2025/07 - Design - How To Create Playable Stories - Level 1 (Susan O'Connor)
Training created on 1/16/24. Last update on 4/14/25.
Programme version: 1
Training programme
In this 2-day masterclass, you will discover: - The "magic-wand solution" to building stories for games (this lesson is the most popular lesson we’ve ever taught!) - Three storytelling strategies you can use to bring story and gameplay together - Why the first question we need to ask when creating characters has nothing to do with characters at all - The one writing tool you have to know to write great dialogue - The key to working with our most important collaborator: the designer July 3rd & 4th in Bordeaux
Objectives of the training
- Identify the story structure of an existing game, to see how the developers brought story and gameplay together
- Evaluate great video game characters, to discover what makes them work - and how you can use the same approach in your own work
- Explore strategies for successful collaborations between writers and designers
- Define what makes playable characters different - and how to develop them for YOUR players
Profile of beneficiaries
- Game Writers
- Narrative Designers
- Any game developer that cares about storytelling in games
- Enthusiasm for working with interactive narrative, either at work or on personal projects
Training content
-
Creating Playable Stories (Day 1)
- Every game writer’s secret weapon: the story stack
- How to co-create stories with your designers (and your players)
- Finding your protagonist in your NPC
- How to be the writer that designers love to work with
-
Creating Playable Characters (Day 2)
- How to co-create a character for your designer
- How to co-create a character with your team
- How to co-create a character with your player
Susan has worked on over 25 projects, including award-winning titles in the BioShock, Far Cry and Tomb Raider franchises. Titles in her portfolio have sold over 30 million copies and generated over $500 million in sales. She is an adjunct professor at UT Austin, where she teaches a course on writing for games. She founded the Game Narrative Summit at GDC. Susan partners with studios, publishers, and writers to help teams ship great games with great stories. She is dedicated to supporting creatives in the games industry so that they can do their best work.
- Assessment of acquired skills via a questionnaire
- Documents supports de formation projetés.
- Exposés théoriques
- Etude de cas concrets
- Mise à disposition en ligne de documents supports à la suite de la formation.
Quality and satisfaction
Certification procedures
- Délivrance d'un certificat de réalisation