|
Character Development & Storytelling for Games
"Character Development and Storytelling for Games" begins with a history of dramatic writing and entertainment in other media. It then segues to writing for games, revealing that while proven techniques in linear media can be translated to games, games offer many new challenges on their own such as interactivity, non-linearity, player input,
and more. It then moves beyond linear techniques to introduce the elements of the craft of writing that are particularly unique to interactive media. It takes us from the relatively secure confines of single-player games to the vast open spaces of virtual worlds and examines player-created stories, and shows how even here writers on the development team are necessary to the process, and what they can do to aid it.
Introduction: The Prehistoric Campfire
Part 1: The Audience Remains the Same
1. Jung's Universal Consciousness
2. Campbell's The Hero's Journey
Part 2: The Roots of Storytelling
3. Elements of Dramatic Writing
4. Aristotle and Those Other Greeks
5. Beginnings of Modular Storytelling
6. Canterbury Tales
7. Don Quixote de la Mancha
Part 3: The Modern Novel
8. Charles Dickens and Publishing in Parts
Part 4: The Silver Screen
9. Elements of Film Language
10. From The Great Train Robbery to Birth of a Nation
11. Saturday Morning at the Movies (Movie Serials)
Part 5: The Small Screen
12. Daytime Soap Operas
13. Episodic Television
Part 6: The Roots of Gameplay
14. Why Make Games?
15. Why Tell Stories?
16. Elements of Game Language
17. Adventure Games
18. Roleplaying in the Kitchen
Part 7: Respecting Characters
19. Non-Player Characters
20. Major Characters (Villains, Sidekicks, etc.)
21. Extras
22. Character Arcs
23. Revealing Character through Action
24. First-Person vs. Third Person
25. Dialogue
26. Memory
27. Entrances and Exits
Part 8: Storytelling in Games
28. Willing Suspension of Disbelief
29. The Fourth Wall
30. Emotion (Empathy, humor, tears)
31. Consistency of the World
32. Finding a Style that Fits
33. Original Material
34. Adaptations from other Media
35. Arcs
36. Reversals
37. Rewards
38. The Story Up till Now
39. Naturalism
40. Verisimilitude
41. Scope and Scale
Afterword: When Craft Becomes Art
|
