From Fiction to Future Worlds

John’s background lies in fiction, philosophy, and the arts, not in pixel counts or gameplay loops. “I’m a novelist first and foremost. “Over the years, I’ve had lots of different jobs related to writing,” he says. “I was a publisher of books and editor, running my own publishing press. I curated a bit and collaborated with a bunch of visual artists. I did a masters in Creative Writing, but I feel that is besides the point.”

His connection to Klang emerged thanks to the cross currents of Berlin. He first crossed paths with our CEO and co-founder, Mundi, thanks to his sister Katie, who herself is an artist and who had a mutual friend, the musician Ben Frost. Their shared interest in the intersection of art, design, and storytelling laid the foundation for a long-standing creative connection.

As Klang shifted from its earlier title, Rerunners, toward the more ambitious vision of SEED, John began helping with worldbuilding and narrative development. That freelance support eventually evolved into a full-time role, making him Klang’s resident writer and the narrative heart of the universe we’re building.

Lore That Spans Centuries

John’s job is to interpret the founders’ original backstory idea, something he describes as “very long-held,” and to build a coherent, immersive world and backstory around it. That means not only looking into the far future, but also tracing a timeline that stretches back to the present and indeed into the past as well. “We want to blow the audience away with our backstory,” he says, “because a world as rich as SEED’s planet Avesta needs a deep and meaningful origin story.”

The starting point of the narrative behind SEED was initially influenced by transhumanism, the idea that humanity can evolve beyond its current physical and mental state. “In 2018, these ideas hadn’t become mainstream like they are now,” he points out, “because now you have the likes of Musk and Thiel really being not just part of the culture, but actively influencing politics”. He has also been influenced by Russian Cosmism, a 19th-century blend of science, philosophy, and religion that feels “pretty sci-fi” in its own right. “And then there’s Darwin, he’s part of the story. The settlement of Iceland a thousand years ago. The players who get to experience the lore will see and experience these connections - and more.”

This world-building includes technologies like brain interfacing, quantum computing, and genetic engineering, all filtered through a narrative lens that tries to reflect, not escape, the real-world issues we’re living through: AI, climate crisis, and resource scarcity. “The goal,” John says, “is to make the world of SEED feel closer than people will imagine or realize.”

At the center of it all is how Seed Industries came into being. This is the mega-corporation at the heart of the game. Beneath it, a constellation of subsidiary companies, each representing different threads of technological development and different ethical questions. These include cloning, neural tech, and the legacies of plastic and petroleum.

As we continue building the world of SEED, John is busy developing new ways to bring players deeper into the universe, whether they’ve been following since 2015 or are brand-new to the project.

Looking ahead, John is working on a series of “catch-up videos” designed to make SEED's backstory more accessible. For players who are new to the universe or just curious about its deeper narrative layers, these videos will offer an entry point into the world of Avesta. “So many games are just present-tense,” he explains. “They have no memory. If you join late, how do you catch up? We’re trying to actively fix that.”

Alongside the videos, John is also working on a serialized novel of SEED's backstory. “It’s still in flux,” he notes, “but it’s a way to explore the universe in a different register, through longform storytelling.”

Why It Matters

Stories give shape to the worlds we build and the worlds we play in. SEED is about bringing people together to play and create their own original, emergent stories. John sees his job as making that arena as rich and inviting as possible. “There’s a deficit of meaning in the world right now,” he says. “It’s chaos. As Adam Curtis has been telling us for years, nobody has a clue what’s going on. New movies are all endless spin-offs and sequels, or prequels. So we want to create an original epic, a sort of mythology grounded in the history of technological advances, but without forgetting what it means to be human."