VIDEO GAME WRITING COURSE
MONDAYS & FRIDAYS
5 PM BST
LIVE ONLINE COURSE ON VIDEO GAME WRITING
30 AUG 2024 - 7 OCT 2024
DURATION:
6 WEEKS
MONDAYS & FRIDAYS
5 PM BST
Ever wondered how a video game evolves? Keen to know how to define a narrative, create compelling characters and write engaging dialogue? Equip yourself with the tools you need to take your video game writing from ideation to launch, and beyond.
Join Adam Miller, ex. Insomniac, for this 360 degree approach to understanding the game development life cycle and the key roles and influences that video game writers can have.
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
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YOU WANT TO TURN YOUR PASSION INTO A POTENTIAL CAREER PATH
Want to turn your passion into something more tangible? Keen to improve your industry knowledge and understand where a writer fits within the game development process? Don’t let a lack of writing experience put you off - we’ll get you prepared for interviews and send you off with a portfolio piece to help you stand out further.
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YOU WANT TO SPECIFY YOUR WRITING SKILLS TO THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY
Are you a professional writer with ideas aplenty? We want you. If you’ve got the writing skills ready to go, we’ll boost your ascent by providing you with game specific tips and broadening your understanding of writing within the video game development process.
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YOU WANT TO PIVOT WITHIN THE GAME INDUSTRY TO A MORE WRITING BASED ROLE
Have you worked as a game producer, designer or system creator? You’re likely to have a good understanding of the game development process - but we’ll offer invaluable insight into the writer’s room. Through live online classes, workshops and portfolio projects, we’ll enable you to transfer your knowledge and skill set to focus on ideation and writing specific challenges.
Ready to pivot your passion and start building a career in the video game writing world? Deep dive into an exploration of the tools you need to enter the industry, the game development life-cycle and where writers fit within this exciting space.
Our live online course has been designed to offer those with a passion for video games, writing experience or previous experience within the industry the opportunity to learn from an industry expert. You’ll reap the benefits of 12 online lessons, workshops and guest speakers- plus you’ll leave the course with a portfolio piece to show to future employees.
Stand out to future employees at interviews by presenting the portfolio piece you’ll create during the course. Through a series of assignments, your final piece will culminate in a video game narrative pitch.
Throughout the course, you’ll explore and learn from case studies featuring real life games including Destiny 2, Marvel’s Wolverine and Spiderman: Miles Morales.
Some classes will feature a workshop element with discussions, break out groups and an opportunity for idea development. Concepts and findings will be presented back to the class providing an excellent chance to improve pitching and speaking skills.
- Ex. Insomniac
- 10 years of diverse experience, working with big name companies such as Insomniac, Humble, Bungie and Telltale
- Has worked on some of the most narratively complex gaming projects
- Has worked on games such as Wolverine and Destiny 2, as well as Telltale games series, such as Batman, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones
- Before games, Adam wrote and directed his own short films
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.
What our students say
"It was such a great experience, well worth the course fee which I invested personally - I've learnt so much and feel much more confident in my role.."
"The course at ELVTR was a great investment in my career. The materials are top-notch, and the instructors provided excellent support."
"The knowledge. The teacher is very experienced. He is able to answer our questions in depth, and takes the time to do so."
"The course was very helpful in helping me expand my design toolkits by gaining a wealth of new knowledge and inside expertise to stay at the forefront in an age of rapidly developing technological and software advancements."
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