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Narrative Design
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Narrative Design
The Craft of Writing for Games
Michael Breault
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources.
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and
publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of
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and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.
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Acknowledgements, xi
Author, xiii
Introduction, xv
vii
viii ◾ Contents
INDEX, 201
Acknowledgements
xi
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Author
Mike Breault has worked in the game industry since 1984 as a narrative
designer and game designer. He has helped create more than 90 analog
games and 40 digital games. In 2014, he began teaching narrative design
and game design to college students at several universities. Mike has a B.S.
in Physics and an M.A. in Instructional Design. He currently teaches in
Webster University’s Games and Game Design program. He and his wife,
Mary, live in St. Louis, MO.
xiii
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Introduction
ABOUT ME
Before you devote the time and effort to reading a book, you should know
who wrote it. I’ve been in the game industry for 35 years now. In that
time, I’ve worked on over 90 analog games (board games, card games,
and tabletop role-playing games) and just under 40 computer and video
games. I started at TSR back in 1984, working on Dungeons & Dragons®
and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® games and adventures, board games,
hardback books, and card games, over 90 of them in all. I co-designed my
first computer game, Pool of Radiance, in 1987. I left TSR in 1989 to go
freelance and have worked on digital games almost exclusively ever since,
though I’ve recently returned to working on analog games. I’ve worked
as both a narrative designer and a game designer, often both on the same
project. For a list of my publications, see Appendix A.
For the last few years, I’ve been teaching narrative and game design
at several universities, currently at Webster University in St. Louis. The
courses I create and teach are based on the tasks narrative designers and
game designers perform every day during game development. I want stu-
dents to get a real look at the work they’d be doing as writers and designers
in the game industry. It’s exciting to witness the creativity and enthusiasm
students bring to these assignments. This book will help instructors and
students learn more about game design and narrative design. Those already
in the industry can use this book to hone their skills in these disciplines.
I’m often asked how I got into the game industry. I always say I owe it all
to the Chicago Cubs, which garners me some startled looks. Here’s how it
happened. I went to college for physics and astronomy and made my way
into the Ph.D. program in astrophysics at Indiana University. After a few
years there, I realized that astronomy wasn’t for me and I wasn’t for it.
Searching for a career that suited me, I left to work as an editorial intern at a
local political opinion magazine (The American Spectator). That magazine
xv
xvi ◾ Introduction
had an annual Chicago Cubs outing. My wife and I went, stayed overnight
in Chicago, and got the Sunday Tribune the next morning. Mary spot-
ted an ad for a game editor at TSR (the makers of Dungeons & Dragons®).
I applied for the job, got it, and was on my way. So, yeah, the Chicago Cubs
started me out in the game industry.
Your career can take some strange turns, as mine amply demonstrates.
Be open to interesting paths, as you never know where they might lead.
INTENDED AUDIENCES
• For Students: Students can use this book to supplement the infor-
mation their own instructors pass along. The content of each chapter
conveys foundational knowledge about game design and narra-
tive design, while the assignments in Appendix C give students the
10 ◾ Narrative Design
When HR brings you to your seat on your first day of work, to the left
of you may be a woman who has been doing your job for 20 years now.
To your right might be a man who’s been doing it for ten years. You’re
going to learn more from them in the next three months than you learned
in four years of college courses. That’s why game design is a craft—you
learn by doing, and by doing it alongside others more experienced than
you.
The most important element of this first definition, though, is the part
about the player experience. That determines everything about a game’s
design. What do you want players to get out of your game; what’s the
experience you want them to have? Once you define that experience,
every aspect of your game design should work toward delivering it. Build
your story hooks and gameplay mechanics around that ideal player
experience.