VIDEO GAME WRITING COURSE

Let’s get introduced - meet your instructor Adam Miller.

• Course Structure & Assignments
• Q&A

To provide a basic understanding of Writing and Narrative Design roles in professional game design, and why immersion is the most important concept when creating successful game narratives. You’ll cover: 

• Overview of the role of a game writer & narrative designer
• The different game production team roles and responsibilities
• The creative process
• Important qualities to cultivate as a game writer

Assignment #1: A single page opinion write-up on a successful example of immersive storytelling in a game.

You will gain a clear understanding of what collaborative game development looks like and why it’s so important within the narrative team in particular. You’ll cover: 

• The importance of collaboration in game development
• Being a sole writer vs. working on a team with writers
• Best practices for collaborating within your immediate discipline
• Working with mission designers, world designers, level designers, artists, voice actors, and more

Gain insight on the average series of game development phases as they pertain to the duties of a writer/narrative designer. You’ll cover: 

• The different development phases during production of a game
• The role of a game writer/narrative designer during each phase in the development process
• Case Study: Live service (Destiny 2) vs one off (Wolverine)

Develop a broad understanding of what story structure and player autonomy look like in one off vs ongoing titles. You’ll cover:

• Pitching ideas
• Loglines & summaries
• Story structure, plotting and pacing
• Importance of player autonomy/player fantasy
• Achieving parity between player and playable character

Assignment #2: A game concept proposal of one-to-two pages for an original game. This includes a purpose statement, logeling, character and visuals.

Learn what it takes to make characters real and relatable. You’ll cover:

• Player Characters vs NPC’s: What’s the difference and how you should approach each
• Creating relatable and interesting characters
• Maintaining & growing three-dimensional characters
• Developing character arcs
• Taking over and redefining existing characters
• Case Study: Character creation from concept to final version (Destiny 2)

Assignment #3: Two single page character pitches. One for a player character and one for an npc.

Learn how to develop dialogue and how it changes across different development stages and types of game content. You’ll cover:

• Crafting engaging and realistic dialogue
• Writing for different character personalities and voices
• Creating dialogue options for player choice & autonomy
• Writing for player controlled segments vs writing for cinematic moments
• The importance of brevity in dialogue
• Workshop: The class will be divided into groups and given a set of characters and prompts. You will create a dialogue exchange between all characters as a group

Assignment #4 (Optional): A single page script of a conversation between the player character and an NPC.

Focus on how writing styles and types of narrative differ between games. You’ll cover:

• How the genre influences the storyline
• Identify and utilise the unique requirements of different genres
• Character archetypes in different genres
• Workshop: The class will be divided into groups and you must write a description of a character that matches a given genre

Deep dive into what worldbuilding looks like and how it can be brought to life between both written and visual formats. You’ll cover:

• Creating living, breathing worlds
• Consistency (physical laws of the universe, historical events, nature of various species and cultures)
• World lore vs environmental storytelling and how to meld the two
• Show, don't tell

Assignment #5: A one-to-three page worldbuilding document.

Deepen your knowledge of what cinematic writing looks like and how it differs from mission/quest/activity writing within games. You’ll cover:

• What is a cinematic?
• Differences between cinematic types:
  IGC (In Game Cinematic)
  CGI (fully rendered cinematic)
• Differences between cinematic purpose:
  Narrative-driven cinematic (focus on story and relaying important information)
  Gameplay-driven cinematic (focus on transitioning players from one gameplay moment to another)
• How to use 3-act structure to form a solid cinematic
• Case Study: What happens when games are more cinematic than games? (Anthem)

Assignment #6: Two one-to-two page cinematic documents using final draft.

Understand the reverse of the previous session. What does mission/quest writing look like and how does it differ from cinematic writing? You’ll cover:

• What are missions, quest arcs, and activities & what are the differences between them?
• Defining Structure & maintaining motivation, player focus, and clarity of goals
• Utilising pacing, conflict, challenge and reversals to maintain persistent player engagement
• Workshop: Quest outcome challenge

Assignment #7 (Optional): One sample gameplay script.

Grasp the ideas around non-linear narratives and how they are approached, built and crafted. You’ll cover:

• Techniques for creating branching storylines and multiple endings
• Importance of player choice and agency in non-linear narratives
• How to create compelling character moments within an open world
• Interactive storytelling and its role in non-linear narratives 
• Case Study: The Walking Dead: A New Frontier

Finish up by learning what pursuing a game writing career actually looks like, and how to maintain the all important momentum. You’ll cover:

• Career trends in 2024
• The differing career paths as a Video Game Writer
• Pitching your work
• Interview tips
• Building a portfolio & Website
• The importance of networking and how to approach others effectively

Assignment #8: Course Project. Develop a compelling pitch doc for a game narrative.
This will involve the game's setting, main characters, and overarching plot, as well as key elements of the world's lore. Moreover, it will also provide the why- what is special about your game and how it will utilise modern narrative trends in gaming to appeal to investors and audiences alike.