Download or read book The Game Narrative Toolbox written by Tobias Heussner and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2015-06-05 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to create compelling game storylines. Four experienced narrative designers from different genres of game development have banded together to create this all-inclusive guide on what it's like to work as a writer and narrative designer in the videogame industry. From concept to final testing, The Game Narrative Toolbox walks readers through what role a narrative designer plays on a development team and what the requirements are at every stage of development. Drawing on real experiences, authors Tobias Heussner, Toiya Finley, Ann Lemay, and Jennifer Hepler provide invaluable advice for writing compelling player-centered stories and effective dialogue trees in order to help readers make the switch from prose- or screen- writing to interactive. Accompanying every chapter are exercises that allow the reader to develop their own documentation, outlines, and game-dialogue samples for use in applying for industry jobs or developing independent projects. This first installment of Focal Press's Game Design Workshops series is a must-have for individuals looking to create captivating storylines for games.
Download or read book The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox written by Tobias Heussner and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2019-02-18 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox continues where the Game Narrative Toolbox ended. While the later covered the basics of writing for games, the Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox will cover techniques for the intermediate and professional writer. The book will cover topics such as how to adapt a novel to a game, how to revive IPs and how to construct transmedia worlds. Each chapter will be written by a professional with exceptional experience in the field of the chapter. Key Features Learn from industry experts how to tackle today’s challenges in storytelling for games. A learn by example and exercise approach, which was praised in the Game Narrative Toolbox. An in depth view on advanced storytelling techniques and topics as they are currently discussed and used in the gaming industry. Expand your knowledge in game writing as you learn and try yourself to design quests, write romances and build worlds as you would as a writer in a game studio. Improve your own stories by learning and trying the techniques used by the professionals of game writing.
Download or read book The Game Narrative Toolbox written by Tobias Heussner and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2023-08-16 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to create compelling game storylines. Four experienced narrative designers from different genres of game development have banded together to create this all-inclusive guide on what it's like to work as a writer and narrative designer in the video game industry. From concept to final testing, The Game Narrative Toolbox walks readers through what role a narrative designer plays on a development team and what the requirements are at every stage of development. Drawing on real experiences, authors Tobias Heussner, Toiya Kristen Finley, PhD, Ann Lemay, and Jennifer Brandes Hepler provide invaluable advice for writing compelling player-centered stories and effective dialogue trees to help readers make the switch from writing prose or screenplay to interactive. Thoroughly revised, the Second Edition includes updated content reflecting the industry’s latest developments. In addition to revised and updated chapters, this new edition features two additional chapters covering more advanced topics that are applicable to the lessons learned from the original chapters. Accompanying every chapter are exercises that allow the reader to develop their own documentation, outlines, and game-dialogue samples for use in applying for industry jobs or developing independent projects.
Download or read book The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox written by Tobias Heussner and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2019-02-18 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox continues where the Game Narrative Toolbox ended. While the later covered the basics of writing for games, the Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox will cover techniques for the intermediate and professional writer. The book will cover topics such as how to adapt a novel to a game, how to revive IPs and how to construct transmedia worlds. Each chapter will be written by a professional with exceptional experience in the field of the chapter. Key Features Learn from industry experts how to tackle today’s challenges in storytelling for games. A learn by example and exercise approach, which was praised in the Game Narrative Toolbox. An in depth view on advanced storytelling techniques and topics as they are currently discussed and used in the gaming industry. Expand your knowledge in game writing as you learn and try yourself to design quests, write romances and build worlds as you would as a writer in a game studio. Improve your own stories by learning and trying the techniques used by the professionals of game writing.
Download or read book Narrative Tactics for Mobile and Social Games written by Toiya Kristen Finley and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-07-24 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite its significant growth over the past five years, the mobile and social videogame industry is still maturing at a rapid rate. Due to various storage and visual and sound asset restrictions, mobile and social gaming must have innovative storytelling techniques. Narrative Tactics grants readers practical advice for improving narrative design and game writing for mobile and social games, and helps them rise to the challenge of mobile game storytelling. The first half of the book covers general storytelling techniques, including worldbuilding, character design, dialogue, and quests. In the second half, leading experts in the field explore various genres and types of mobile and social games, including educational games, licensed IP, games for specific demographics, branding games, and free to play (F2P). Key Features The only book dedicated to narrative design and game writing in social and mobile games, an explosive market overtaking the console gaming market. Provides tips for narrative design and writing tailored specifically for mobile and social game markets. Guides readers along with conclusions that include questions to help the reader in narrative design and/or writing. Explores real games to illustrate theory and best practices with analyses of game case studies per chapter, covering indie, social/mobile, and AAA games. Includes checklists to help readers critique their own narrative design/writing.
Download or read book Narrative Design written by Michael Breault and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2020-04-22 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Narrative designers and game designers are critical to the development of digital and analog games. This book provides a detailed look at the work writers and designers perform every day on game development projects. It includes practical advice on how to break into the game industry as a writer or game designer. Readers can use the templates and detailed instructions provided here to create lively portfolios that will help open the door to jobs in the game industry. Key features of this book: • An intimate look at the workings of AAA game development from someone who has spent decades embedded on teams at well-known companies. • An insider’s look at the game industry, including advice on breaking into the industry. • Detailed instructions for creating a portfolio to demonstrate narrative design and game design skills to prospective employers. • Lessons and exercises to help students develop narrative design and game design skills. • A how-to guide for college instructors teaching classes in narrative design and game design. Detailed assignments and syllabi are included. Author Bio: Michael Breault is a 35-year industry veteran who has contributed his writing and game design skills to over 130 published games. He currently teaches narrative design and game design courses at Webster University in St. Louis. The courses he creates and teaches are based on the tasks narrative designers and game designers undertake every day while developing games. These classes provide his students with a real-world view of the work they will be doing as writers and designers in the game industry.
Download or read book A Game of Fox Squirrels written by Jenn Reese and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 2021 Oregon Book Award Winner An NPR Best Book of 2020 A Finalist for the 2021-22 Maine Student Book Award A 2021 Mythopoeic Awards Finalist Andre Norton Award finalist Jenn Reese explores the often thin line between magic and reality, light and darkness in her enchanting middle grade standalone. "Brings to life, viscerally, what it is like to live in fear of abuse—even after the abuse itself is over. But there is magic here too, and the promise of a better future that comes with learning to let people who care about you into your world." —Alan Gratz, New York Times-bestselling author of Refugee “A captivating and touching story... both whimsical and emotionally—sometimes frighteningly—compelling.” —Ingrid Law, Newbery Honor-winning author of Savvy "Magically creative and deeply honest, A Game of Fox & Squirrels merges games and grimness in a fantasy tale that tells the truth." —Elana K. Arnold, Printz Honor-winning author of Damsel and A Boy Called Bat After an incident shatters their family, eleven-year old Samantha and her older sister Caitlin are sent to live in rural Oregon with an aunt they've never met. Sam wants nothing more than to go back to the way things were... before she spoke up about their father's anger. When Aunt Vicky gives Sam a mysterious card game called "A Game of Fox & Squirrels," Sam falls in love with the animal characters, especially the charming trickster fox, Ashander. Then one day Ashander shows up in Sam’s room and offers her an adventure and a promise: find the Golden Acorn, and Sam can have anything she desires. But the fox is hiding rules that Sam isn't prepared for, and her new home feels more tempting than she'd ever expected. As Sam is swept up in the dangerous quest, the line between magic and reality grows thin. If she makes the wrong move, she'll lose far more than just a game. Perfect for fans of Barbara O'Connor, Lauren Wolk, and Ali Benjamin, A Game of Fox & Squirrels is a stunning, heartbreaking novel about a girl who finds the light in the darkness... and ultimately discovers the true meaning of home.
Download or read book Interactive Storytelling for Video Games written by Josiah Lebowitz and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What really makes a video game story interactive? What's the best way to create an interactive story? How much control should players be given? Do they really want that control in the first place? Do they even know what they want-or are their stated desires at odds with the unconscious preferences? All of these questions and more are examined in this definitive book on interactive storytelling for video games. You'll get detailed descriptions of all major types of interactive stories, case studies of popular games (including Bioshock, Fallout 3, Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain, and Metal Gear Solid), and how players interact with them, and an in-depth analysis of the results of a national survey on player storytelling preferences in games. You'll get the expert advice you need to generate compelling and original game concepts and narratives.With Interactive Storytelling for Video Games, you'll:
Download or read book Narrative Design for Writers written by Edwin McRae and published by Fiction Engine. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you want to turn your talent for writing into a narrative design career in the games industry? It’s never been a better time to be a writer for video games. You’re tapping into an industry that was worth more than $120 billion dollars in 2019, and it’s still growing. And it’s an industry that needs great storytellers. But there's a BIG difference between a great story and a great game story. Traditional stories are told. Game stories are experienced. That's why video game narratives need a totally different design approach. So how do you apply your scriptwriting, storylining, poetic, copywriting, prose producing skills to an audience that won’t sit still and an industry that’s ever changing? That’s what this book is about! I’ve been a narrative designer for over a decade, as well as a novelist and a scriptwriter / storyliner for TV and comics. I love playing games, and even more, I love helping game developers realize their storytelling aspirations. Nothing delights me more than a game that's both fun to play and delivers a satisfying story experience. In this book, I'll share both the evergreen principles and practical techniques that I’ve learned and developed during my narrative design career so that you can position yourself for your first game writing gig. And if you’re an experienced narrative designer already, you’ll still find plenty of insights that you can apply to your trade. I’ll say it again, “the games industry needs you!” Play is what we do, but story is why we do it.
Download or read book Rules of Play written by Katie Salen Tekinbas and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2003-09-25 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date. As pop culture, games are as important as film or television—but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance. Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.
Download or read book Video Game Storytelling written by Evan Skolnick and published by Watson-Guptill. This book was released on 2014-12-02 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: UNLOCK YOUR GAME'S NARRATIVE POTENTIAL! With increasingly sophisticated video games being consumed by an enthusiastic and expanding audience, the pressure is on game developers like never before to deliver exciting stories and engaging characters. With Video Game Storytelling, game writer and producer Evan Skolnick provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to storytelling basics and how they can be applied at every stage of the development process—by all members of the team. This clear, concise reference pairs relevant examples from top games and other media with a breakdown of the key roles in game development, showing how a team’s shared understanding and application of core storytelling principles can deepen the player experience. Understanding story and why it matters is no longer just for writers or narrative designers. From team leadership to game design and beyond, Skolnick reveals how each member of the development team can do his or her part to help produce gripping, truly memorable narratives that will enhance gameplay and bring today’s savvy gamers back time and time again.
Download or read book Once Upon a Pixel written by Eddie Paterson and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once Upon a Pixel examines the increasing sophistication of storytelling and worldbuilding in modern video games. Drawing on some of gaming’s most popular titles, including Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us, Horizon Zero Dawn, and the long-running Metal Gear Solid series, it is a pioneering exploration into narrative in games from the perspective of the creative writer. With interviews and insights from across the industry, it provides a complete account of how Triple-A, independent, and even virtual reality games are changing the way we tell stories. Key Features A fresh perspective on video games as a whole new form of creative writing. Interviews with a range of leading industry figures, from critics to creators. Professional analysis of modern video game script excerpts. Insights into emerging technologies and the future of interactive storytelling.
Download or read book Beautiful Trouble written by Andrew Boyd and published by OR Books. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banksy, the Yes Men, Gandhi, Starhawk: the accumulated wisdom of decades of creative protest is now in the hands of the next generation of change-makers, thanks to Beautiful Trouble. Sophisticated enough for veteran activists, accessible enough for newbies, this compact pocket edition of the bestselling Beautiful Trouble is a book that’s both handy and inexpensive. Showcasing the synergies between artistic imagination and shrewd political strategy, this generously illustrated volume can easily be slipped into your pocket as you head out to the streets. This is for everyone who longs for a more beautiful, more just, more livable world – and wants to know how to get there. Includes a new introduction by the editors. Contributors include: Celia Alario • Andy Bichlbaum • Nadine Bloch • L. M. Bogad • Mike Bonnano • Andrew Boyd • Kevin Buckland • Doyle Canning • Samantha Corbin • Stephen Duncombe • Simon Enoch • Janice Fine • Lisa Fithian • Arun Gupta • Sarah Jaffe • John Jordan • Stephen Lerner • Zack Malitz • Nancy L. Mancias • Dave Oswald Mitchell • Tracey Mitchell • Mark Read • Patrick Reinsborough • Joshua Kahn Russell • Nathan Schneider • John Sellers • Matthew Skomarovsky • Jonathan Matthew Smucker • Starhawk • Eric Stoner • Harsha Walia
Download or read book The Pyramid of Game Design written by Nicholas Lovell and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Game design is changing. The emergence of service games on PC, mobile and console has created new expectations amongst consumers and requires new techniques from game makers. In The Pyramid of Game Design, Nicholas Lovell identifies and explains the frameworks and techniques you need to deliver fun, profitable games. Using examples of games ranging from modern free-to-play titles to the earliest arcade games, via PC strategy and traditional boxed titles, Lovell shows how game development has evolved, and provides game makers with the tools to evolve with it. Harness the Base, Retention and Superfan Layers to create a powerful Core Loop. Design the player Session to keep players playing while being respectful of their time. Accept that there are few fixed rules: just trade-offs with consequences. Adopt Agile and Lean techniques to "learn what you need you learn" quickly Use analytics, paired with design skills and player feedback, to improve the fun, engagement and profitability of your games. Adapt your marketing techniques to the reality of the service game era Consider the ethics of game design in a rapidly changing world. Lovell shows how service games require all the skills of product game development, and more. He provides a toolset for game makers of all varieties to create fun, profitable games. Filled with practical advice, memorable anecdotes and a wealth of game knowledge, the Pyramid of Game Design is a must-read for all game developers.
Download or read book No Talking written by Andrew Clements and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In No Talking, Andrew Clements portrays a battle of wills between some spunky kids and a creative teacher with the perfect pitch for elementary school life that made Frindle an instant classic. It’s boys vs. girls when the noisiest, most talkative, and most competitive fifth graders in history challenge one another to see who can go longer without talking. Teachers and school administrators are in an uproar, until an innovative teacher sees how the kids’ experiment can provide a terrific and unique lesson in communication.
Download or read book Graphic Design School written by David Dabner and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-10-24 with total page 689 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Graphic Design School allows students to develop core competencies while understanding how these fundamentals translate into new and evolving media. With examples from magazines, websites, books, and mobile devices, the Fifth Edition provides an overview of the visual communications profession, with a new focus on the intersection of design specialties. A brand-new section on web and interactivity covers topics such as web tools, coding requirements, information architecture, web design and layout, mobile device composition, app design, CMS, designing for social media, and SEO.
Download or read book See No Color written by Shannon Gibney and published by Carolrhoda Lab ®. This book was released on 2015-11-01 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Transracial adoption is never oversimplified, airbrushed, or sentimentalized, but instead, it's portrayed with bracing honesty as the messy institution it is: rearranging families, blending cultural and biological DNA, loss and joy. An exceptionally accomplished debut."—Kirkus, starred review For as long as she can remember, sixteen-year-old Alex Kirtridge has known two things about herself: She's a stellar baseball player. She's adopted. Alex has had a comfortable childhood in Madison, Wisconsin. Despite some teasing, being a biracial girl in a wealthy white family hasn't been that big a deal. What mattered was that she was a star on the diamond, where her father, a former Major Leaguer, coached her hard and counted on her to make him proud. But now, things are changing: she meets Reggie, the first black guy who's wanted to get to know her; she discovers the letters from her biological father that her adoptive parents have kept from her; and her changing body starts to affect her game. Suddenly, Alex begins to question who she really is. She's always dreamed of playing pro baseball just like her father, but can she really do it? Does she truly fit in with her white family? Who were her biological parents? What does it mean to be black? If she's going to find answers, Alex has to come to terms with her adoption, her race, and the dreams she thought would always guide her. • Winner of the Minnesota Book Award • A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen book of the Year • A Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year
