If you’re interested in narrative design insights from the likes of Rhianna Pratchett, Paul Cornell, Charles Cecil and Judi Alston, there’s a panel for exactly that at this year’s Develop. It’s host, Dr Jackie Mulligan, tells us what to expect
How did the idea for the panel come about? I love a good story, and have seen Jamie Sefton (husband and Game Republic Managing Director) disappear for days immersed in narrative games such as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Alan Wake II and my daughter has grown up puzzling her way through games like Broken Sword, I have also really enjoyed the TV and movies that have emerged from games like Last of Us and Fallout. I also love writing in my spare time and am excited about the opportunities of great narratives for games and indeed TV and film. My doctorate was on creativity, so I am really interested in the creative process and cultures of organisations that support creativity too.
How did you go about assembling the panel and do you feel you have one that is representative of all aspects of narrative design? I think it would be difficult to get any panel to represent all aspects of narrative design. However what I wanted to find was a range of panelists working in games and beyond. I feel extremely privileged to be hosting a panel with Rhianna Pratchett, Paul Cornell, Charles Cecil and Judi Alston on it - they are a very
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inspiring, experienced and talented
bunch.They are all creating such stellar work from immersive VR experiences to engaging game play, from TV series, comics to film. We ran a similar panel at Game Republic in January and over 100 devs attended it and there were so many questions. So this is very much the sequel we have all been waiting for. And one that I hope will be even better than the first.
Narrative design talks and panels are nothing new. What makes this one different? Well I think the fact we have Doctor Who writers, sci fi and fantasy writers and panelists who have written for games and all kinds of media, able to draw on a wider range of experience will be quite new. We also have some pretty impressive and well known games, TV and films being talked about. What I want to get out of the panelists is really useful tips for aspiring game developers and insights for more established developers on the writing process and how to create absorbing narrative games. I also think all of them have some juicy industry anecdotes to share that I will be hoping to draw out too....
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