Edwin McRae's Articles
Punchy Writing Portfolios for Games
- Edwin McRae
How to create an impactful portfolio that shows off your game writing and narrative design skills.
AI NPCs - How will they impact interactive storytelling in video games?
- Edwin McRae
Edwin considers NVIDIA and InWorld's Covert Protocol announcement and the potential impact of AI NPCs on human creativity in the space of character-driven game experiences.
AI and the Creative Process
- Edwin McRae
Narrative Designer, Edwin McRae, describes the effect AI tools have on his creative writing process.
Narrative Design vs Narrative Warfare - Harmony Square
- Edwin McRae
Looking at Harmony Square makes Edwin McRae (Narrative Designer) wonder how narrative design could be further used to combat the nefarious practices of narrative warfare that divide and conquer us.
Lore, Layoffs and Laughter
- Edwin McRae
Summing up a tough year in the game dev biz, and introducing a cathartic Christmas story!
Lore! What is it good for?
- Edwin McRae
Lore! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing... unless it's important to gameplay or characters.
How to break into the games industry as a writer
- Edwin McRae
Veteran game writer and narrative designer, Rudolf Buirma, offers advice to writers who want to work in the video games industry.
Building game worlds for indies - Stimulation versus Imagination
- Edwin McRae
We explore the stimulation - imagination continuum of player engagement and look at how indie game devs can strike a balance between the two.
Writer learning Unity game engine - Initial Impressions
- Edwin McRae
Edwin embarks on his learning Unity journey with Future Games.
What you Like versus What Works in narrative design
- Edwin McRae
A warning about game writing based on what you 'Like' versus what's actually going to work for the player.
How to keep your game protagonist consistent with player expectation
- Edwin McRae
Narrative Designer, Tim Schuchert, suggests some methods for how you can maintain consistency when designing your game’s protagonist and avoid those damaging moments where a protagonist acts in a way that makes no sense to the player.
How to choose the right protagonist for your game
- Edwin McRae
Narrative Designer, Tim Schuchert, explains the different types of video game protagonist and how choosing the right one is vital to your player's experience.
How do you get Narrative Design gigs?
- Edwin McRae
Marketing yourself as a freelance narrative designer for video games.
How much does a Narrative Designer for video games earn?
- Edwin McRae
The financial facts of freelance narrative design laid bare.
Industry Idiots Presents: Narrative Design and Writing Games with Edwin McRae
- Edwin McRae
We talk about the profession, working remotely, and integrating writers into your team. Enjoy!
Banter between cards in CCGs
- Edwin McRae
How we could use procedural narrative design in digital collectible card games to create dynamic character banter?
Pace in Video Game Narratives
- Edwin McRae
How to consider Pace in a video game narrative when you're creating a story-driven game... and when you're not.
Character Growth vs Player Growth in RPGs
- Edwin McRae
You've put 200 hundred hours into that RPG and now your character is amazing. But have you, the gamer, become amazing too?
Edwin McRae on the Game Dev Advice Podcast
- Edwin McRae
A 40 min interview about narrative design for video games with JP Podlasek, host of the Game Dev Advice podcast.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial Eight
- Edwin McRae
In this Ink script tutorial you'll learn how to track multiple Variables in your interactive fiction.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial Seven
- Edwin McRae
In this Ink script tutorial you'll learn how to track Variables like Magic Points in your interactive fiction.
Where procedural narrative needs to go next
- Edwin McRae
The systems are in place. Now storytellers need to step in and turn those procedurally generated facts into powerfully expressed fictions.
Do you want to write for video games? (Updated Dec 2020)
- Edwin McRae
For writers, the games industry is a much friendlier and more welcoming place now than it was ten years ago. It’s also a much bigger industry than it was ten years ago, meaning there are so many more games in need of stories and writing.
What's the difference between Procedural Narrative and Emergent Narrative?
- Edwin McRae
These are my working definitions for Procedural and Emergent, what I use when creating game narratives for my clients.
Why do we love RPGs?
- Edwin McRae
The RPG Insight Quest: Delve into this article and shine some light on your beshadowed gamer soul. Do you accept this quest? Y/N
What is LitRPG? [Updated May 2019]
- Edwin McRae
The New Zealand Book Council interviews author Edwin McRae about LitRPG.
What are we looking for in a LitRPG?
- Edwin McRae
The short answer is "character build". For the long answer, read on!
Dangerously achievable goals in RPGs
- Edwin McRae
There’s a very dark side to RPG mechanics and it’s no coincidence that some of the biggest time-sink games are Open World RPGs.
Gaming and Dopamine Deficiency
- Edwin McRae
Dopamine Deficiency. What is it and how does it affect gamers?
Gaming and Self-efficacy
- Edwin McRae
Gaming self-efficacy versus life self-efficacy. Gaming left me feeling more alert but it didn't motivate me to get my work done.
'Just One More' design in Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- Edwin McRae
I rage-deleted Assassin's Creed: Odyssey yesterday and now I'm going to tell you why.
Five Step Approach to Making Monsters for RPGs
- Edwin McRae
My Five Step Method for Making Monsters. Step 1 = Which fear do you want your player/reader to experience? Step 2 = Icky and gooey. The Biological profile. Step 3 = Establish the Danger. The Behavior profile. Step 4 = Monsters must Die! Establish the weakness. Step 5 = Beware the corporate Elder Gods and do your due diligence. Read on to grab the details for these steps. :-)
Designing Believable LitRPG Mechanics
- Edwin McRae
When I read LitRPG, I’m there for the story. Yes, the mechanics are a vital part of the story in any LitRPG, but they should never overwhelm the plot or characters. The key to getting the right balance between Story and Mechanics in LitRPG is SIMPLICITY. Read on and I'll explain why.
How to read LitRPG like an ARPG designer
- Edwin McRae
I’m Edwin McRae, former lead writer of Path of Exile and author of Warlock: Reign of Blood - A LitRPG Novel. Below I outline three RPG narrative design techniques that you can be watching out for when you read your next LitRPG novel. NPC design, Story Glyphs and Boss fight buildup.
What is the difference between a game writer and a writer of films or books?
- Edwin McRae
In a short interview with Liliana Marin of UHCL, Edwin McRae how writing for games differs from writing for films or books.
What is a Narrative Designer? (Revised November 2019)
- Edwin McRae
An explanation from Narrative Designer and Game Writer, Edwin McRae, of what Narrative Design is and what a Narrative Designer does.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial Six
- Edwin McRae
In this tutorial we're taking Delayed Consequence to the next level by introducing you to Conditional Options!
Tips for writing a game trailer #1
- Edwin McRae
Edwin reflects on his first trailer script for Path of Exile: The Duelist.
Edwin on The Game Design Roundtable
- Edwin McRae
Harrison, Dirk and Edwin discuss the importance of the narrative line in game design and how it can keep game players engaged throughout a game with immersive details.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial Five
- Edwin McRae
In this tutorial, we’re going to start down the track of making your interactive fiction more responsive to your reader. And how are we going to do that? By giving you the power of Delayed Consequence through the application of Conditional Text.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial Four
- Edwin McRae
In this lesson we use Stitches, Gathers and Glues to better organize your Interactive Fiction story and avoid the dreaded 'Wall of Text'.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial Three
- Edwin McRae
In this tutorial we look at how to create Options within Options in Ink script. Once you've mastered these multiple layers of options, you have everything you need to create a classic Choose You Own Adventure story with Ink script.
Story for Platformer Games: Visual Evolution
- Edwin McRae
The fourth and final article in a series by Edwin McRae about how to festoon platformer games with story goodness. In this article we look at visual evolution, gradual changes to the PC's appearance that can be the direct result of the player's progress through the game.
Story for Platformer Games: Emotes
- Edwin McRae
The third in a series of short articles by Edwin McRae about how to festoon platformer games with story goodness. In this article we look at Emotes, changes of physical expression or simple symbols that show how the player character is feeling in that moment.
Narrative Design with Ink Script
- Edwin McRae
Edwin McRae discusses how Ink Script can be a great introduction for writers hoping to enter the field of Narrative Design for video games.
Story for Platformer Games: Reactive Dialogue
- Edwin McRae
The second in a series of short articles by Edwin McRae about how to festoon platformer games with story goodness. In this article we look at Reactive Dialogue, punchy jabs of dialogue that are triggered by the player's actions.
Story for Platformer Games: Introduction
- Edwin McRae
A series of short articles by Edwin McRae about how to festoon platformer games with story goodness.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial Two
- Edwin McRae
In this tutorial you learn how to use Knots and Diverts to make your Ink Script more playable, different types of Options, and how to hide text that you don't want hanging about like a bad smell.
Learning Ink Script - Tutorial One
- Edwin McRae
Narrative Designer, Edwin McRae, gives you a short and snappy intro to Inkle's 'Ink Script'. Why learn Ink Script? Because it allows writers to actually WRITE interactive fiction rather than linking lots of little boxes together or pressing innumerable buttons. Plus it's open source and compatible with Unity. Come on...let's get into Tutorial One already.
Procedural Narrative: The Future of Video Games
- Edwin McRae
Bryan Cohen asked me "what role do you see procedural and emergent narrative taking in the future"? A big role, if not the starring role. Let me explain.
Narrative Design for Indies: Getting Started
- Edwin McRae
Coming out in October 2017, this short, sharp book is aimed to give Indie Game Devs a strong start when it comes to thinking about narrative for their games.
Designing game environments that are rich with story
- Edwin McRae
Your writer can ensure that your environmental visualisation process is steeped in story. Rich narrative that your artist can then mould into stunning eye candy.
Writing Tomes that your Player will Read
- Edwin McRae
Players will read, and it's still one of the the cheapest and most efficient ways of delivering story within your Indie game. Tomes are those pieces of text that a player can read in the quiet moments of your game. But they need to be done well and they need to be done right!
Writing Flavour Text for your Game
- Edwin McRae
Flavour text is flavoursome. It’s there to whet your player’s appetite and make them hungry to understand your game world. Be sure it’s on the menu and please make it tasty! Here's some advice on how to tell a lot of story with just a few, flavourful lines.
Being a Realist at the dawn of VR
- Edwin McRae
As a kid, I used to dream of finding a secret portal to Narnia somewhere on the farm. The portal is there now but I'm not sure I want to step through it.
Living in Skyrim
- Edwin McRae
When you spend two to three thousand hours playing Skyrim, what does that do to you?
Designing narratives for games: An interview for Classically Trained
- Edwin McRae
An interview with Jon Harrison of classiclytrained.net where I give some of my perspectives on designing stories for games.
Boss Fight Story
- Edwin McRae
Edwin McRae, Narrative Designer and Game Writer, talks about how you can make a game story out of a basic series of boss fights.
Losing the Plot with Game Narrative
- Edwin McRae
An article by Narrative Designer, Edwin McRae, addressing why a game writer needs to clearly understand the difference between Plot and Narrative.