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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. Templates and detailed instructions are given for readers to create a portfolio of work that could lead to a job in the game industry.
List of contents
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
TEMPLATES), 145
About the author
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.
Summary
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. Templates and detailed instructions are given for readers to create a portfolio of work that could lead to a job in the game industry.
