Podcast EP 22: Edwin McRae Interview: Narrative Design in Games

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video game leadership interview narrative design Edwin McRae podcast game dev

 

Edwin McRae is a freelance games and transmedia writer and has written for numerous digital media projects, including Nymph, Path of Exile , Big Little Bang , Cash Stash and Skeleton Eater.

As a narrative designer, he has covered everything from Storylining and scriptwriting to world building for the previously mentioned Path of Exile – a MMORPG with over 4 million registered users and was awarded Best PC Game of the Year 2013 by Gamespot.


In this interview, we discuss:

  • What is Narrative Design in video games?
  • How game immersion is often broken
  • The problems of most educational games (“Chocolate over Broccoli”) and what actually works
  • How game story and game mechanics should be connected
  • When do you want to involve a Narrative Game Designer during the game creation process
  • The number one mistake Game Developers make (and how to fix it)
  • The potential for storytelling in video games
  • Emotions in gaming
  • Advice for those who want to write game narrative as a career or for their own games

How to connect with Edwin:

His Website –  http://www.edmcrae.com/

LinkedIn

Class on Narrative Design

Games Mentioned

Stanley Parable

Papers Please

Bioshock Infinite

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons