The Game Narrative Lab is a game development team at Kennesaw State University focused on creating immersive and powerful game narratives. You can learn more about the lab here.
Responsibilities
Role: Game Designer & Narrative Designer
Team Size: Core team of 12+
Timeline: Joined January 2023 - Present, started as a narrative designer and then a (technical) game designer in October 2023.
Acting as the sole game and technical designer responsible for core gameplay mechanics, systems, and features.
Designed, prototyped, and implemented multiple mini-games central to the core gameplay loop.
Facilitating the transition from conceptual to practical by working with Unity 2D and c# to develop gameplay mechanics and systems.
Working with multiple disciplines, such as art and narrative, to ensure that game feel is consistent and engaging throughout the experience
Narrative Designer
Wrote and edited dialog and cinematic scenes, and worked extensively with industry tools like FinalDraft, Excel, and Microsoft Word to elevate our narrative delivery.
Wrote and edited 20+ pages of dialog in script format.
Collaborated with a team of artists to make sure that narrative beats were reflected visually.
Interfaced with programmers to ensure that gameplay was meeting proposed designs.
My Interview!
I was recently interviewed for my work with the Game Narrative Lab, you can read about the interview here.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Cole Andrews, a senior interactive design major, worked to craft the narrative, writing and editing scripts while also consulting on character development.
Andrews said he drew more on his experience reading books rather than playing video games.
“Reading stuff like Lord of the Rings and The Inheritance Cycle, which is the Eragon books, really inspired me. Harry Potter, of course,” Andrews said. “I just read these books that are 200-300 pages in a day, like, ‘This is incredible.’ Getting immersed into a world is what really interested me and allowing players to experience that same thing, where it’s the interactive experience where you're not just reading a book, you're affecting the story. You're affecting these characters in a way that hopefully matters if the game was designed well.”
Corporation, Inc. recently won the annual Life. Love Game Design Challenge, a contest hosted by Jennifer Ann’s Group that showcases the power of intentional game design to foster critical thinking and nonviolent engagement among young people.
This was a great experience I am grateful to have been allowed to participate in. Thank you to the team over at KSU and particularly the folks in the research department.
