Unit 1 Assessment 1: Narrative Designer

 In game design, one of the most important things differentiating an acceptable game from a phenomenal game is a strong and engaging narrative. A strong narrative can be the lynchpin that holds players attention, and keeps them engaged in a game, and can even get them to play it again and again to experience the the different aspects of its story a second, third and fourth time. 

Personally, I find that the perfect example of this is Fallout New Vegas, a game that I've played through maybe 5 or 6 times now as the narrative design of the game just keeps pulling me back, enough even to make me enjoy making the same decisions again just to imagine my character making them, and to see how their actions affect the world around them, as well as the people in it.

The job of narrative design can involve writing the over-arching narrative/story of a game (such as tracking down benny, leading to ultimately being recruited by a faction and participating in the battle of hoover dam), Writing character dialogue, either with the character or between NPCs (such as the ideological debate between Courier 6 and Ulysses), writing in-game books, logs, etc, and crafting the world lore through them (such as the Archimedes logs in Helios one, or the computer logs and audio recordings in Vault 11), and coordinating story and character aspects with artists and game designers so that the game's mechanics, levels, and character designs represent, and are congruent with, the story.

An entry level position will generally have one starting as an assistant or junior writer, writing for side-quests or minor character dialogue. It's also not uncommon to start as another kind of game designer, or as freelancers ,before entering employment in this sector. Backgrounds that might assist one in such a career also include creative writing, journalism, and/or screenwriting. Of course, as with many game careers, having worked on prior projects is helpful, as it helps to prove your experience and value as a member of a team.

Proficiency in games writing requires an intimate understanding of tone, theme, and other writing techniques/concepts, as well as possessing a vivid and creative imagination. Additionally, character/dialogue writing is significantly assisted by an understanding of human personality, ideology, and psychology, as it can assist in making characters feel like real human beings, whose backstory and life have cultivated the personality and ideology they currently hold, and that ideology caused them to take the actions they took in the story. To help develop my skills in this area, I should focus on writing more world lore, planning narrative arcs and writing characters or perhaps developing new skills by focusing on writing dialogue, either for existing characters or my own characters.