Greetings!
Hey Everyone!
Just discovered this forum, while I was googling the SA indie game industry. I am pleasantly surprised to see such an active community. I am an aspiring Writer/Narrative Designer(whatever title you prefer). I have limited experience in actual game writing, but some in scriptwriting and busy with my MA in English Literature at the moment. Hoping to have some great discussions and hopefully learn a bit.
Just discovered this forum, while I was googling the SA indie game industry. I am pleasantly surprised to see such an active community. I am an aspiring Writer/Narrative Designer(whatever title you prefer). I have limited experience in actual game writing, but some in scriptwriting and busy with my MA in English Literature at the moment. Hoping to have some great discussions and hopefully learn a bit.
Thanked by 1hanli
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At a previous meetup in CT I was speaking to someone who was also interested in narative design and I mentioned this game as an inspirational game (with a somewhat simple, yet awsome idea) that was focused on narrative. Thought it might interest you. :)
My current stance on writing for games is that it's easiest to acquire basic skill writing for other media - screenwriting is a great start. After that, gathering experience writing for actual games is tricky for two reasons: A) There are very few opportunities to work as a writer for games- it's a heavily undervalued skill (not for long, if I can help it ;) ). Although there are a few places you can look: [url =http://www.moddb.com/jobs ] ModDB [/url] sometimes has posts on its job board looking for writers, but I've never received any responses from my own inquiries.
This scarcity is kind of because of B ): stories in games are often best conveyed through mechanics and other means that aren't intrusive on a player's agency. Which means, game designers often absorb the role of writer/narrative designer. Thus, positions of a solely writing nature are rare, although they are on the rise in the AAA field. Instead, they are replaced by 'narrative designers' who influence more than just the text of the game, but also utilise mechanics, art, level design and other core aspects of games to construct stories and narrative.
Considering that, my own goals for developing game storytelling skill is two fold: writing interactive fiction and making games. The former will introduce you to the branching, player-driven style of narrative common to games in a text-based medium. The latter will allow you to practice using game mechanics and other elements to convey narrative, plus you're also just making games - which is awesome! :P
I'm sure @hanli will have something to add or disagree with about my post :). I would defer to her if she entered this thread :P.
Hope that helped you in some way! :)
Have you heard of Twine? It's a really neat text-based game authoring tool and loads of people are writing exceedingly awesome games with it, focused solely on story and narrative. You should give it a try :)
Where and when do these community meetups happen(in Cape Town)? I would love to attend.
I am doing my MA at The University of the Western Cape. I didn't actually know that SA Universities are offering game related courses. I will have to delve into that as well and check it out. I am familiar with the current state of writers in the industry, but I have also seen the trend in the industry to start placing more emphasis on story. Look at the latest Bioshock for instance and incidentally they are looking for a Narrative Designer at the moment, check it out ----> http://irrationalgames.com/studio/careers-at-irrational/'
I gave twine a quick look and went through a few of the games. It looks quite interesting. I will definitely play around a bit with it as soon as I get a chance.
I would recommend you look for the Marie DeMarle talks on the GDC vault. Her work is insanely good.
It'd be great to have you along!
There's a ton of cool story driven games, you're right that it is becoming increasingly important, especially as the tools we have allow us more power to tell stories, and it's true that a lot of these games that emphasize story are pretty high-profile.
I'd suggest playing Bastion (if you haven't already), it has a huge emphasis on story and tells it in a slightly unconventional and innovative way. Also, Bastion is a lot closer to the scale of game that we can currently make in South Africa, and it was pretty darn successful financially as well. If you're looking for experience to get to the point where Irrational will hire you there's a lot of good paths to pursue.
Twine is pretty badass!
Yes, I did play Bastion awhile back, thanks to my neat little humble indie bundle :)!
It's an amazing game and as far as indie games go, that and Lone Survivor is probably some of my most influential games.
Checking twine as we speak. Can you perhaps give me some examples of such paths?
@adonais In addition to twine, you can also take a look at Inform7 if you are interested in interactive fiction.
I'm always keen to hear about peoples research. What is your topic and who is your supervisor? I have quite an number of MAs working on narrative in games. I'd be happy so compare notes and share resources. :)
best
I am reading up on narrative in games now in my own time, and found quite a few interesting articles and thesis' on the topic. I could send to them to you, if you were interested.
Frankenstein is fantastic to study, I hope you're enjoying it!