Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Overall Game Design
This chapter is most relevant to those who conceptualize, devel-
op, and approve the overarching design of a game. Titles might
include
creative director, game director, lead game designer
, and
lead systems designer
.
Like you, when I am at a party or other social gathering outside the game
industry, I'm often asked what I do for a living. Once someone finds out I'm
a writer for games, a question I'm often asked is whether games start with a
script or story concept, like movies almost always do.
This is an assumption made not only by laypeople but also professional
writers from other media who are curious about writing for games. After all,
in nearly every other storytelling form—movies, TV shows, plays, novels,
and comics—the process starts with story as the first step.
Of course, as you most likely know, that's not how it generally works in
games. In fact, whenever a writer asks me where she might shop her idea
