Your Fault?

The Randomised Tactical Elegance Of Hoplite

Here I Am Being Interviewed By Steve Gaynor For Tone Control

A Story Of Heroism In Alien Swarm

One Desperate Battle In FTL

To Hell And Back In Spelunky

Gunpoint Development Breakdown

My Short Story For The Second Machine Of Death Collection

Not Being An Asshole In An Argument

Playing Skyrim With Nothing But Illusion

How Mainstream Games Butchered Themselves, And Why It’s My Fault

A Short Script For An Animated 60s Heist Movie

Arguing On The Internet

Shopstorm, A Spelunky Story

Why Are Stealth Games Cool?

The Suspicious Developments manifesto

GDC Talk: How To Explain Your Game To An Asshole

Listening To Your Sound Effects For Gunpoint

Understanding Your Brain

What Makes Games Good

A Story Of Plane Seats And Class

Deckard: Blade Runner, Moron

Avoiding Suspicion At The US Embassy

An Idea For A Better Open World Game

A Different Way To Level Up

A Different Idea For Ending BioShock

My Script For A Team Fortress 2 Short About The Spy

Team Fortress 2 Unlockable Weapon Ideas

Don’t Make Me Play Football Manager

EVE’s Assassins And The Kill That Shocked A Galaxy

My Galactic Civilizations 2 War Diary

I Played Through Episode Two Holding A Goddamn Gnome

My Short Story For The Machine Of Death Collection

Blood Money And Sex

A Woman’s Life In Search Queries

First Night, Second Life

SWAT 4: The Movie Script

SWAT 4: The Movie Script

OFFICER DOWN, OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN, OFFICER DIBBLE and HANK stand in a rain washed street, weapons at the ready. HANK plants a breaching charge on the back door to a building. OFFICER DOWN takes out a gun-shaped camera device.

OFFICER DOWN
I’ll use the Opti-Wand!

HANK
We don’t need to, there’s no-one behind this.

OFFICER DOWN holsters the OPTI-WAND with a silent sadness. HANK detonates the breaching charge.

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN
Police! Everybody get down!

OFFICER DIBBLE
Get down and put your hands up!

OFFICER DOWN
Everybody freeze!

The smoke clears. The hallway beyond is empty. OFFICER DOWN and OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN progress down the hall and turn into a side room.

OFFICER DOWN
Police! Hands up!

CIVILIAN
Don’t shoot! I’m not one of them!

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN
Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head!

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN readies his zip-cuffs. The CIVILIAN continues to stand.

CIVILIAN
This is my shop! I’m not a criminal!

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN
Shut the fuck up, sir.

CIVILIAN
I didn’t do anything wrong!

OFFICER DOWN
I’m going to shoot him.

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN
Don’t shoot him! Sir, you have one more fucking chance to put your fucking hands up before we fucking kneecap you.

CIVILIAN
This is my shop! Why don’t you go after the shooters?

OFFICER DOWN shoots the CIVILIAN in the knee.

CIVILIAN
Aaaaaaarggh! Oh God!

The CIVILIAN tries to hobble out of the room.

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN
PUT YOUR FUCKING HANDS ON YOUR FUCKING HEAD OR I SWEAR TO GOD, SIR…

The CIVILIAN cowers in the corner. OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN puts his zip cuffs away, draws his M1911 pistol and shoots him in the other knee.

CIVILIAN
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHH! Oh Jesus, help me!

OFFICER DOWN
We’re going to have to kill him.

OFFICER DIBBLE passes and stops in the doorway.

OFFICER DIBBLE
That looks really bad from out here.

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN looks at the CIVILIAN with infinite sadness. OFFICER DOWN shoots the CIVLIAN in the leg again.

CIVILIAN
Aaaaah!

OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN shoots the CIVILIAN in the leg again. OFFICER DOWN shoots the CIVLIAN in the leg again. OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN shoots the CIVILIAN in the leg again. The CIVILIAN collapses. OFFICER ANDAGENTLEMAN shoots him three times in the face. Fade to black.