First off, I should introduce myself. My name is Alice Field. I work in the games industry; I'm an animator and developer. For the most part, I create characters for game worlds. It's a lot of fun, though it's hard work as well. (No one believes me when I say this! Everyone thinks that because I work in games I spend my whole time playing. But I don't! Only some of the time. ;)

I started out drawing and painting with my mum, Ming - she's an artist. But then my dad was obsessed with technology and he was always buying me new gadgets - at least he used to, back before my family fell on hard times. They're okay now but, well, it's a long story - I'll get to that part eventually. So the art from my mum plus the gadgets from my dad meant that ever since I was a little girl I've created games on my computer.

Anyway, I recently got a new job and moved to a new city where I didn't have any friends, didn't know anybody. So I decided that, in my spare time, I'd try to create some interactive stories; I'd put them on the internet so that my far away friends and my mum and dad could look at them too. If you are interested, you can take a look at the first one I made; it's called 'Inanimate Alice, Episode One: China'. It's about me and my family when I was eight.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention Brad. Brad's my friend. Sometimes I say 'my only friend' but that's not really true. And besides, Brad isn't real. He's a character I created. But at times he seems just as real as you or me.

I've made a few extra things for you to have along with the episode - 'Inanimate Alice' screensavers and wallpapers, and a couple of extra music tracks for you to download.

If you like my story, please pass it on to a friend! And come back again next month, when you'll be able to see 'Episode Two: Italy'.

Yours, Alice