In the early days of video game design the story was an ornamental addition to the game – the plot and the gameplay were separated from each other. Today, as digital narratives have developed, interactive fiction, narrative design and game design all have armouries of sophisticated techniques. But some of the most interesting projects of the last decade have come out of the overlap between these related fields - using mechanical underpinnings to add emotional heft to an interactive narrative, rather than just just layering story on game. Alexis Kennedy will talk about techniques he used, invented or borrowed to achieve these effects, and some underlying principles I've found useful. This is primarily a practical talk.
Ideal audience of the masterclass would be people who have at least a basic acquaintance with interactive narrative:
- game developers
- academics
- amateur authors
- interested gamers