The Game Narrative Kaleidoscope - Book Review

I'm a huge Inkle fan; the studio has produced some of my favorite games over the past few generations, including Heaven's Vault and A Highland Song. They are masters of deeply narrative experiences. So, when they requested short essays on the craft of game writing and received a couple of hundred responses from industry insiders, my interest was piqued.

The essays are uniformly interesting, capturing the distinct thoughts and personalities of the individual writers. They are well worth a read, whether you choose to go page by page or navigate through the "choose your own adventure" style choice-based system. There are over a hundred essays in total, each a maximum of two and a half pages, but a few stood out:

I very much enjoyed reading the wide variety of essays on game narrative.

Josh Boykin's ‘Choose Yourself’ is a call to arms to industry compatriots to not let the system destroy them:

"... There's no game that's worth your soul... None of this damn industry is worth the friends I've seen it chew up and spit out, the people thrown out at the mere whiff of shareholder profit, the layoffs hot on the heels of even successful launches not to mention the cottage industry of grift and graft propped up by toxic people who see a game with a person of color as protagonist as a shortcut to a rage bait paycheck. How dare they take our stories. They don't fuck deserve them."

While it is angry in tone, I totally get it and agree that those who create games have been shafted over the last few years.

Wojtek Borowicz's ‘The Platform is the Message’ uses Marshall McLuhan's nugget of wisdom, "The medium is the message," to discuss how push notifications and emails can be used to bring fascinating stories to life using technology outside of traditional computers and consoles. The concept of games like Lifeline and Thousand Lives - where you interact with a single character to guide them and deal with the permanent consequences of your actions - is highly appealing because there is no redo.

Yao Chang's ‘Embrace the Brutality of Being Human: By Writing Games’ explains how games can act as a catharsis to explore perspectives less spoken about in the world. For Chang, games can look at the short and brutish lives we can lead, but they can also capture the beauty contained within that brutality: a kindly touch for a rape survivor, or the offer of freedom from a psych ward.

I like how they end on a note of dark optimism: "Embrace the brutality of Being Human by writing games! Shed light on our perils and triumphs..."

Sam H's ‘Dissecting Game Dialogue as Characterisation’ looks at how non-voice-acted dialogue can convey character and emotion. She highlights many great examples, such as Deltarune, Chicory, and Wandersong - all games I have played and which perfectly exemplify her points. By manipulating font, text speed, and shaking certain words, games can convey far more meaning than simple syntax allows.

Lisa Hunter's ‘10 Reasons Your Writer is Crying in the Office Bathroom’ is a brutal breakdown of the common issues faced by writers, featuring amazing nuggets like: Deep Down You Hate Narrative, We Monetised Our Therapy and Mom Called.

It is pure gallows humor, but like the best black comedy, it contains a large element of truth.

Morgan Jaffit's ‘Play Like Hartley’ is a powerful and incisive piece about how the video game industry is on fire, and pretending otherwise is the last thing on Jaffit's mind. He shares how many of his friends have been doxxed and lost their jobs, how his brother suffered a stroke, and how the anti-Semitic attack on Bondi Beach made him feel increasingly unsafe. However, he passionately asserts that, despite it all, the goal of a writer is to "Play your heart out as the waves crash in. In the end, that is what matters."

I admire his honesty and resolve during such bleak times, even as the ship sinks and the water laps at our feet.

Alice Kent's ‘Did You Just Feel That?’ considers Aristotle's theory of catharsis and how a narrative lead must carefully manage the pacing and emotional journey of the player.

I found it a well-written and introspective piece on how stories shape and mold us, especially in video games where we are active agents in the journey.

Ashley Poprik's ‘The "A" in "Game": Education in Play’ looks at edutainment and how video games can serve as educational tools without wearing that explicit label. By virtue of their interactivity, many video games naturally encourage experiential learning. This is something very close to my heart, as I have used video games as a contextual hub for learning for many years.

Gregory A. Wilson's ‘Implied Storytelling and Moral Messages’ looks at how games can convey powerful messages in nuanced ways without over-explaining. He uses the example of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and its powerful ending which—irrespective of your faith or lack thereof—conveys a profound message through a gentle vibration of the controller.

It is powerful stuff indeed, and it had me reflecting on my own playthrough of the game over a decade ago.