Narrative Bridging - a specification of a modelling method for game design

TL;DR

This paper introduces a narrative bridging method for game design that supports creative processes, enhances team communication, and improves the handling of story information without limiting interactivity or creativity.

Contribution

It proposes a new narrative bridging method focusing on early story information handling, aiding designers in managing narrative development during game design.

Findings

The method improved time-constrained design processes.

It helped identify inconsistencies in narrative development.

It facilitated shared understanding among design team members.

Abstract

Very little has been explored about the narrative as a process when constructing entertainment for interactive media. Simultaneously, the interest in narrative vehicles increases while certain occupations, seeing the narrative as a structure, obscure the examination of the process of selecting, arranging and rendering story material. To correct this deficiency, a method for a narrative bridging that encourages research and design while exploring narration as a process, is proposed with the aim to not diminish the properties of the interactive media. This method focuses on the initial phase where establishing and handling the information takes place and creates a foundation that precedes its systematization and computation. The aim is to give designers a comfortable design tool that firmly aids the design without interfering with creativity, and at the same time aids the construction of interplay between narration, spatiality and interactivity. The method aided the practise of a discipline that was established through a qualitative study conducted as part of a university course in rapid prototyping. The results demonstrated that the method aided time-constrained design processes, simultaneously detecting inconsistencies that would prevent the team from making improvements. The method gave the team a shared vocabulary and outlook, allowing them to progress without interfering with the creative flow. This enabled the team to reason about the process and easily advice design stakeholders. The study also provides directions for future developments within research of narrative processes in game design.