eBook - ePub
Story Mode
The Creative Writer's Guide to Narrative Video Game Design
- 256 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Story Mode
The Creative Writer's Guide to Narrative Video Game Design
About this book
A 2024 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
Against the backdrop of a hyper-competitive AAA industry and the perception that it is a world reserved for top programmers and hard-core 'gamers', Story Mode offers an accessible entry-point for all into writing and designing complex and emotionally affecting narrative video games. The first textbook to combine game design with creative writing techniques, this much-needed resource makes the skills necessary to consume and create digital and multi-modal stories attainable and fun. Appealing to the growing calls for greater inclusivity and access to this important contemporary apparatus of expression, this book offers low-cost, accessible tools and instruction that bridge the knowledge gap for creative writers, showing them how they can merge their skill-set with the fundamentals of game creation and empowering them to produce their own games which push stories beyond the page and the written word.
Broken down into 4 sections to best orientate writers from any technological background to the strategies of game production, this book offers:
- Contextual and introductory chapters exploring the history and variety of various game genres.
- Discussions of how traditional creative writing approaches to character, plot, world-building and dialogue can be utilised in game writing.
- An in-depth overview of game studies concepts such as game construction, interactivity, audience engagement, empathy, real-world change and representation that orientate writers to approach games from the perspective of a designer.
- A whole section on the practical elements of work-shopping, tools, collaborative writing as well as extended exercises guiding readers through long-term, collaborative, game-centred projects using suites and tools like Twine, Audacity, Bitsy, and GameMaker.
Featuring detailed craft lessons, hands-on exercises and case studies, this is the ultimate guide for creative writers wanting to diversify into writing for interactive, digital and contemporary modes of storytelling. Designed not to lay out a roadmap to a successful career in the games industry but to empower writers to experiment in a medium previously regarded as exclusive, this book demystifies the process behind creating video games, orienting readers to a wide range of new possible forms and inspiring them to challenge mainstream notions of what video games can be and become.
Against the backdrop of a hyper-competitive AAA industry and the perception that it is a world reserved for top programmers and hard-core 'gamers', Story Mode offers an accessible entry-point for all into writing and designing complex and emotionally affecting narrative video games. The first textbook to combine game design with creative writing techniques, this much-needed resource makes the skills necessary to consume and create digital and multi-modal stories attainable and fun. Appealing to the growing calls for greater inclusivity and access to this important contemporary apparatus of expression, this book offers low-cost, accessible tools and instruction that bridge the knowledge gap for creative writers, showing them how they can merge their skill-set with the fundamentals of game creation and empowering them to produce their own games which push stories beyond the page and the written word.
Broken down into 4 sections to best orientate writers from any technological background to the strategies of game production, this book offers:
- Contextual and introductory chapters exploring the history and variety of various game genres.
- Discussions of how traditional creative writing approaches to character, plot, world-building and dialogue can be utilised in game writing.
- An in-depth overview of game studies concepts such as game construction, interactivity, audience engagement, empathy, real-world change and representation that orientate writers to approach games from the perspective of a designer.
- A whole section on the practical elements of work-shopping, tools, collaborative writing as well as extended exercises guiding readers through long-term, collaborative, game-centred projects using suites and tools like Twine, Audacity, Bitsy, and GameMaker.
Featuring detailed craft lessons, hands-on exercises and case studies, this is the ultimate guide for creative writers wanting to diversify into writing for interactive, digital and contemporary modes of storytelling. Designed not to lay out a roadmap to a successful career in the games industry but to empower writers to experiment in a medium previously regarded as exclusive, this book demystifies the process behind creating video games, orienting readers to a wide range of new possible forms and inspiring them to challenge mainstream notions of what video games can be and become.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Story Mode by Julialicia Case,Eric Freeze,Salvatore Pane in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Languages & Linguistics & Desktop Applications. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-Title
- Title
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Game Writing Is for Everyone: A Manifesto
- 2 Context and Foundations
- Part I Creative Writing for Games
- 3 Character and Conflict
- 4 Story, Plot, and Interactivity
- 5 Setting and Worldbuilding
- 6 Dialogue
- Part II Game Design for Creative Writing
- 7 Demystifying Genres
- 8 Game Design and the Creative Writer
- 9 Approaches to Game Construction
- 10 Representation and Inclusion
- 11 Designing Games for Empathy and Change
- Part III Practical Tools and Approaches
- 12 Tool Suites and the Game Industry
- 13 Peer Workshops and Collaborative Writing
- Works Cited
- Games/Media
- About the Authors
- Index
- Copyright