Narrative Design for Mobile and Live Games

by Valentina Tamer

Overview

This is a comprehensive guidebook for long-term storytelling in mobile games and games-as-a-service (also known as live games). This book formalizes creative techniques of game writing and narrative design for a platform (and revenue model) that has shown drastic growth and changes over the past few years. The unique challenges of mobile games and live games are also increasingly relevant across the whole games industry. With hybrid consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, cloud gaming, and cross-platform titles, the lines between mobile and console have begun to blur. Additionally, many games now offer live support to extend player engagement.

This book starts with an introduction to narrative design and the world of mobile games, followed by a deep dive into open-ended and seasonal storytelling. Besides the creative aspect of development, it covers areas of production such as documentation, collaboration, and monetization. To illustrate its solutions, it uses examples from video games and other media, specifically screenwriting for TV shows.

This book will be of great interest to all game narrative and writing professionals working on mobile and live games.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032286044
Publisher:	CRC Press
Publication date:	12/12/2023
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Valentina Tamer is a narrative designer and game writer with several years of experience in the games industry, throughout which she’s crafted engaging stories for a wide range of videogames, from mobile games to narrative adventures. Val currently works as a senior narrative designer for Ubisoft Paris Mobile.

Table of Contents

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1 What Is Narrative Design?

Chapter 2 An Overview of Narrative Design

Chapter 3 Why Does Narrative Design Matter?

Part II Interactive Storytelling

Chapter 4 Introduction to Interactive Storytelling

Chapter 5 Interactive Storytelling Structures

Chapter 6 Open-Ended Storytelling Structures

Part III Live Game Storytelling

Chapter 7 Introduction to Mobile Game Storytelling

Chapter 8 Introduction to Live Game Storytelling

Chapter 9 Learning from Other Media

Chapter 10 Building the Narrative Foundation

Chapter 11 Narrative Tools

Chapter 12 Planning Your Seasons

Chapter 13 Writing Your Seasonal Plot

Chapter 14 Keeping a Long-Running Story Interesting

Chapter 15 Best Practices

Part IV Beyond a Game’s Story

Chapter 16 Transmedia Storytelling

Chapter 17 Narrative Monetization

Part V Conclusion

Conclusion