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The Invitation: My Hogwarts Letter Has Finally Arrived
(Where it all begins…) For years, I worked in a game studio, surrounded by brilliant developers who could conjure entire worlds out of nothing but imagination, code, and caffeine. I’ve always known I was a storyteller. But even though I was part of the team, I never quite felt like I belonged in the team. While the developers worked their technical wizardry, I was the one handling storylines, writing dialogue, shaping ideas - and yes, also making the tea, doing the pizza run
Rachel Barton
Nov 112 min read


Sparks of Imagination: Celebrating Creativity on Bonfire Night
Tonight, the sky lights up with colour and sound - sparks of imagination painted across the dark. Every firework begins as an idea: a small spark, carefully crafted, designed to shine for just a few second...but in those seconds, it reminds us of something powerful. That creativity, when shared, has the power to transform the night sky. At Red Nought, that’s what we believe in - taking an idea, igniting it with passion and technology, and lighting up new possibilities for eve
Rachel Barton
Nov 51 min read


The Light in the Dark: A Halloween Reflection on Creativity
There’s something about a single light in the dark. Something that speaks to the soul. Some might see just a Halloween decoration. But we see something more. We see imagination made real - an idea carved from nothing, shaped by patience, and lit with purpose. That’s what creation really is. Not the tools. Not the code. But the courage to take what’s in your mind... and bring it into the world. This Halloween, we celebrate that spark - the one that turns a simple pumpkin into
John Thornewill
Oct 311 min read


It all starts with an idea
It all starts with an idea. A small thing, really. No louder than a whisper. You don’t know where it comes from - maybe a quiet Sunday morning, maybe the middle of a long, sleepless night. But once it’s there, you can’t ignore it. At first, it doesn’t look like much. Just a thought, a flicker, a ‘what if’. But deep down, you feel it - that faint electric pull that tells you this could be something. Something worth building. Something worth believing in. And so you start. Not
John Thornewill
Oct 201 min read


Digging your way to freedom
You’ve spent years staring at the same walls - the same routine, the same meetings, the same small box they call “security.” But somewhere deep down, you’ve been digging. Not with a shovel, but with ideas. Late nights. Hidden notebooks. Quiet research when everyone else has gone to bed. You tell yourself it’s just a side project - but you know it’s more than that. It’s your tunnel out. Every plan, every email, every line of code or sketch of a logo - that’s another scrape at
John Thornewill
Oct 201 min read


Sound tells a story
I think about the way a story sounds. How a single voice, a whisper, or the rustle of wind can paint a scene more vividly than any camera ever could. That’s the magic of sound. It doesn’t tell you what to see - it lets you imagine it for yourself. At Red Nought, that’s the world we’re building. A world where you don’t need perfect sight to see perfectly. Where spatial audio becomes your canvas, and every echo, every footstep, every heartbeat draws the picture in your mind. It
John Thornewill
Oct 171 min read


The first time you build your own game
...it isn't about pixels or engines or code. It's about seeing something you'd only dreamed about finally come to life. Watching it move, breathe, exist — because you'd imagined it. It’s a strange kind of freedom, that moment. Like stepping out into the sunlight after being in the dark for far too long. You realize you’re not just playing someone else’s story anymore - you’re writing your own. And you find myself thinking about that feeling - hoping more people get to experie
John Thornewill
Oct 171 min read
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