The Game Narrative Toolbox

Introduction

When you sit in a movie theater watching the explosion-packed opening of a modern action movie, you’re giving up your right to know exactly what’s going on in favor of pulse-pounding excitement. What does it matter if you know who these people are, as long as you can tell that they’re on a helicopter, piloted by a demon, that’s packed with C4 and plummeting into the heart of an active volcano?¹

Moviegoers know that whatever questions are still plaguing them at the end of the opening spectacle will be answered later, and they’re willing to wait a little to find out what it all means. But writers for videogames do not have that luxury. Despite working for an audience that generally loves a good explosion even more than film buffs, ...