Narrative Design - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 51

6
Narrative Design
Jay Posey
6.1 What is Narrative Design?
The most accurate definition of “narrative design� is elegantly simple: narrative de-
sign is what Narrative Designers do. Unfortunately, for any practical purpose, this
definition is also the most useless. Because the games industry has little standardiza-
tion for titles, and the role of Narrative Designer is still an emerging one, precisely
classifying what constitutes narrative design is a tricky business. With that in mind,
this chapter will broadly outline core elements of narrative design and briefly touch
on some specific tasks that may fall logically onto a Narrative Designer's to-do list.
For the purposes of this chapter, we will define narrative as “the story our game
tells.� (For simplicity, “narrative� and “story� will be used interchangeably, though
in some circles of game writing this will surely cause mild spasms of philosophical
outrage.) Narrative, then, consists of the setting, plot, characters, and themes within
the game, specifically with the player-character as protagonist. By this definition,
the narrative of God of War tells of Kratos and his journey to assume the throne
of Ares; Splinter Cell: Double Agent follows Sam Fisher's dangerous infiltration of
a home-grown terrorist organization. Though narrative can be defined much more
broadly to include any number of elements (for example, a quest or series of quests in
an MMORPG), this simple definition makes discussing practical details somewhat
easier.
So then, if narrative is “the story our game tells,� narrative design is the creation of
that story and the design of the mechanics through which it is told. That is, narrative
design encompasses not only the story itself but also how the story is communicated
to players and how other game features support and immerse the player within the
game world.
In some ways, a Narrative Designer might be considered to games what a Writer-
Director is to movies. In film, the most well-written screenplay does nothing for