☕Dev Talk & Tea☕ 📖A Crash Course into Narrative Design 📖

[@RhianneMurphy]

Hey folks, i know this video has some mixing issues with the audio - sorry about that! Hopefully auto captions help a bit and I'll try and mix the sound better in future episodes 😊

[@livedriverepeat]

You should do more of these. Found the video to be insightful and surprisingly relaxing, given the way you explained the concept in a relatively "easy listening" manner. 👍

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you so much! I plan on doing more soon as well as a variety of other nerdy content :)

[@ellycall3851]

I love the cozy vibe!! I'm a narrative designer myself but I'm still fairly new so this was hugely helpful. Thank you so much for this video 🙏🏼

[@RhianneMurphy]

thank you so much! It's lovely to hear this is helpful to fellow ND's

[@tirlen]

this was SO incredibly helpful. would love to see more of these!!

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you so much! I am planning on doing more. Just need more time to film and edit them :)

[@enlightenmentwithG]

As someone who has absolutely no idea where to start, but just knowing that this is something I've always wanted to get into, I found this so so so helpful! Thank you so much for not going super crazy in depth where it could be confusing due to over explaining, but still covering everything ! Super cool! Thanks!!

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you for watching! I'm glad it was helpful :)

[@AbacusAxolotyl]

As a game design student who is about to start enter 2nd year and start a module in narrative design…thank you! There are very limited resources available so this has been really useful 😊

[@RhianneMurphy]

I'm glad this was useful. Thank you for watching! :)

[@bugoosoogoo]

I don't usually comment on videos, but this was so well made and incredibly helpful! I've just switched from a career as a 3D artist, and am now learning narrative design. Thank you for making videos like these! They're insightful and encouraging.

[@RhianneMurphy]

@@bugoosoogoo aw thank you so much I'm glad it was helpful ❤️

[@TheRealJackArthur]

Not sure I've ever learned this much in such a short span of time. Truly. Would love to see more discussions like this!

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you! Let me know if there are any topics you're particular interested in :)

[@pjw9606]

Awesome video! Very informative, and the cozy vibes are great.

[@gekks]

Just wanted to say thanks for making this, it was super helpful. I'd love to see more vids in the same vein!

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you! I hope to make more in the future :)

[@StoryFurnace]

Thank you very much for this video. Narrative Designer is my dream job and your insight helped me to have even more clarity about the process. Thanks

[@JadeKafieh]

Very honest, lovely video. Thanks for your insight:)

[@JMWrites]

I was worried for your cup of tea tbe entire time hoping you had a chance to drink it! Aha great video.

[@helloofthebeach]

This is something I've studied a fair bit, but when you mentioned Powerpoint, I could only react with a "...oh, that does make sense, doesn't it?" I feel like organizing plot and dialogue flow not having an industry standard (in the way that film scripts are standardized, if such a thing is even possible in games) is one of the big stumbling blocks for ND as an art form, but I somehow never realized I had a Pretty Good option already installed on my computer. I am very glad that KZbin randomly recommended this for me out of nowhere. My only critique is that you've got a compelling background character who was greatly underutilized and could certainly carry their own subplot. Definitely worth developing further!

[@calicowarlock]

I have a BFA in animation (storyboard artist), but I've been interested in pivoting to video games. Narrative design has always peaked my interest, this was very insightful :)

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you for watching! Video games also need storyboard artists too :)

[@AndrasBuzas1908]

Lovely video!

[@АнастасіяБурдєєва]

Wow, I just got a lot of useful information in a cozy atmosphere) Thank you for your video!

[@NewToNarrative]

Great video, very consize and informative! I've run into the same problems with finding resources for narrative design. I'm pretty new to the field and have been creating content for that specific reason as I learn myself. What are some subjects/areas of narrative design that you feel could use exploring/highlighting/explaining for beginners? I'd love to have a little chat about that!

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you! Mainly I encourage people new to ND to look at both writing and design work - understanding how to write scripts and story for games as well as getting to know how to work in an engine allows you to learn the best of both worlds and opens up more opportunities.

[@tjb3171]

The video was really awesome, one thing I would recommend is making your thumbnail more eye-catching.

[@michaelperrigo]

OH MY GOSH I'M SO GLAD I FOUND YOU! Narrative designer at my favorite publisher/developer🎉 Easy to listen to. Please make a bunch more of these videos!! Nice to meet you 😅😊

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you ☺️ and welcome friend!

[@DeeOdzta]

My thoughts on this are you speak of those who are looking to take up this role as a career maybe and as an Indie dev myself I know there are many roles that we must become competent at as disciplines. However, Narrative Design is certainly a key role that binds many projects together and is not talked about often enough. This was an informative tea, no chalk but talk. appreciated the knowledge share, new sub.

[@HexY------]

Your video was super helpful to me thank you very much ☺️

[@SophiaSummers-vn8tk]

Idk why this was suggested to me, but it looks absolutely fascinating! Have a subscription :)

[@RhianneMurphy]

@@SophiaSummers-vn8tk thank you kindly, and welcome! 😊

[@stay_with_mizu]

wow! i love this video and the content, thank u for this information

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you for watching!

[@clray123]

One thing that a narrative designer has to learn is to get to the point when making KZbin videos.

[@alibenice]

Helpful, and spoken in a soothing tone. Thank you for the video. 👏 Any chance you do portfolio reviews? Asking for a friend, 😅

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you for watching! I'm not at the moment but please reach out to me in the new year via Twitter or IG and I'm happy to have a look :)

[@alibenice]

​@@RhianneMurphy Happy new year 🎉❤

[@StoryFurnace]

I have one question though Rhianne, How would you recommend a person to develop a game designer skillset/mentality when you have a writer background only?

[@RhianneMurphy]

It's tricky to know where to start, and there isn't just one way to go about it. You can look at joining game jams, do a short solo project, watch KZbin tutorials about how to use certain engines, or even take online courses (which there are many). I hope that gives you some food for thought :)

[@Hytski23]

Thank you for the video. I would be interested how the Scripting tools, Final Draft, Articy and Celtx are used in practice. Right now it seems that Articy and Celtx offer a free trial version of their software.

[@RhianneMurphy]

Hi there! These tools can be used to write scripts for a game ☺️

[@UncleBubba]

The music is too loud relative to the dialogue. It's really difficult to hear you.

[@DBallyousee]

What advice would you give on building my portfolio. I have so much material I worked on and I have no idea how to really put them together. I don't want to just throw it in google docs and use that as a link as I don't think companies will look at it

[@RhianneMurphy]

Definitely recommend getting a website - any free domain will do (wix, square space etc...). I'd encourage you to look at other writer/narrative designer portfolios for inspo

[@jadenalvina]

Yay new Rhianne video ☕😁

[@joshuadav10]

I was a teacher for seven years, but had the opportunity to be lead writer/narrative design on a game for just over two years. We raised a lot of money, and partnered with ubisoft, and the game just launched on Epic Games this August, but my contract ended and I've had trouble finding work since. It's really weird because I'm from a completely different field, but I'm in love with making games now, and it sucks trying to find someone who'll take me with only two years' experience, despite actually shipping a game. If you have any tips or videos on how to pitch yourself as a writer in the industry, it'd be much appreciated. Subbed and will eagerly await the next installation!

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you so much! I'm sorry to hear about your trouble, you're not alone! Narrative can be such a niche and unfortunately jobs are pretty thin right now :( All I can say is keep writing, keep your portfolio up to date and keep applying for whatever you can.

which game?

[@DBallyousee]

I sit in the same issue. Although the game didn't shit, I did a lot of work on a game called Ark Legends. If it is in English, it was me. I did everything on the world building and lore as well. And now, I cannot find work writing at all. I have no idea how to start making a portfolio and taking the work I've done into scripting to show how it was implemented since everything was gone when I left

[@RhianneMurphy]

@@DBallyousee That sounds really frustrating, I'm sorry to hear that :( as far as portfolios, website that link to games you've worked on and short excerpts of your writing are good things to start with.

[@jedthefroggy]

How does stuff like NDA work if you occasionally work from home? I was always curious about that.

[@RhianneMurphy]

Well, it works the same as in the office! The only difference is anyone who has access to your workspace (like if you have a shared office space with someone outside the company) usually also signs an NDA

[@jedthefroggy]

That's pretty funny. Thanks for the info!

[@StorytellerDan]

Great video - There´s my subscriber support for you. Are there ANY links or examples of portfolio work - Literally what it LOOKS like? No one´s covered that part in anything I´ve watched. Most people I know have never had a ´thing´ published so how do people get something on screen into their portfoilio that is extracted from a game if they´ve never had that experience?

[@RhianneMurphy]

Thank you for the sub! So for narrative, there are multiple things you can show in your portfolio, mostly examples of writing. This can be in the form of scripts, any prose you have written, character biographies, or even any D&D Oneshots you have made! The other thing I'd highly recommend is and example of your writing in a game - solo projects, game jams, student projects, and even mods for existing games. It's one thing to be good at writing, but it's another skill to be able to translate that into an interactable medium. I hope this helps!

[@anemonemnemone3918]

ive recently took up interest in this position specifically as a way to work in game design and was wondering if this position ends up working closely with concept artists or if there was maybe another term for someone who does both. i was a drawer before i took interest in game design and am wanting to work on narrative while still having a hand in the visual design: iyo would seeking a smaller studio where these roles are interspersed be best for that? (thanks for the vid also i feel like its helped me get some bearings, also is that kurama on your shelf?)

[@RhianneMurphy]

Hiya! So in my experience, narrative should work with the art team in some capacity, but a narrative/artist role that combines both doesn't really exist unless you're planning on starting your own team or working as a solo dev (I'm talking very small indie team 1-5 people). Reason being that both roles are usually full-time jobs that require constant attention, so having someone oversee both would not be fair on the individual and massively slow down development time. My advice would be perhaps start your own projects where you can do both or look at working for one of those roles full-time whilst exploring the other in a more personal capacity (working full time in narrative but working on art in your personal time or vice versa). Hope that helps!

[@ExtraChannel-yk5pf]

Very good, indeed. Stories in games are still not taken very seriously. But to be fair, same goes for movies, increasingly. Style over substance, baby.

[@J0kerSan]

Hello, I'm a Game Designer Junior fresh out of school and despite a great interest in Narrative Design, it wasn't a subject in the years of study I did. I would like to start a personal project to gain experience and add to my portfolio but I really don't know what would be a good project as a first experience and which would still be attractive for employers. As a Narrative Designer yourself, what exercice would you say encompasses the various skills of a Narrative Designer and would make a nice addition to a portfolio ?

[@RhianneMurphy]

Hello fellow designer! In my opinion, the best thing to add to your portfolio would be any sort of game project. This doesn't have to be big or complicated but the best way to demonstrate your understanding of how narrative elements work in an interactive media is by creating them in said interactive media! Showcasing writing, branching choices and dialogue are some of the ways you can do this in a game project. Hope this helps!

[@DesignerDave]

Happy to do a collab if you're interested. :D

[@xPhantomxify]

I just found this channel through your Twitter. It says you are a narrative designer for Square Enix. I thought Square Enix was a Japanese studio and that they sold off the Tomb Raider and other Western IPs to Embracer? Unless I'm unaware of some Western games still under Square Enix's umbrella OR of course if you work for Square Enix directly in Japan, e.g. their Final Fantasy games. Can you tell what games you are working on right now or is it a unannounced project still?

[@RhianneMurphy]

Hello! Square has many offices across the world working on many IP's! I can't currently share what I'm working on but there are many western properties Square has published/worked on :)

[@xPhantomxify]

@@RhianneMurphy I see, thanks for answering. I like your replies in the comment section, you don't beat around the bush and seem to give advice based on the industry practises. I look forward to see what you are working on in the future. Happy holidays!

[@alexpotterson9119]

Rhianne, please make the audio louder, I like the video but it's hard to hear

[@RhianneMurphy]

@@alexpotterson9119 noted! Thank you for the feedback!

[@michaelperrigo]

Lol Word, Excel and Powerpoint. I'm addicted to world building in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides these days

[@THEROFLFACTORY1]

Damn gurl, you a baddie like fo real tho

[@khealer]

So you are the game experience DEI infuser?!

[@pwhv]

estas bien bonita

[@arcan762]

"the game's industry is quite small" uhh... what, are you new around here? 😅

[@RhianneMurphy]

You'd be surprised! Here in the UK you're usually only one person removed from another person in the industry - everyone knows everyone.

[@mrturbo84]

After seeing this Video it makes no sense to me to be a Narrative Designer. Are you a kind of "Jack of all Trades"? For example: Does ND imply that the Writer of the Story does not have the Inside of a Gamer? Like you do not need a Writer that is also a Gamer? Can you pls elaborate why a ND is even needed. How much influence do you have? Who does aprove your work? Thank you.

[@RhianneMurphy]

@@mrturbo84 Hiya! So the TL;DR is that an ND is the overseer of narrative. Some Devs don't have or need one because the narrative isn't as heavy so they might just hire a writer to write some voice lines for example. Comparatively, larger and more intricate narratives in games sometimes have teams lead by either the design director or narrative director (again, depending on team size). Writers may only have to work on scripts whereas narrative designers (especially technical narrative designers) also have to understand design principles and work in software to implement scripts like in engine. Hope this helps! :)

[@mrturbo84]

​​​@@RhianneMurphy Thanks for the Answer. How much influence has the ND on the Story? What if the Writer wants Something in the Story but the ND (Narrative Designer) does not. Is there no friction? So if the Team is bigger you hirer a ND but why not just hirer more Writers? When you work basically in every Part of the Development how can you become a Master in your job? That Multitasking sound very Stressfull. Do you only need to Understand the Fundamentals?

[@RhianneMurphy]

@@mrturbo84 Ideally it's a team effort, though someone has to steer the ship. This is usually some sort of narrative lead (Narrative director, Lead writer or sometimes the design director) again, totally depends on the team size and the kind of project you're working on. As for 'why not just hire writers', some places do! The main difference between Writers and ND is that not all writers have game experience, whereas ND's have to have game experience. So if a team is looking to have someone who understands both writing and how it's implemented into engines who has worked on games before, then they'll likely want an ND instead o a writer. That's not to say writers don't have experience working on games but in general that's the understanding. The secret is, every single person on a development team will multitask to some extent. To become a master at your craft I would argue it requires you to understand how the others work so you can best improve your work to collaborate and create more efficiently. Everyone starts with the fundamentals, but overtime you just naturally pick up things through experience and time.

[@mrturbo84]

​@@RhianneMurphy Thank you so much. It becomes now clearer to me. I hope you do not mind if i ask more questions later. :)

[@ultimaxkom8728]

Writer writes a story, ND weaves a narrative. Don't mistake narrative for story nor weaving for writing. Pacman has a narrative, not a story.

[@elchotocorazon]

I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!