game design
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.
Banter between cards in CCGs
- Edwin McRae
How we could use procedural narrative design in digital collectible card games to create dynamic character banter?
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.
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
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?
'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.
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.
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.
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.