ABSTRACT
What is narrative design? And what exactly does a narrative designer do? And what’s the difference between a narrative designer and a game writer? These questions will be answered in great detail.
Moreover, how is writing for games different from writing for other fictional screen media, such as a film or television? There is a clear grammar or ruleset per each medium. One rule is distinguishing between the lean forward experience, where the consumer is expected to interact with the medium, versus the lean back experience, where the consumer has no responsibilities other than to sit back and take it all in. As a lean forward experience, games put gameplay at the center of the experience. The narrative designer is, therefore, required to design story around these moments, even if it hinders the progress of the story.
What’s more, the narrative designer has to keep in mind that games are about addiction. How do we assure that players keep buttoning on the controller? Again, this might affect the quality of the storytelling, but these challenges keep the narrative designer nimble.
