Game Writing: Storytelling through Video Game Design (Udemy.com)

Write and design your own games; develop ideas, character and plot to create a compelling storyworld. (Made with Unity).

Created by: Jenny Hide

Produced in 2021

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What you will learn

  • Write and design games.
  • Understand whats unique about writing for games.
  • How to create in-depth gameworlds.
  • What contributes to a memorable narrative.
  • How story is conveyed through games.
  • How to develop your idea from conception through to story.

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Overall Score : 86 / 100

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Course Description

The course will help you to design and write your own games - learn how to generate and develop your ideas, how to structure a story-rich game, and how creating a narrative and storyworld will enhance all games, even those that are not story based! Learn to create a compelling storyworld for your video game by developing ideas, characters and a memorable narrative. Youll be given knowledge and tasks to cement and practice what youve learned.
Create Immersive StoryworldsUnderstand how writing for games differs from writing for other media.
Learn which aspects of a game contribute to a memorable narrative.
Discover how story is conveyed through games.
Practice developing an idea from start to end.
Storytelling: Arguably the Most Important Aspect of Game Design. Games that are story-rich have a deep story to uncover as you play the game, and have an extra dimension compared to other forms of media in that the player themselves is a part of that story. The storyworld makes up so much of a game and it is communicated in many different ways. Its everything from the artwork and the audio design to the dialogue between characters and the player themselves. As a game designer or a game writer, you are responsible for shaping this world and conveying it to the player.
Content OverviewThis course aims to help you develop your skills as a designer of games. Well talk about what makes games a unique form of media, how to tell good stories, how to generate ideas, and how story can be conveyed through games (spoiler: there are LOTS of different ways!). These are the core sections of the course, and well be adding bonus sections soon.
Story structure will be the first bonus (coming soon!) and each new section will provide new ways to improve your game design techniques.
Each of the course videos is made using the Unity game engine, and we communicate information within this game setting.
As well as video lectures, this course contains Reflection moments where we ask you to pause and think about what your answers to specific questions would be, Missions where we ask you to do some writing (and then show you our own example), and worksheets to guide your ideas.
We also encourage you to share your ideas and give feedback to others.
Once you complete this course, youll be able to design story-rich games using various different methods to convey your ideas.
Who this course is for:
Game designers and Indie game developers wanting to integrate captivating story in their own games.
Aspiring and professional writers looking to develop stories in the context of games.
Game enthusiasts who are curious about storytelling in games.

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Instructor Details

Jenny Hide

I'm Jenny, a freelance and indie game developer with over 6 years of professional programming experience. I have a Masters degree in Physics with Astrophysics and a PhD in Quantum Information.
I've released a number of games and enjoy teaching and sharing the knowledge I've gained. I've workedwith General Interactive Co. to code and design a winemaking tycoon game called Terroir and a mystery/adventure/management game called Chinatown Detective Agency. I'm also making Cultivate:Before Time, a farming meets mystery game with time travel and dinosaurs!
My Udemy courses are aimed at those learning game development - whether that's coding or game design.

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Reviews

4.3

121 total reviews

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By Alexandre Ferreira Soares on 11/21/2020

It's effective and a good introduction, what I expected at first.

By Gopal Ramasammy-Cook on 11/14/2020

This is an excellent course that clarified many questions I had about how to incorporate an engaging and immersive story experience in games while not detracting from the agency of the player in determining game outcomes. As a bonus, the course itself was presented in a story-game format. Thank you for a wonderful course.

By Yusuf Cetinkaya on 11/14/2020

Well, as far as now, it was Mind Opening. It directed me to ask the questions to find meaning behind what i like about something or not like.

By Shane Moran on 11/14/2020

i am learning a lot from this course i hope to apply it to a game that i am making

By Breanna Miller on 11/7/2020

It was a good course that gives you a helpful framework for setting up a story

By M.Vittoria Patti on 10/1/2020

I loved this course!
I would only suggest to put some bookmarks in the videos to flag where the spoilers of x and y games start and where they end.

By Alan Swithenbank on 9/23/2020

Though my current project is a learning experience, the basic principles of story telling fit very well. I came up with few good ideas of how to make the learning a bit less boring as I went through the course.

By Anthony Pham on 9/21/2020

Early sections could be covered in fewer videos. It's okay content for absolute beginners, but not a match for anyone looking for more practical workflows integrating story/writing into gamedev.

By Navneet Gaur on 9/18/2020

Nothing groundbreaking till now, but lot of course is still left.

By Manu on 9/17/2020

First of all thank you for this course. At first when i saw the short duration of the course i thought it wont be worth it. But when i started the course, you enlightened with even in small duration many important topics can be delivered easily. Thank you.

By Daniel James Malan on 9/8/2020

These tips and steps will be very helpful in working on and completing current and future works.

By Hala Al Masoud on 9/4/2020

I just started the course and finished only SECTION 1, but I'm learning more about how to formulate my ideas of games that I have in order to make a game worth playing. I love the course so far.