A list of all the sections that can be included in a Friends of the Baby newsletter, including descriptions and guidelines for producing each:
Voice Guidelines: casual, approachable, and friendly. We highlight things using our unique taste and eye for quality. Less corporate “this is why games are bad”, more inclusive “this is why this thing I love is great”. Claude’s intros and outros can be a bit blunt and simplistic in speech and tone, because he is a literal baby.
State of the Baby
A somewhat unserious hi and hello from kim AND/OR a somewhat unserious hi and hello from dbed
An overall temperature check on how the company has been operating (“production schedules are running smoothly”, “gearing up for our annual summit”, “trying to decide on the perfect office snack”, “going through old games at the office made me nostalgic for XYZ”, “the turnips are growing!!” etc)
Tone: light, a tad nonsensical, could be in riddles, very mayor of a small farming town-esque
1-2 paragraphs
What’s going down at Baby HQ
Non-NDA things we can share publicly
Pet updates, including pictures (if possible)
Office art or design updates (the horse, the office wall colours, the ghost in the conference room)
Media we, as a company, are hype for (new games, movies, remakes, etc)
Behind the scenes (carefully curated pictures of workstations, etc)
Results from activities that we wouldn’t mind sharing – tierlists on emojis, Yakuza minigames, fizzy drinks, etc
Narrative Chat – Short form [Name TBD]
Professional opinions but in a fun, lighthearted way
Geared towards positivity
Things we’re vibing with and why we like them from a narrative POV
Tools we noticed recently that we love (aka “was playing BotW and noticed XYZ, love how it brings out ABC”)
A soft rant on ND tools/methods we’d like to see more often (aka “if i ever see a talking head again, i will scream”)
Opportunity for 2-5 minute audio clips compiled with Baby knowledge
Crowdsourced responses ranging from 1-5 sentences max
Narrative Chat – Long form [Name TBD]
Similar to short form narrative chats, but more so deep-dive-y
Can be essay style if anyone has a burning desire to write about a specific topic
Examples include:
Design and theory related commentary on why a thing is good
Deep dives into what is happening in the industry and how we feel about it
OR something like this, which allows for crowdsourced info
“Everyone draw XYZ from memory” etc
Pick an old game that’s been out forever and ask everyone to tell us what they think it’s about (without googling)
Describe a game without using character names or titles etc
Across the Baby-verse
What guest babies are up to
Guest baby quick profiles
Could also do a spotlight on someone, even if they aren’t doing anything recently
“Played this really cool game, gonna link it here” etc
Accomplishments (awards, recognition, etc) from guest babies
Interviews with guest babies
Highlight interviews/media attention etc that guest babies have done elsewhere
Coworking Playlists
Music playlists for working
Podcast recs (doesn’t have to be industry-related)
Songs you love and want to impose on others
Favourite game soundtracks
OR: ask Babies which song they would take to a deserted island etc
“If a video game score was the score of your life, which one would it be?”
Baby Steps with Amy-Leigh
Spotlight on a Baby of choice
Excerpts from existing interviews with Amy-Leigh
An excuse to use the cool profile art we each have!!
Career Tips
Tips for job seekers, BUT not job postings
Information on unique things to include in a portfolio
Answering commonly asked questions (“how do you know you’re presenting your best work?”, “If you want to be a creative director, where do you start?”, “what is XYZ in the games industry?”) with crowdsourced answers from the Babies
Design Inspiration
Anything that inspires us and helps us refill the creative tank
