April 2008 Archives

A few years back at the San Francisco GDC Warren Spector gave a talk about the ability of stories to lower the barrier of entry into video games, and I believe the proof of that day being upon us in no more evident than in the hype around GTA 4. This Reuters Story is evidence of markets not familiar with gaming opening up on the idea of playing mature stories in video games. Notice how reporter Matt Cowan continually uses terms like “interactive movie”, “interactive story”, now where do we hear “3rd-person shooter” or a talk of game feature sets. “The question now is whether an interactive story of a virtual car jacker and drug dealer named Niko, can surpass box office Pirates of the Caribbean: Worlds End when it comes to blockbuster openings.” The prediction is $400 mil in the first week, and approximately 10 million units in 2008.

If these predictions are accurate it could have a significant impact on the game industry from a content standpoint, due to increased capital interest in “mature” games as we see a growth in the consumer base for “interactive storytelling”.

This should prove to be an exciting year for narrative design, and the Austin GDC is a great place to consolidate our efforts to create an open and honest forum for the betterment of our craft and each other. I managed to submit 5 proposals and am fortunate to have Sande Chen, associate and fellow Trojan, as a co-speaker on all but the Opposing fronts proposal. I had wanted to submit a panel lecture consisting of 5-7 Narrative Designers, but this years conference is only open to hour long a) 1-2 person lectures b) round tables.

My proposals:

• Narrative Design in Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts
• Narrative Designers' Round table (1 session per day, for a total of 3)
• Narrative Design: Creating dramatic structure in games

I hope we as an industry can create a forum for narrative design at the conference as it would be truly invaluable. I'll be sure to post once I get news. My hopes are high despite my running record of 3 proposals to 1 speaker slot over the years!