Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
AFTERWORD
Return with the Elixir
In the Hero's Journey, the story usually ends with the grown, changed Hero
returning to his Ordinary World and improving it with the boon he fought
so hard to win.
With your journey through this topic now nearly complete, my hope is
that in some way it's changed your thinking about storytelling in games,
and rewarded you with at least one benefit you can bring back to your day-
to-day game development experience. My goal with the many game nar-
rative lectures and tutorials I've presented over the years—and now with this
book—has always been to communicate to game developers of every stripe
that they are all storytellers, and to therefore provide some basic principles
and tools to help them become better at it …
as a team
.
It's something of a selfish quest I'm on, really, because I love experiencing
good game stories. Every quest starts with a conflict and a Hero's hope that
he can somehow resolve it. When it comes to storytelling in games, here
are some of my own hopes.
I hope
team leaders
will treat narrative experts and their concerns with
the same consideration, respect and professionalism they do members of
every other game development discipline. I hope these decision-makers
will perceive and value the huge contributions a game writing professional
can bring to nearly any project, and understand that they hold an expertise
not possessed by “just anyone.” I hope team leaders will realize that game
narrative isn't an afterthought to be tacked onto an existing Alpha, but a
critical game component to be included in the creative process from the
very first days of development. And I hope that leaders will instill in their en-
tire teams a shared sense of ownership over the quality of the game's story.
I hope
designers
will remember the importance of ludonarrative harmony
as they develop their overall design and their missions, and work to echo
