Narrative Design for Writers: An industry guide to writing for video games

✍ Scribed by Edwin McRae, Rachel Rees (editor)

• Publisher: Fiction Engine Limited
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 305
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

~ NEW BOOK COVER ~

Do you want to turn your talent for writing into a narrative design career in the games industry?

It’s never been a better time to be a writer for video games. You’re tapping into an industry that was worth more than $120 billion dollars in 2019, and it’s still growing.

And it’s an industry that needs great storytellers.

But there's a BIG difference between a great story and a great game story. Traditional stories are told. Game stories are experienced. That's why video game narratives need a totally different design approach.

So how do you apply your scriptwriting, storylining, poetic, copywriting, prose producing skills to an audience that won’t sit still and an industry that’s ever changing?

That’s what this book is about!

I’ve been a narrative designer for over a decade, as well as a novelist and a scriptwriter / storyliner for TV and comics. I love playing games, and even more, I love helping game developers realize their storytelling aspirations. Nothing delights me more than a game that's both fun to play and delivers a satisfying story experience.

In this book, I'll share both the evergreen principles and practical techniques that I’ve learned and developed during my narrative design career so that you can position yourself for your first game writing gig. And if you’re an experienced narrative designer already, you’ll still find plenty of insights that you can apply to your trade.

I’ll say it again, “the games industry needs you!”

Play is what we do, but story is why we do it.

Please note: Book cover updated as of 14.06.2020

✦ Table of Contents

Cover Page
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Contents
Introduction
I. From Writer to Narrative Designer
1. What’s the difference between Game Writing and Narrative Design?
2. Creating a Story Experience
3. Game Mechanics
II. Preparing For Your Narrative Design Career
4. What do you get when you cross a Gamer with a Writer?
5. Learning the Tropes
6. Writing them Wordies
7. Getting the Gig
8. The Narrative Design Business
III. Understanding Gamers
9. Gamer Archetypes
10. The Divine Attraction of RPGs
IV. Narrative Design Process
11. Narrative Bits
12. Designing a Story Experience for a Platformer Game
13. The Narrative Strategy
14. A Five Step Approach to Making Monsters
15. Procedural Narrative: The Future of Video Game Storytelling
16. What's the Difference between Procedural Narrative and Emergent Narrative?
17. Where (I think) Procedural Narrative Needs To Go Next
Epilogue
About the Author
Also by Edwin McRae

✦ Subjects

Game writing, Narrative, Design, Game