I'm proud to announce the publication of Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames, the first reader on the topic of game writing, written by the IGDA Game Writers' Special Interest Group. A dozen other people worked with me (as editor) to write the chapters, and another half a dozen worked as sub-editors - my thanks to everyone for their contributions . This book takes a skill focus, and looks at how game writers working today get narrative into games. It is far less speculative than most books on the subject of game narrative, and I might even venture to suggest it's more useful because of it. This is a book about how we currently get stories into games. Anyone interested in learning these skills would do well to pick up a copy. It's available from Amazon and all good bookstores.
Published by Charles River Media, ISBN 1584504900.
Congrats! Ordered.
Posted by: Corvus | July 07, 2006 at 12:59 PM
That's great news - another book that goes straight to my wishlist. Congratulations!
Posted by: chico | July 07, 2006 at 02:10 PM
Congratulations! I enjoyed 21st Century Game Design a great deal - I'm looking forward to reading the new one!
Posted by: Marc Majcher | July 07, 2006 at 04:42 PM
Does the book come with an axiom of an essential gulf between "game" and "story"?
Posted by: Patrick | July 08, 2006 at 02:52 AM
This sounds like a great idea - I've been thinking about getting into writing games for a while, so it would be great to get some insight from those with experience.
I look forward to reading it!
James
Posted by: James | July 09, 2006 at 11:18 PM
Congrats from me, too--looks like I've got something else to add to -my- reading list :)
Posted by: Jack Monahan | July 12, 2006 at 06:22 AM
PLEASE when you discuss a book include information about the publisher and the ISBN to make it easier to buy.
Posted by: ron krawitz | July 26, 2006 at 02:37 PM
This looks great! I'm excited to get my hands on it. I believe there is a time coming when the Video Game Industry will wake up to the fact that play mechanics alone will not suffice to create compelling interactive entertainment experiences.
WE need to be incorporated in the game making process from the inception of a product, simply hiring a scab writer to make poor dialogue won't cut it anymore!
A well versed game writer needs brings to the table an understand everything from non-linear narrative structures and screen writing to traditional narratology.
I look forward to reading this work!
Posted by: Stephen E Dinehart | July 26, 2006 at 04:34 PM
Im looking forward to reading this, along with 21st century design which i've been meaning to get hold of for a while now. :)
Posted by: Toby | July 29, 2006 at 06:33 AM
Ron: Whoops! Sorry, I usually remember do this. I'll update it.
Posted by: Chris | August 03, 2006 at 10:30 AM
Ordering...now. BN.com discounts come in handy, too.
Posted by: Alentia | August 19, 2006 at 03:25 PM
For reasons unknown, this post is a magnet for spam. I am therefore disabling comments to this post. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Posted by: Chris | September 27, 2006 at 09:05 AM