For the final 20 years, online game writers and narrative designers have fought ferociously to have their work acknowledged and elevated within the realm of recreation growth. For years, writers have been handled as tertiary to the core of recreation growth groups, however that mindset has shifted with the success of single-player franchises like The Final of Us, Life is Unusual, A Plague Story, Management, and a cavalcade of different sequence that pair storytelling with highly-polished gameplay.
However what position do writers and narrative designers play when making video games that aren’t “story-first?” These may embody 4X technique video games, puzzle video games, multiplayer video games, ARPGs—in concept gamers choose up these video games not for tales of heroes and villains, however to lock in and clear up complicated gameplay issues that prioritize strategic play or check their reflexes.
Right this moment, we’re speaking to veteran recreation author (and former Recreation Developer contributor) Emma Kidwell and narrative designer Harrison Pink about their experiences engaged on these sorts of video games—and the way they’ve realized that even on “non-narrative” video games, they’ve seen how gamers reply to even the best little tales that complement exceptionally complicated gameplay techniques.
In regards to the Recreation Developer Podcast
The Recreation Developer podcast is a bi-weekly podcast chronicling the triumphs, catastrophes, and all the things in-between of recreation growth, sharing classes and techniques fellow builders can use to hone their craft. The Recreation Developer Podcast is hosted by Bryant Francis, edited by Pierre Landriau, and options music by Mike Meehan.
Observe Recreation Developer on Bluesky or on LinkedIn.
Recreation Developer and GDC Competition of Gaming are sibling organizations underneath Informa Festivals
