Meet Your Quest Givers: Bob & Keith
Screenwriter Meets Game Producer, Fight Breaks Out
How To Use This Book (Press X to Skip)
DRAGON EXERCISES 00: PLAYING TO LEARN
What We Talk About When We Talk About Games
How Do They Make Games? Who’s the Director?
Where Do Game Ideas Come From?
DRAGON EXERCISES 01: MAKING A GAME
CHAPTER 02: DO GAMES NEED STORIES?
Immersion: Context Is Everything
Story ≠ Plot
A Story Tutorial
A Criminally Brief History of Game Narrative
DRAGON EXERCISES 02: EXPLORING THE GAME WORLD
CHAPTER 03: ARISTOTLE VS. MARIO
The Challenge of Game Writing
Aristotle vs. Mario: The Clash of Story and Gameplay
Making the Dragon Roar: Roles in a Game Studio
How Are Games Written? Are They Written?
The Rise of Story-Driven Games
How Do We Solve This Problem?
DRAGON EXERCISES 03: EXPRESSING YOUR GAME IDEA
CHAPTER 04: THE NO-ACT-FITS-ALL STRUCTURE OF VIDEO GAMES
Finding the Dragon
What Is Structure?
Traditional Entertainment Structure = 3 Acts
Add a Midpoint = 4 Acts
Shakespeare and The Hulk = 5 Acts
The Sequence Approach = 8 Acts!
Serialized Storytelling
Beginning, Middle & Ending(s)
Time Is Different in Video Games
The “Slay the Dragon” Structure
A No-Act Structure?
DRAGON EXERCISES 04: SPEAKING OF STRUCTURE
CHAPTER 05: WRITING A GREAT PLAYABLE CHARACTER
The Evolution of the Video Game Character
Writing from the Arc Backwards
Who’s More Awesome, Superman or Batman?
Conflict: The Essence of Drama
Backstory: How Is Finding Nemo Like The Last of Us?
Don’t Tell Bowser: The Bad Guys Think It’s Their Game
And the Dragon Goes To: The Best Supporting NPC
DRAGON EXERCISES 05: MEETING YOUR CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 06: WHO AM I WHEN I PLAY? GAMEPLAY AS METHOD ACTING
Playing Your Character
“Character Creation” Is Not Creating Characters
Agency vs. Emotional Arc
Characters in Conflict Must Make Choices
To Be (Press A) Or Not To Be (Press B)
Choices Must Lead to Consequences
DRAGON EXERCISES 06: SPEAKING THROUGH YOUR CHARACTERS
CHAPTER 07: GAME DESIGN BASICS FOR WRITERS
It’s Only a Game—And That’s a Pretty Good Thing
Gameplay Is the Core Building Block of Interactive Narrative
What Is a Game Designer?
Our Theory of Fun
Mechanics = Active Verbs
Mechanics & Context
DRAGON EXERCISES 07: PLAYING WITH GAMEPLAY
CHAPTER 08: THE HERO OF A THOUSAND LEVELS
Quests, Levels, and Missions: Dissecting Your Game
Level Design Is Story Design
Story Beats by Level: an Analysis of The Last of Us
What Must Happen in Your Level?
Fit Your Idea in the Game Engine
Level Design Impacts Traditional Media
DRAGON EXERCISES 08: LEVELING UP