Between Life And Embers: Level Design & Narrative Collaboration.
- Genre: 1st Person Fantasy ARPG
- Type: Game Writing & Narrative Design
- Engine: Unreal
- Tools: Excel, PowerPoint, Arcweave, DaVinci Resolve
- Duration: 12 Weeks (Part-Time Volunteer)
- Role: Game Writer | Narrative Designer
Project Information
As an alumnus of the Game Design Skills Game Writing Bootcamp I was fortunate enough to partner up with a Level Designer (@Audric) to work as the Writer & Narrative Designer on a level he was making as part of the Game Writing Skills Level Design Blockout Bootcamp.
Audric had blocked out the first version of the level before I joined the project, and then when I came onboard, he provided me with a general outline of the story he wanted to tell.
We pushed off together from there and over the 12 weeks we stayed in regular communication via Discord. Whenever he iterated on the level, often based on playtester feedback, I could perform any rewrites, additions, or removals accordingly until we ended up with the final version.
The Player Character & Level Story
A game can live or die by its protagonist. That is why the very first thing we nailed down was the player character and overall story the level would be telling.
We ended up with an Undead Skeleton who wakes up in a strangely familiar dungeon, knowing he was once alive, yet unable to recall the details of how he ended up (un)dead.
The level then begins with the player on a mission to escape the dungeon, where they are unwittingly pressed into the service of a mysterious god-like entity hell-bent on conquering it and taking the domain for its own.
Dialogue & Barks
Linear
The dialogue I wrote for the level was all linear, with no branching choices, as we wanted play-testers to be able to run through it without having to stop and think about anything that would interrupt the gameplay flow.
Doing it this way kept the pacing of the level fluid and smooth, allowing the player to focus more on the exploration and combat aspects.
Conditional
While all the dialogue I wrote was linear, the way Audric crafted the level allowed me the opportunity to put in a piece of contextual material.
In this case if the player had visited a specific non-essential part of the level, which was easily missed, it would change the dialogue in a later area.
As an example of how it would be implemented in a game engine, I prototyped it using Arcweave, where it could be exported and used in an engine like Unreal or Godot.
Barks
For the majority of this level the player is alone with their own thoughts. Something has to fill the dead air (excusing the pun), and those things are Barks.
A necessity in a game like this, these barks are there to guide them through the level, add some spice to the gameplay, and to keep them engaged between combat and conversation.
Barks come in many forms, and, in the case of this level, the two major categories are combat barks and ambient barks.
Other Narrative Duties
As a Writer & Narrative Designer, working on a level isn’t all about writing the dialogue & bark scripts.
We wear many different hats and addition to script writing I worked on the following aspects of the level:
- Designing Props (Levers, Buttons, Keys, etc)
- Designing NPCs (Allies, Enemies, Neutral Entities)
- Designing Abilities (Things the Player Character can DO)
- Crafting Items (Quest Items, Equipment, etc)