Feature: 'Screen/Play: Technical Narrative Design'

For today's feature, freelance video game writer Rafael Chandler brings another installment of his 'Screen/Play' series, this time giving his seasoned advice on how to get the most from your game's story documentation by treating it as a form of technical writing. Before breaking down the essentials of technical narrative design into its most important parts, he introduces the topic: "When you write dialogue, or story materials for a game, you make an effort to write content that's entertaining and well-written. The last thing you want to do is bore your audience by listing facts in a clumsy exposition sequence. However, when documenting the story content for your game, the reverse is often true. Of course, you still don't want to bore your audience (your fellow game developers). However, the best way to keep your writing from becoming tedious is to stifle your creative urges, and instead approach story documentation as a form of technical writing." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the topic, including more of Chandler's tips on clarity, marketing and production (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).