Game writing focuses on characters, dialogue, and story themes and tone, while narrative design focuses on making the story playable and incorporating it into gameplay through choices, consequences, and story triggers. The primary difference is that writers are responsible for characters and dialogue, while designers are responsible for the player experience and how the story interacts with gameplay. Narrative designers create the overarching story structure and identify different story delivery methods based on game mechanics, whereas writers produce specific narrative content.

1. Game Writing and
Narrative Design
Roles, skills, responsibilities

2. Game Writing and
Narrative Design
• They share an interest in “the
story” as a deliverable
• They share the same goal: to
make a great game and story.
• The game is a reflection of the
relationship between writing
and design
• Work together, but different
skills and responsibilities
Molly Maloney and Eric Stirpe, GDC Talk

3. Why do games need
narrative designers?
Games are unique storytelling
medium because they involve
player choice.
Telling a structured story is thus
a paradox.
Stories have to be incorporated
into gameplay

4. Game Writing vs. Narrative Design
Writing is
responsible for
the
characters
Design is
responsible for
the
player
What is the primary difference?
Molly Maloney and Eric Stirpe, GDC Talk

5. Game Writing: Goals and Responsibilities
• Writing is responsible for the characters
• dialogue, character arcs, themes and tone
• Writer’s goal is to make a compelling story
• Writer’s write content (often hired after story architecture
is complete)
• Writer uses words to tell stories

6. Narrative Design: Goals and Responsibilities
• Design is responsible for the player
• choices/consequences, branching, mechanics
• Design’s goal is to make the story playable (How will the player
interact with the story?)
• Narrative designers create a pathway or architecture for story
• Narrative designers use game’s feature set to tell stories.
• mechanics, combat, game design, progression, music,
voice over, audio, level design, cinematics, UI and UX, etc.

7. Narrative designers have greater specialization
• In addition to writing scripts, dialogue, etc., narrative designers also:
• Create the story architecture
• Identify the vehicles that delivery story
• Design the rule-sets for these vehicles are triggered in game
• Enrich core mechanics with narrative content
• Plan and itemize the numerous story variations influenced by player
choice
• Prevent ludo-narrative dissonance (moments when the story and the
player’s experience contradict each other)

8. Narrative design is…
• “creating a pathway for story, to be revealed one bit at a time, once
conditions have been met, within or in between gameplay moments.”
• How to parcel our bits of narrative throughout the game experience?
• Where are moments when narrative is intertwined with gameplay?
• What mechanisms reveal the story?
• What triggers those mechanisms?
“the key is creating a reactive and proactive storyline
that affects gameplay (proactive) and is affected by
gameplay (reactive)” (Ross Berger, 15)

9. Storytelling Methods
• Cutscenes and cinematics (rely on
conventions of film)
• In-game events (don’t remove control
from the player)
• Mechanics as actions, metaphors,
representations of themes, etc.
• Dialogue and conversation
• Textual artifacts (in-game descriptive
messages, notes, books, etchings on
wall, etc.)
• Character design and development (in
RPGs)
• Game worlds and environment design

11. Coming soon…
Story Models, Plot Guides, and
Branching Narratives