Making Games

(note: originallyw ritten for rydra_wong)

next:
- #2 Character in Gamebooks and Computer Games
- #3 Game Design, Narrative, and Incentives
- #4 Detour: Creature of Havoc, choice, and characterization

I am going to take a slightly oblique angle on narrative and game design - I suspect you had (modern?) video games in mind, but I’m going to start with material discussing IF (interactive fiction/text adventures) and gamebooks/CYOA (“choose your own adventure”) branching narratives. The reason is that many of the techniques and considerations from those two earlier media carry over to modern approaches to narrative in video games.

I have SO MUCH MORE to say on narrative and game design but just talking about these two niche topics got long. I will come back later, I swear!

(Also - if you’re looking for recommendations for game design books, I can definitely talk about that. I have restricted myself here to links to web articles or otherwise free PDFs/resources because most game design books are pricey.)

Cut for length. ( Read more... )

next:
- #2 Character in Gamebooks and Computer Games
- #3 Game Design, Narrative, and Incentives
- #4 Detour: Creature of Havoc, choice, and characterization