Onsite · 5 days, fully residential
Dark Worlds: From Screenwriter to Video Game Writer
Enter a story world where the audience gets to act.
Applying is free — payment only after acceptance.
About the course
Some stories need silence, darkness and time. This retreat gathers a small, hand-picked group of creative professionals for five days of focus on building a dark world that feels real enough to haunt someone — and playable enough to hand to a player. The destination and venue will be confirmed before payment.
Mornings are workshops — lore, tone, dread, player agency and the architecture of branching narrative. Afternoons are for writing. Evenings are readings by the fire, where the group stress-tests each other's worlds. Every participant gets daily one-on-one mentoring.
You arrive with an idea and leave with a developed world bible, a playable story or branching scenario set inside it, and a small circle of writers who know your work deeply. Lodging, meals and sauna are included in the fee.
- Duration
- 5 days, fully residential
- Schedule
- Daily workshops, evening readings, one-on-one mentoring. All meals and lodging included.
What you'll cover
- 01
Day 1 — The premise of darkness
What makes a world dark without being empty. Finding the emotional core of your setting and the question your player will be asked to answer.
- 02
Day 2 — Lore, history and consequence
Building the deep past of your world. Myths, ruins and the things characters half-remember — and the branching consequences that follow from them.
- 03
Day 3 — Player agency and branching structure
Writing choices that mean something. Branching, unfolding and systemic storytelling, and how player decisions reshape dread, pacing and empathy.
- 04
Day 4 — Tone, dread and the playable heart
Controlling atmosphere on the page and in the player's hands. Pacing fear when the audience holds the controller.
- 05
Day 5 — From world to playable story
Choosing the story your world is asking you to tell, and shaping it into a pitch-ready interactive concept. Final readings and group feedback.
Who it's for
Anyone, anywhere in the world working in the creative industries is welcome to apply. Each course has its own focus and prerequisites, and we welcome perspectives from across industries.
- →Screenwriters and storytellers moving into games and interactive narrative
- →Writers working on horror, dystopia or speculative fiction
- →Game writers who want to deepen their worldbuilding
- →Creative-industry professionals worldwide developing an interactive project across games, screen or transmedia
- →Groups are capped at twelve participants, selected by application
Your tutor
Sara Lindqvist
Retreat Director & Mentor
Sara is a novelist and screenwriter whose dark fiction has been published in nine languages and adapted for film. She has led writing retreats across the Nordics for a decade and is known for mentoring that is warm, direct and unsparing in exactly the right places.
- ✦Author of four novels, published in nine languages
- ✦Screenwriter on two Nordic feature films
- ✦Winner of the Nordic Council Literature Prize nomination
- ✦Ten years leading residential writing retreats
Before you apply
Frequently asked questions
In their words
From past HFL programmes
“The tools we learned — especially the narrative loop and motor — were absolutely great. The course inspired me, but also gave me very concrete next steps for my current projects.”
“Meeting talented professionals from different creative fields, learning from a tutor with a stellar portfolio, and being guided by course organisers with a strong international perspective made the course really valuable.”
“The programme was absolutely worthwhile. We had a great collaboration with Character House, learned a lot about transmedia, and came away discussing how we could continue working together in the future.”
Ready to apply?
Applications are free. If you're accepted, you'll receive a payment link to secure your place.
Apply nowAlso running: Writing for Mobile Games: For Screenwriters and Storytellers