Narrative

All about narrative and game writing – from storytelling through the environment to writing dialogues and inventory item descriptions.

The eagerly anticipated movie adaptation of BioShock has experienced a budget reduction, as Netflix aims to develop it into a "more personal" venture. Variety disclosed this development during a Thursday panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, where producer Roy Lee mentioned that the BioShock project is being "reconfigured" due to a leadership change at the streaming company. In March, Netflix appointed Dan Lin as its new head of film, with the producer of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender remake taking over from Scott Stuber, who had been in charge when the BioShock film was initially announced in 2022
Amid a bustling market filled with an array of games, innovation is key to standing out. Magic Hazard has embraced this philosophy with its inaugural game, Memory Lost. The game takes place in a dystopian, cyberpunk-infused metropolis known as Detraxis. It is a top-down action shooter where players control an AI, referred to as the Neural Network, which is embedded within an assassin robot fighting for autonomy and purpose. What differentiates Memory Lost from other titles in the genre is its ability to allow players to adapt their gameplay by capturing memories from adversaries and obtaining their abilities. This mechanic promotes a versatile and dynamic gaming experience, enabling players to master various skills over time without the need for repeatedly creating and leveling up new characters. In an interview with Sergei Kuznetsov, the founder and CEO of the studio, he shared that the concept arose one chilly February morning. Kuznetsov and a few friends were reminiscing around a kitchen table about the games they enjoyed in their youth and the gaps they perceived in the current gaming landscape
In February, the official comic book for the Shadow Fight franchise appeared on the bookshelves of the CIS. We talked with Nikita Korzhavin, Nekki‘s business development director, about how the comic was being worked on and what task it solves for the game franchise.
Visualization is an important tool in the hands of a narrative designer. With its help, you can quickly convey the idea to both the user and fellow developers. How to work with this tool — says HSE lecturer, writer and game screenwriter Sergey Chekmaev.
The official release of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, a new PlayStation 5 exclusive, took place today. The project received rave reviews from critics, and the average score on Metacritic was 89/100 based on almost 100 reviews. Rift Apart is called perhaps the most beautiful game for today and is praised for using new technologies, but at the same time criticized for outdated gameplay in places.
Recently, the word “narrative” has become increasingly common. Especially in the gaming sphere. Screenwriters and “narrative designers” are very much expected here. Who are they, — says the HSE lecturer and co-founder JustForward.co Konstantin Sakhnov.
Obsidian Entertainment has been specializing in RPG for many years. Despite their commitment to one genre, screenwriters have to adapt to almost every new project. Carrie Patel, the studio’s senior narrative designer, spoke about the difference in approaches using the example of Pillars of Eternity and The Outer Worlds.Patel shared her experience during a speech at the GDC Showcase.
Latitude Studio has attracted $3.3 million in investments thanks to the success of its AI Dungeon text sandbox. All the plots in the game are generated by artificial intelligence, and its creator is confident that the development of this technology will help reduce the budgets of the development of AAA titles by hundreds of times.The main investor of Latitude was the venture fund NFX.
Duncan Jones (Duncan Jones), known for the film adaptation of “Warcraft”, turned out to be a big fan of the classic quest Full Throttle. The director shared his 94-page script of the film based on the game, although he has no plans to shoot.Jones was inspired to write the script by a tweet from Tim Schafer, head of the Double Fine studio and creator of the original game.
The plot is a rare guest in construction simulators. This is a big omission of the developers, according to PCGamesN. In a recent article, the portal told how the narrative makes such games deeper and more attractive for gamers. We have chosen the main thing from the publication.
How the game script changed – from retroactive edits to an important part of the development process: the experience of Rihanna Pratchett and Melissa McCoubrey from Ubisoft.
For ten years, a full-fledged narrative games market has emerged in the industry: they have their own specific audience and special requirements for game design. The author of the hit What Remains of Edith Finch, Ian Dallas, explains how the expectations of players and their feedback allow the genre to develop, but at the same time they also slow down its development.
The other day it became known that the St. Petersburg studio Orc Work has begun work on the second part of the Evilibrium battler. We talked with the chief producer Sergey Himmelreich about the fate of the project.