Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames

Description

As the videogame industry has grown up, the need for better stories and characters has dramatically increased, yet traditional screenwriting techniques alone cannot equip writers for the unique challenges of writing stories where the actions and decisions of a diverse range of players are at the centre of every narrative experience. Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames was the first book to demystify the emerging field of game writing by identifying and explaining the skills required for creating videogame narrative. Through the insights and experiences of professional game writers, this revised edition captures a snapshot of the narrative skills employed in today's game industry and presents them as practical articles accompanied by exercises for developing the skills discussed. The book carefully explains the foundations of the craft of game writing, detailing all aspects of the process from the basics of narrative to guiding the player and the challenges of nonlinear storytelling. Throughout the book there is a strong emphasis on the skills developers and publishers expect game writers to know. This second edition brings the material up to date and adds four new chapters covering MMOs, script formats, narrative design for urban games, and new ways to think about videogame narrative as an art form. Suitable for both beginners and experienced writers, Game Writing is the essential guide to all the techniques of game writing. There's no better starting point for someone wishing to get into this exciting field, whether they are new game writers wishing to hone their skills, or screenwriters hoping to transfer their skills to the games industry.

Chris Bateman is an award-winning narrative designer who has worked on more than sixty game projects as writer and game designer. He won the IGDA's MVP Award for his work founding and running their highly-successful Game Writers Special Interest Group, and was the first person in the world to receive a doctorate in the aesthetics of play and games.

Bateman's latest iteration of Game Writing is a worthy contribution to the research and scholarship on writing narratives for video games. A dream team of highly successful writers guide students through the particulars of crafting stories for the most popular and lucrative form of entertainment on the planet. Theory and practice come together in this must-have collection for those interested in games and interactive storytelling. I'll be assigning this text in my game writing classes for years to come. * Peter Telep, Senior Instructor, English Department, University of Central Florida, USA * This new edition features top-notch contributors with wide-ranging industry experience, specific and actionable information and advice, and comprehensive coverage of the entire topic of writing for games. Other books on this subject have been published since the first edition came out, but in my opinion none have surpassed it. * Evan Skolnick, Professor of Practice, Game Writing, Cogswell University of Silicon Valley, USA *