Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
PART I
Basic Training
Video game storytelling doesn't begin or end with a writer. The best
game stories emerge from a collaborative process between a writer
and a cross-disciplinary team of game developers. And so, as a game
developer, you are also a storyteller.
That's right, you. It doesn't matter if you're a designer or animator,
a 3D modeler or an AI programmer, a producer or a music com-
poser—if you're helping to develop a game that is trying to tell a
story, then you are helping to tell that story.
You and the rest of the team, that is.
And the first thing any team needs to have in common is a shared
understanding of the “rules of the game.”
Does writing have hard and fast rules? Not really. But when it
comes to fiction development, there are core principles, proven
structures, and best practices that have been identified, vetted, and
verified over the past several thousand years. And they're used every
day, to incredible effect by professional writers of every stripe.
Basic comprehension of these narrative principles and patterns, as
described in the pages that follow, will improve your ability to help
tell your game's story.
