VIDEO GAME WRITING COURSE

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

• Course Structure & Assignments
• Q&A
• Workshop 1: Ice Breaker

Assignment #1: Opinion Write-Up (Optional) 
A single page opinion write-up on a successful example of immersive storytelling in a game. A game you played that immersed you and affected you emotionally- how it worked and why it worked for you in particular.

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

You will gain a clear understanding of 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: Development processes of Destiny 2
• Workshop 2: Writer’s Room Workshop

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
• Workshop 3: Cinematic Interactivity

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 (Guild Wars 2)

Assignment #2: Game & Character Concept Proposal
A three to five page “fast pitch” for an original game including a purpose statement. For character pitches- purpose statement, backstory/bio, personality, abilities, visual description, and 3 lines of sample dialogue.

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

• Brevity in game dialogue
• Preparation for game writing
• Where dialogue lives in games
• Crafting dialogue for gameplay and cinematics
• How to identify and write strong dialogue vs weak dialogue
• Workshop 4: Group Dynamics 

Assignment #3: In-Game Dialogue (Optional)
A 1 to 2 page script of a dramatic and/or comedic conversation between the player character and NPC from the previous assignment.

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

• How and where narrative genre meets interactivity & immersion & best practices
• Genre Example 1: Adventure & Minecraft Story Mode
• Genre Example 2: Horror & Destiny 2: Shadowkeep
• Workshop 5: Genre Exploration

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

• Defining worldbuilding and what it means and looks like for games
• Analysing the types of worldbuilding
• Understanding the different phases of worldbuilding

Assignment #4: Worldbuilding Document
A worldbuilding document containing description of the world and its inhabitants, lore from the world and environmental storytelling.

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

• Anatomy of and techniques for branching narratives
• What the future of branching narrative looks like
• Workshop 6: Breaking Down Branching Scenes
• Case Study: The Walking Dead: A New Frontier

Learn what golden path writing entails, and how to approach missions from a structural and narrative design POV. You’ll cover:

• What is a “golden path” and what are missions?
• Defining the anatomy of a game campaign from a game writer’s pov
• Defining the anatomy of a game mission and how best to approach writing and narrative design for them
• Workshop 7: Gameplay Script Analysis - Golden Path

Understand what Side Content writing entails, and how to approach quest arcs and activities from a structural and narrative design POV. You’ll cover:

• Defining “side content,” quest arcs, and activities & the differences between them
• Defining the anatomy of side content from a game writer’s pov
• Defining the anatomy of quest arcs, activities, and world events and how best to approach writing and narrative design for them
• Workshop 8: Gameplay Script Analysis - Side Content

Grasp the ideas around cinematic writing and how it differs from mission/quest/activity writing within games. You’ll cover:

• What is a cinematic?
• Differences between cinematic types
• Cinematic anatomy
• How to achieve cinematic brevity
• Workshop 9: Cinematic Analysis

Assignment #5: Cinematic & Gameplay Scripts
One one-to-two page cinematic and one sample two-to-three page gameplay script.

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 #6: 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.