William Pugh: from elaborate pranks to the award-winning Stanley Parable

'I want to be very sure that I'm doing what I want - not what's expected. I want to surprise people'

In 2014, a 19-year-old William Pugh took to the stage at a glitzy ceremony in San Francisco to receive an award for The Stanley Parable, a video game he had helped create. Pugh's acceptance speech was delivered via irreverent text scrawled on prompt cards, which he dropped to the floor, one by one, in silence.

Pugh's rebellious, anarchic streak is clearly visible in his games. The Stanley Parable, for example, is a clever exploration of the idea of player agency. You play employee 427, a man who loves his job in a towering office block and who one day looks up from his desk to find his co-workers have vanished. As you explore the office, your actions are commentated on by an omnipresent narrator (played by Kevan Brighting), who as well as reporting your movements offers prompts and clues as to what to do next. The narrator chastises you when you divert from his instructions and spoil the story ahead of time, restarting the game where appropriate without your consent. As the game progresses, a complicated relationship forms between you, the character, the game designer and the narrator.