Rendering Unconscious episode 359.
Rendering Unconscious welcomes Charlene Putney to the podcast!
On this episode, Charlene discusses a procedural generation game she and her partner created using AI, fine-tuning a large language model on Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth to generate new tarot card meanings, working with the cut-up method, and her fantasy novel The Art of Time. Charlene, who has a master's in ancient Near Eastern languages, transitioned from tech to game development, developing a Mahjong-inspired game called Sparrow Warfare. She also teaches a free online yoga class called One Calm Hour. Charlene emphasizes the importance of doing work one loves, reflecting on her journey from tech to creative pursuits and the impact of AI on creativity. You can follow the development of her latest game here: neonaurelius.com
Charlene Putney is an award-winning games writer and teacher. After working at Google and Facebook in management positions, she’s been writing for video games since 2013, including writing for Divinity: Original Sin 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, NUTS, and Saltsea Chronicles. She has taught writing for games at Trinity College, DIT, ITU Copenhagen, KADK Copenhagen, and many conferences and events (including teaching quantum scientists at CERN about interactive fiction!). She also teaches yoga every Tuesday. Her personal website is alphachar.com
