Writer and narrative designer for games
I used to really dislike writing user stories and goals in my narrative design work. Compared to colleagues working in other areas of design it felt a little odd when I was writing. But the more I use them, the more I find them useful even when writing. Goals Goals should be the high level … Read moreUser and stories and goals for writing & narrative design – actually pretty useful
Since the future of Twitter is looking a little uncertain, I’ve started archiving threads on my blog. To set the scene a narrative designer has said the magic phrase ” But everything in the game is narrative!”. A steely eyed colleague/friend/spartan looks back across the void of the birdsite. They stop, smile ( even through … Read moreBattling Blocks with a narrative lens – Looking at Tetris with a narrative lens
After having just completed the Artful Escape. I was struck by how well it’s structured. The story is linear. Mixing exploration sections, with musical platforming and performance sections. I’ve chosen to only talk about the main structural points here. There’s a lot more to see in the main game. This is a very high-level overview.(Spoilers … Read moreThe Narrative Structure of The Artful Escape
For those of you who have not read any entries in this series these before, I’m playing through a couple of adventure games from each year following the release of Monkey Island 2. It’s been over a year since the last entry, a lot has happened for me personally. I had a really terrible time for … Read moreAdventure Afterlife – 20 years of Adventure games part 6 1997
I’m once again helping to run AdventureX, a convention dedicated to narrative and storytelling in gaming. We’ve been running a Kickstarter which has gone pretty well and is allowing my co-organisers Tom and Ali to go out and secure superb speakers and entertainment. The convention is free to attend and will run in London on the … Read moreAdventureX 2016