I'm Interested in Narrative Design - Internships or Opportunities? (Cape Town)
Hi there,
I am very interested in getting into Narrative Design. I recently attended my first MGSA meeting in Cape Town and people recommended that I ask for guidance on the MGSA site. So here I am.
I was wondering if anyone could direct me to any game design companies that make use of narrative designers or, even better, to an actual narrative designer. I would like to do some form of an internship or work-shadowing so that I can see where a narrative designer fits into a game design team.
Just a meetup with someone would also be much appreciated. I am basically looking for insight/guidance as to what skills are important and what steps I can take to get into the field.
I currently make a living purely off writing and have been doing so for the past 4 years.
If anyone could help me out I would be eternally grateful!
I am very interested in getting into Narrative Design. I recently attended my first MGSA meeting in Cape Town and people recommended that I ask for guidance on the MGSA site. So here I am.
I was wondering if anyone could direct me to any game design companies that make use of narrative designers or, even better, to an actual narrative designer. I would like to do some form of an internship or work-shadowing so that I can see where a narrative designer fits into a game design team.
Just a meetup with someone would also be much appreciated. I am basically looking for insight/guidance as to what skills are important and what steps I can take to get into the field.
I currently make a living purely off writing and have been doing so for the past 4 years.
If anyone could help me out I would be eternally grateful!
Thanked by 1dammit
Comments
I think that if you want to contact someone who has "narrative designer" as a job title your best bet is to search for them in game credits to games you enjoy, Google their websites/contact details and email them directly. (I used to do this very often, and even though only maybe a little less than half of people replied, the invaluable conversations I had with the ones who did was absolutely worth the effort.)
If you haven't read it yet, David Freeman's book is pretty freaking amazing (to me as a layperson), and teaches writing in terms of how it's relevant to building video games. (It describes the things that writers coming from books and movies struggle with when they work on game projects, and a bunch of things for you to think about in terms of gameplay when you're writing.)
It might be pretty cool for you to join a game jam when there's one coming up too, and see if it's something you could contribute to, and maybe pick up some other game developer skills while you're at it.
Thanks for the advice!
Yeah I've been mailing Narrative designers. One directed me to this blogpost, which was quite insightful - http://blog.ubi.com/the-write-stuff-on-becoming-a-game-writer/
Also been reading "Writing for Video Games" by Steve Ince, which I also found to be extremely insightful.
Cool, I'll check David Freeman's book out!
Yeah the game jam is a good idea!
I thought I'd also just add that I completed a Unity game design course earlier this year and have also spent a lot of time recently dabbling in Unreal Engine 4, which has given me a brief look at game mechanics. I'm sure this will prove to be helpful from a narrative contribution perspective.
Basically, I'm just trying to figure out what my next step should be.
Once again, thanks for your input! Let me know if you hear of any related opportunities.
Yeah, sorry that I'm not helping with actual job shadowing and stuff. My guess is that if you go to enough game jams and are somehow able to show teams there how useful it is to have a writer (I don't know how you'd do that), studios that have people taking part in the jam might see the value and offer at least some part-time work. That -- along with making your own games -- is the best shot I can see at the moment for getting game work (but I'm not a writer, and haven't tried applying to be one, and haven't tried hiring one either, so I'm mostly talking as someone who thinks that we're poorer not having a "writer" here, but not really being able to evaluate what the added value to our games would be if we were to hire one).
What I mean is, game design and narrative are very closely interlinked (obviously). So as a game designer I feel very hesitant working with a narrative designer who doesn't have game design experience. So I'd guess showing a working game that has both a good narrative and some game design might useful portfolio-wise...
I'm not really sure, but I think there's a kind of chicken and egg scenario playing out in the South African game development scene.
What I mean is, very few who are creating game projects have a lot of writing/narrative experience in their teams. So people are avoiding the types of games that require a strong narrative. So very few people are getting writing/narrative experience who are working in games in South Africa, and it's really hard to collaborate with people who already have writing/narrative experience because the games a lot of us are choosing to develop deliberately don't require those skills.
I'd love to break this cycle. Certainly in my own work.
That said. Screwy Lightbulb (who are in Cape Town) have been working on an adventure game. One of the team members does narrative primarily as I understand it: http://makerseden.screwylightbulb.com/?action=page&url=team
And Stasis is also an adventure game, and I presume is very reliant on its writing: http://www.stasisgame.com/
I'm hoping we have some Twine jams in Cape Town soon.
For now though we're working on getting the rest of game 1 out the door. Focus, damn it, focus!
No problem! Yeah, I will definitely be on the lookout for a game jam then, and see how I can get involved. I feel that writers can play a very important part in romanticizing a game, especially when present from the conceptual stage. Games that have the most profound and everlasting effect on their players usually have a narrative that you can relate to. Writers understand how people relate, and imbue these relations with magic/fear/tension to evoke an emotional connection.
@BlackShipsFilltheSky Thanks for your input! Yeah, I've been checking out twine lately and I think it is definitely a great tool to practice narrative design. I am thinking of creating a few Twine games and putting them together for a portfolio. Then I can post the link on MGSA and you guys can maybe give me some feedback.
I can definitely understand that you would be hesitant to get a writer on board that doesn't understand the game design process. It's one of the many shortcoming that writers usually have when approaching the world of game design (according to established narrative designers).
That is exactly why I want to intern/workshadow/something at a game design company so that I can see how the process works (even if there isn't much narrative design involved, I can maybe get a sense of where one would fit in.) I've been playing around with various game engines such as Unity, RPG Maker, Stencyl, Unreal Editor 4 (mostly Unreal) so kind of have a sense of the mechanics but I have never experienced how they are implemented by actual game design teams.
@rustybroomhandle I played a Maker's Eden demo some time ago and even though it wasn't, as you say, the most "gamey" of games, it really did have a strong narrative element that I really enjoyed. Nice work, excited to see the final result!
The next project sounds cool and terribly close to the process I would want to see unfold. If you are willing, then it would be awesome to witness some of it happen? Or maybe even with Maker's Eden?
Basically, I just want to soak up any advice/insight that I can so that I can know how to bring something valuable to the table. I'm really serious about getting into this field and one day (hopefully in the not-too-distant future) creating a game alongside people with the same passion.
If anyone can provide me with any advice, insight, internships, workshadow opportunites, hints, clues or anything that might help, I would be in your debt.
Many thanks for the advice provided so far, it's much appreciated!
P.S. Will any of you be attending the Game Industry Day at Friends of Design Academy this Saturday?
@KamikazeHamster Thanks for the link! I've scanned through it and it looks very intriguing. Will give it a proper look when I have some spare time. Are you interested in Narrative Design as well?
What you'll find interesting is that he seems to have been thinking about this problem for the last 20 years! Check out the ugly 90s theme in his "blog": http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/index.html
What was most interesting to me what his experience with what went wrong when making code for writers (Library > Interactive Storytelling > Negative Lessons from Storytron): http://www.erasmatazz.com/library/interactive-storytelling/negative-lessons-from-story.html
Thanks for the link! I've just started scanning your links and must say I find them quite intriguing.
Also started reading up on Chris Crawford, he seems like an extremely interesting character. I must admit he is a bit strange haha, but he has some really interesting insights into interactive storytelling.
Read this piece on him on Kotaku:
http://kotaku.com/30-years-later-one-mans-still-trying-to-fix-video-gam-1490377821
I like his way of addressing the lack of verbs in games, and commend him for his positive and active outlook on life.
Once again, thanks for the links! Much appreciated!