Games & Interactive Storytelling is exactly as the name promises, an introduction to interactive storytelling and how it can enhance game designs. We’ll be looking at how stories and games work to identify how story-based games are emerging as one of the most exciting forms of modern entertainment. The course begins with an overview of interactive storytelling, but moves toward explaining and identifying strategies that you can use to better understand the games you play or help you make your own games better. Recommended for players and designers alike.
Future Offerings & Tuition
| Time | Start Dates | Format | Tuition |
| Summer 2024 Online Boot Camp | Coming soon. | 1 Week – Full Time Lectures Daily 9:00a – 12:00p PT 12:30p – 3:00p ET Play Games + Learn 1p – 3p PT 4p -6p ET Reflection + Discussion 3p – 4p PT 6p – 7p ET | Early bird code coming soon |
| Flexible Online 30 Days | Saturday Lectures Coming Oct 2024 | 5 Weeks – Flexible Lecture Schedule 9:30a – 12:00p PT 12:30 – 3:00p ET | TBA |
| Online Self Learning | Coming Fall 2024 | Recorded Online Lectures with Written Feedback | TBA *does not include game keys |
Sign up Coming Soon!
What You’ll Learn
Day 1 – Interactive Story Structures
Knowing how interactive stories are structured and the differences in how information is treated is key to creating compelling interactive experiences. This workshop looks at different structural options, and their strengths and weaknesses when it comes to interactive storytelling.
Day 2 – World Building
Any story needs to be based on a well-constructed foundational reality. We will be looking at worldbuilding in general, with a specific focus on the genre-based worldbuilding that is most common for game stories. Finally, we’ll be exploring how these worldbuilding strategies are applied in level design for narrative games.
Day 3 – Character Design
A game’s success can depend on how compelling its player characters and non-player characters are. Here, we’ll look at character traits and backgrounds, and how those are expressed through the character’s visual design and the actions they take in the game itself.
Day 4 – Game Mechanics and Storytelling
In a narrative game, mechanics have to do more than just make the game fun. They also need to highlight the characters and the decisions that the player makes to advance the story. Integrating story with game mechanics can be one of the most challenging elements of narrative game design, and this workshop is full of tricks you can use to level up your games.
Day 5 – Bringing it all together
The last workshop is focused on the unity principle in game design. How to bring together the story, world, characters and mechanics into a coherent whole that engages and entertains players. We’ll also touch on the makeup of game development teams and the different roles that often go into creating a game for market.
You will be given assignments and worksheets that will help you unlock and understand the essentials of interactive storytelling. While the focus of the class is on game design, these tools can be used in many different approaches to storytelling.
What’s Included & Computer Requirements
Learning by doing is a core component of this class. We will be providing Steam codes for the following games as they will be used as examples throughout this course. We will include game keys for the following games for each student to access and play (45$ value) :
- Broken Age
- Broken Age is a coming-of-age story following two teenagers in strangely similar situations, but living in very different worlds. As players, we will explore how switching freely between the characters and their individual stories, and how this contributes to helping them take control of their own lives. This will help us explore how our actions drive narrative, and how this drives gameplay. (Steam)
- Sunless Sea
- LOSE YOUR MIND. EAT YOUR CREW. DIE. Take the helm of your steamship and set sail for the unknown! Sunless Sea is a game of discovery, loneliness and frequent death, set in the award-winning Victorian Gothic universe of Fallen London. (Steam)
- Another Lost Phone
- Explore the social life of Laura in this spiritual sequel to A Normal Lost Phone. (Steam)
To participate in Games & Interactive Storytelling, you must have the following:
- A device with Discord installed and access to speaker & microphone
- A Discord account &
- A computer that supports Steam with the following specifications
- 4 or more cores (2018 or newer)
- 8+ GB of RAM
- 10GB+ of HDD or SSD space
- Steam Account & Administrator access to install games
- Windows (7 and newer) or MacOS
Sign up Coming soon!
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should take this course?
This course is designed for people wanting to get into the games industry or wanting to move into narrative design positions. If you have a passion for storytelling and game design, this course will bring your knowledge to a new level.
Our classroom is a welcoming and inclusive space, and we work hard to ensure that all of our students have a positive learning experience.
Can I enroll in both asynchronous and bootcamp-style formats, or choose to be hybrid?
No. As both formats run at different times, we can’t offer simultaneous classes – if you know you would prefer one format to the other, we’d encourage you to sign up for what works best for you.
Will I receive a certificate upon completion of the course?
Yes, upon successful completion of the course, you will receive a certificate of completion.
How can I get in touch if I have additional questions?
For any additional questions or concerns, please reach out to us at hello@narraticlabs.com and we will be happy to help.
“Ben is definitely one of the best professors I have seen at SFU, and I mean this sincerely. He shows the interest of a young individual in his course work and seems to be up to date with the world of gaming which is refreshing.”Ben is definitely one of the best professors I have seen at SFU, and I mean this sincerely. He shows the interest of a young individual in his course work and seems to be up to date with the world of gaming which is refreshing.”
Former SFU Student
“Ben took the most boring things about video games, board games and related media and turned into something helpful to game devs like me. He constantly surprised me with the variety of examples he uses. Definitely more than I’ve seen in any other person’s lectures.”
Former SFU Student
“Ben clearly has a gift for teaching, he is always kind and responsive to feedback, always looking for better ways to teach his classes for the benefit of his students. He knows a ridiculous amount about game design and interactive media AND is a fantastic instructor.”
Former ECUAD Student
About the Instructor
