We had a guest lecture that focused on game narrative and its key elements, as well as how player interaction can influence the flow of the narrative and why its important to consider all the outcomes while writing and directing the in-game dialogues, item descriptions etc.

Player’s choice 

• emotional impact of the choice
• introduce choices and consequences early
• not all choices have to change the plot. what do the player’s choices say about the character? 

Limiting scope

• draw out branches 
• the impact of the splits
• look for opportunities to merge branches 
• reuse what you can

Dialogue

• know your limits (character count, word count)
• review the pacing in the format of the game 
• reading out loud
• awkward dialogue is HARD
• less is more

The task for this week was to work in groups and try creating a branching narrative using the information provided on a worksheet. There were three starting points and we chose to stick to an item in the woods.

We used Twine to make a game containing this storyline. It is a really useful software when you need to work with branching narratives as it helps you connect the point of story easily.