Learn, learn, learn: Storytelling tips from the director of What Remains of Edith Finch

"In terms of the production realities of making these things come to life, the biggest piece of advice i could give is to learn a bunch of tools." 

- Ian Dallas, director of What Remains of Edith Finch

What's the best way to tell your story? For game developers in particular, there's an almost infinite number of ways to weave together a narrative. But no matter how you choose to go about it, don't forget where you started. 

That's was the advice offered up by What Remains of Edith Finch director, Ian Dallas, when we asked how budding game makers could tell better tales. It's important, he says, to avoid getting wrapped up in the details swirling around the periphery. Keep it tight, find your emotional centre, and the rest will follow. 

"I'd say to start with something very specific, because it's easy when you're having these ideas to have a lot of them. So it helps if you can hone in on what it is that really moves you. In Edith Finch for example, it's the feeling of being on the beach as a kid flying a kite." says Dallas. 

"You know, once you've done that you've got a touchstone you can come back to, and you can start to evaluate all the different ideas and ask 'well, does this serve that goal, or not?' Because as a game developer it's easy to add features or add ideas, and it's harder to say what should or shouldn't be part of your project."

If you forget your roots and start getting hung up on the minutiae, you'll end up boxing yourself in. So give yourself the flexibility to iterate and find a natural way forward. In short: don't try squeezing square pegs into round holes. 

"If [your story starts as] something that's just like this little seed crystal, then there's enough room for the process to find its own way. Sort of like jazz, where people are improvising but starting from the same common base," continues Dallas. 

Beyond that, making sure you can communicate your ideas effectively is paramount. It's no good having the best idea in the world if you can't share that vision with others.

"In terms of the production realities of making these things come to life, the biggest piece of advice i could give is to learn a bunch of tools. You know, things like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Maya for 3D animation -- or a bit of programming so you can make little prototypes," he adds. 

"Because the biggest challenge is, when you're working with a team, is how do you communicate these ideas? And how do you yourself explore them so that you can learn what it is that really interests you? The more ways you can express that, the easier it'll be for you to have a conversation with an animator or an artist and talk to them in their language."

To hear more from Dallas be sure to watch the full stream by clicking right here. After you've done that, why not follow the Gamasutra Twitch channel for even more game dev insights and gameplay commentary.