Narrative Design

What is Narrative Design,

From Edwin McRae's Blog https://www.edmcrae.com/article/what-is-a-narrative-designer

"An approachable, practical field guide for one of the trickiest and most rewarding aspects of game development, "Narrative Design for Indies: Getting Started" is packed with straightforward, actionable advice. Worth your time!" - Chris Bourassa, Creative Director of Darkest Dungeon.

and in english?

Narrative Designers work with Story so that Play has Meaning.

Note that I'm dodging around the word 'writer'. Yes, words are a Narrative Designer's only method of communication, if you don't count Googled 'inspiration images' and the odd diagram.

You might be wondering now, what is going on, this is not your normal ideas, well it is.

I have been doing some thinking over the last four years around a MODULE for English and Digital Technologies. Part of it came true when I last worked for English doing some game development in which the English component looked at the cultural side of things through the Never Alone game.

There is an awesome resource that is available for New Zealand teachers to start getting students to write stories, this is the Game of Awesome cards, 

These cards are available through the "Down the back of the chair website" as well as through http://success-for-boys.tki.org.nz/Teaching-learning-resources/Game-of-Awesome

What is a potential idea around this. Getting students to write stories, and then use the graphics from the cards to create a game around them. Getting good game art is sometimes very difficult. But here it is.

However, off track.

I have started to play a game with my switch, Firewatch.

Firewatch is a mystery set in the Wyoming wilderness, where your only emotional lifeline is the person on the other end of a handheld radio. ... Perched atop a mountain, it's your job to find smoke and keep the wilderness safe.

Ahhh, if only that was true,

This video explains the narrative design in Firewatch and I am starting to wonder what opportunities it may bring to our writers and Digital Technologies students.