Tag: games
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You Feel Nothing: The Problem with Second Person Storytelling in Games
There’s a book I used to keep on my desk in the office. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. Every time someone came to me with a design concept that had a particular problem baked into it, I’d hand them the book, tell them to read the first chapter, and let them figure out…
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From Playing to Watching: How Let’s Plays Changed What It Means to Be a Gamer
There’s something I’ve been turning over in my mind lately, and I think it’s worth putting into words. Here’s my hot take: the rise of Let’s Play videos and live streaming has fundamentally shifted what the gaming community is. Not just in size, but in its very nature. And I’m not sure we talk about…
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Sound High Level Thoughts
A few months back I was given the opportunity to put together and present a talk to the whole studio about game audio. Keeping it under twenty minutes meant staying deliberately high level — which was harder than it sounds, because audio is one of those topics where every thread you pull leads to three…
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Applying Vonnegut To Gaming Pt. 2
(Blogtober Day 10) So picking up from yesterday’s Blogtober entry applying some creative writing tips from the late author Kurt Vonnegut and seeing if I can apply them to game development… “Start as close to the end as possible.” This is an interesting one to try to apply to game development as there can be…
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A Straight Line (The Most Direct Narrative Design Structure)
(Blogtober Day 3) I’ve been a several narrative design and writing for games talks, and I have read over a dozen books covering the same topics, and I’m always amazed how, in my opinion, how little narrative design is actually ever discussed in any of them. There is often focus on writing, and branching dialogues…
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Telling Micro-Stories With Sound Design
(Blogtober Day 2) Games tell stories. Some games allow players to be a part of stories. Other games even allow players to write their own stories. But while many games have an overarching narrative for players to discover and explore over several hours, there’s another kind of storytelling that tends not be identified as often.…
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What Is Voice Design
(Blogtober Day 1) First things first. What is Blogtober? Blogtober is a challenge to write a blog or article each day, every day in the month of October. 31 posts in 31 days. Please wish me luck! What Is Voice Over Design? Voice Over Design is a practice and/or discipline within interactive game development in…