Narrative Design: The Craft of Writing for Games

A detailed look at the roles narrative designers (writers) play in the game industry, from the point of view of a game design educator and 35-year industry veteran. The work narrative designers and game designers perform on games is presented along with practical advice on how to break into the game industry as either a writer or designer. Templates and detailed instructions are given for readers to create a portfolio of work that could lead to a job in the game industry.

Key Features

- An intimate look at the workings of AAA game development teams from someone who has spent decades embedded on these teams at several well-known companies.

- An insider's look at the game industry, including detailed advice on breaking into the industry.

- Detailed instructions for creating a portfolio to demonstrate both narrative design and game design skills to prospective employers

- Lessons and exercises to help students learn narrative design and game design skills.

- For college instructors, this book serves as a how-to guide for teaching classes in both narrative design and game design.

Michael Breault is a 35-year industry veteran who has worked on just over 130 games. Much of his work in the game industry has been as a writer or narrative designer (the rest has been as a game designer). For the last few years, he has been teaching narrative design and game design at several universities, currently at Webster University in St. Louis. The courses he creates and teaches are based on the tasks narrative designers and game designers do every day while developing games, providing students with a real-world view of the work they will be doing as writers and designers in the game industry.

Chapter 1 What Is Narrative Design? 1

Chapter 2 What Is Game Design? 9

Chapter 3 Story in Games 17

Chapter 4 Game Development as a Craft 25

Chapter 5 The Idea Is Everything...and Nothing 31

Chapter 6 The Player's the Thing 41

Chapter 7 The Team's the Thing, Too 47

Chapter 8 Game Genres and Their Players 57

Chapter 9 The Game Development Process 63

Chapter 10 Writing and Design for Analog Games 75

Chapter 11 Writing Advice 81

Chapter 12 Teaching Narrative Design and Game Design 89

Chapter 13 Career Opportunities in the Game Industry 99

APPENDIX A: PUBLICATIONS LIST, 105
APPENDIX B: CLASS SYLLABI, 113
APPENDIX C: COURSE ASSIGNMENTS (INSTRUCTIONS AND