Spider dev shares environmental storytelling tips at GDC 2016

The 2016 Game Developers Conference is taking place in March, and today conference officials highlight a smart, fresh talk from longtime game developer Randy Smith that's part of the GDC 2016 Game Narrative Summit.

Smith is the creative director at Tiger Style, and his session will offer concrete examples of how to successfully (or not so successfully) convey narrative information through your game's environment, drawn from his personal experiences.

In his GDC 2016 talk on "Advanced Environmental Storytelling in Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon" Smith will examine what types of narrative information are easy or hard to convey exclusively through a game's environment, techniques for leveraging or compensating for those parameters, and how to plan and execute stories that are a natural fit for environmental storytelling. 

If you're into the idea of learning more about storytelling in games, GDC 2016's Narrative Summit will also host a number of other great talks, including the "Dragon Age Inquisition: Trespasser - Building To An Emotional Theme" presentation from BioWare's own John Epler and Patrick Weekes.

Plus, Polyhedron Productions' CJ Kershner will speak about "The Lives of Others: How NPCs Can Increase Player Empathy" and IThrive Games' Heidi McDonald will share the results of her second Romance in Games survey and what they mean for the future of narrative design in "Don't Fear the Queer: Audiences Are Ready!"

More sessions will be announced for GDC 2016 in the coming months. Stay tuned, and don't miss the opportunity to save money by registering for the conference early -- the deadline to register for passes at a discounted rate is Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016.

GDC 2016 itself will take place March 14-18th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. For more information on GDC 2016, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.

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