![]() ![]() Your job is to take readers on a journey so compelling they can’t help but keep reading to the very end. (The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland are also examples of this. The Harry Potter series, for instance, is set in the world we live in but with rules and history foreign to us. Some novels combine the Real World and Second World Fantasy. You also invent a world rich in its own history, geography, and purpose. Here you create new lands, species, and government. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, he imagines a world in which Franklin Roosevelt was assassinated in the early 1930s. Here you set your story in the world we live in, but your plot is either based on a real event (as in Outlander) or is one in which historical events occur differently (for instance, had Germany won World War 2). Like those who obsess over:Įach approaches world building in a different way: 1. This interview was conducted via email for a research article she is writing about video game storytelling and game literacy.Create a world in which readers can lose themselves.ĭo this well and they become not just fans, but also fanatics. Liliana Marin is a senior Communications student at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Houston, Texas, USA. Like I said, it's great to see people taking this subject seriously, as I think video games are becoming quite the new evolution in storytelling. Totally my pleasure and I wish you all the best with your research. ![]() I really enjoyed reading your book and learning from you. I have a great respect for your work as a creative narrative designer. I truly appreciate your feedback which is extremely helpful and fascinating for my research. Creating interesting and rewarding journeys for players, that's what I think is really special about narrative design. But outside of the "classic narrative stuff" of characters and dialogue, it's quest design that I get the biggest kick out of. "Not-a-cockroach" is still one of the best nickname/compliments I've ever written. She was a real experiment, a complete eccentric who sways between childish innocence and stark wisdom. When I say that, I'm thinking of Lady Dialla from Path of Exile. It's been really gratifying to hear players quoting lines that I've written and really engaging with characters I've created. You're a local.Īnd lastly, what is the most exciting or rewarding part of your career as a narrative designer? Video games have changed the way we relate to story by giving us agency. With games, the player is the main character. It's a vicarious experience and we tag along on their journey. With film, TV and books, we're used to following a main character. How have video games changed the way stories are told and the way people engage them? You're creating an experience to enjoy, not a plot to follow. That's when narrative design becomes more closely related to theme park design or interior design than to writing films or novels. And that player might encounter those narrative bits in any order, and miss whole swathes of them altogether, so any concept of plot goes out the window. Instead of writing a "story", you're writing a whole collection of tiny narrative bits that add up to a story only once the player encounters them in the game. ![]() But if you're writing for a procedural RPG like Darkest Dungeon or a city builder like King of Dragon Pass or A Dark Room, then it couldn't be more different. 3 Act structure, Hero's Journey and all those other writing techniques still apply. ![]() If we're talking about a linear, story-driven game like Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Tomb Raider then there's not very much difference at all. The challenge of defining a "game writer" is the same challenge we have when defining a "video game". How does the work of a game writer differ from that of film and book writers? That bodes very well for games as a storytelling medium. Thanks so much for reaching out, and for reading ND4Indies! Also, I can't tell you how happy I am to hear that university students are actually studying game narrative now. For that reason, I would like to request your expert insight and no more than a few minutes of your time to answer three questions for my study. In my research article, I would like to explore what makes video games a special medium, as you said, especially in regard to their unique narrative structures that allow and encourage players to be an active part of the story. More games that know how to draw a player into a role, that recognize the fundamental advantage that games have over other mediums. One small passage in particular stood out to me from Chapter Three, which read: I have read about your work from your personal website, as well as from your book, Narrative Design for Indies. ![]()
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