Writing for Gaming

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 7
• Convenor and tutor: Dr Wes Brown
• Assessment: a 3000-word portfolio (60%) and 2000-word essay (40%)

Video games are increasingly popular and gaming is one of the fastest growing sectors of the creative industries. They are at the forefront of popular narrative forms and video game culture influences film, fashion and technology. As video game stories and characters become more sophisticated and artful, there is a growing demand from the industry for writers - known as ‘narrative designers’ - with a deep knowledge of storytelling as well as gaming to develop video game experiences and products.

In this creative writing module, we introduce you to the world of writing for video games, where you will develop an understanding of gaming in relation to theory, gaming studies, production and the role of play through history. Learning on this module will be supported by lectures and seminar-style discussion from academic staff as well as guest experts from the industry, and workshops will enable you to develop ideas into storyboards and game design documentation.

Indicative syllabus

• Narrative and storyboards
• Apps, video games and VR/AR
• Producing scripts (video and audio)
• World building
• Characters, artificial intelligence and avatars
• Identity and representation
• Virtuality and embodiment
• Interactivity and non-linear storytelling
• Story games vs game stories

By the end of this module, you will have:

• developed critical and analytical skills in the context of video games and narrative design
• developed and enhanced your existing creative writing skills for narrative design
• gained a more developed sense of being a ‘multi-modal’ writer and of the demands of the gaming industry
• established a knowledge of gaming discourse and applied theoretical/conceptual frameworks from other disciplines to game design
• an understanding of the impact of video games and the ‘gamification’ of culture
• gained confidence and resilience to develop ideas and work as part of a creative team
• deepened your knowledge of narrative, dialogue and characterisation in non-linear and branching narratives.