Thoughts on Narrative Design | IP Building | Game Writing

I’m not an all knowing guru and these are more musings and thoughts than guidelines. Feel differently? Leave a comment. Let’s discuss. I love discussing this stuff.


When anyone mentions Narrative Design or Game Writing, I can’t help but have a flurry of thoughts and emotions go rippling through my brain.

It’s such a vast subject and is so much more than just dialogue, lore, descriptions or any other number of things that our writerly words are used for.

What do I mean by that? Let’s take a deeper look.


When it comes to telling a compelling story in a video game, we have to not only hook the player via an immersive and believable story, but also through enjoyable gameplay mechanics, visuals that fit the theme and vision of the overall story, audio effects and music that enhance the story and gameplay, and (if applicable) cut scenes that enthrall the player as opposed to making them use that time to bio break, get a snack or outright roll their eyes because the cutscenes don’t match up with how the game plays (any RPG where you make your own character and play your own way that then has a set narrative cutscene arc which falls outside of how you play your character).


Let’s examine some of the parts of the holistic picture of Narrative Design & Game Writing.

ACT 1 - World Building

This is where the “magic” happens at the outset of the project. There is an idea; a vision. The writing team becomes the custodians of that vision and work to bring it to life.

The idea/vision needs roots, a foundation, a framework and time slice within the universe in which the story is to take place. Anchor points we’ll call them.

The “jumping off” point is where the story will begin, but is not necessarily the beginning of the holistic picture, just this particular story itself.

The “conclusion” point is what will be the ending of this instalment of the story and must work to serve as a pleasing and believable ending in its own right while still leaving it open to future stories if the game is to become a franchise.

There’s going to be a lot of questions to answer and a lot of stuff to fill in that lead to the “jumping off” point of the story. Sometimes thousands of years worth of history building, rules of magic or technological advancements or both. Key events and characters from the past that may be relevant to the present. Timelines, character bios, storyboards, creature bios, flora & fauna of the world etc.

ACT 2 - Telling A Story

This is where the script work comes into play. It’s a multi-draft process that goes through constant change until it feels right and it’s crucial to get input from all departments while maintaining the original vision of the project.

Essentially, this is the core presentation of the thousands of ideas and lines of dialogue that are written throughout the game’s lifetime (concept to completion) to drive the plot forward from opening scene to end credits. This includes descriptive text on in game items, interactable lore notes/books, class/skill descriptions etc.


ACT 3 - Collaboration

So, we have a world for the game to take place in, and a compelling story written to draw the player in. The writer/s work is done right?

Not even close. Now the rest of the work begins.

While maintaining, tweaking, editing, planning for the future, the writer/s begin to work with the Art, Audio, UI, Cinematic and Game Design teams to bring the story to life with the right look and feel, the right sounds and thematic music, and of course any cinematics that are to help bring non-player moments to life with crisp and believable dialogue.

It takes a level head to do this and no short amount of management and sometimes conflict resolution skills, as well as the ability to organize and plan meetings in a respectful manner to make it all work.


ACT 4 - Franchise Development

Once the product development is almost complete (sometimes much sooner), there is much more work to do.

From marketing materials to game trailer scripts and game descriptions for the website and making sure that everything that has been done so far holds up against scrutiny.

All of this creates a foundation for the product’s future if it is to be turned into a franchise with sequels, merchandise, books, films/shows etc.

Maintaining continuity is a key player in this effort.

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