Game Story Tool Compendium

This is a collaborative summary of the most common, and/or best tools you can use to write or otherwise design your game narrative. Should be fairly self explanatory — and we will update it every so often to reflect new changes/updates/challengers, etc!

Introduction to Ink (by Jon Ingold)

Jon Ingold is the co-founder of independent studio inkle (www.inklestudios.com), and co-designer…

Lore — do you need it and where to start?

It’s not uncommon, even on large games, for story to be an afterthought — something that’s hastily assembled at the last minute with some poor soul having to wrangle discordant scenes into some kind of coherent narrative. With smaller games, it’s even more…

Don’t Have (or not) a Writer? Here’s How to Write.

The following advice applies to anyone. It’s primarily aimed at small indie game developers, often operating on shoestring and for whom a writer is a far-flung luxury/the last thing they need.

Designing Investigate Conversations

By Jon Ingold

Creating Pidgin

Introduction & Rationale

“If they open up with Pidgin English instead, I instantly perk up. Speaking Pidgin transforms them from visiting foreigner into one of the hundreds of well-integrated expatriates in Lagos… There’s a certain intimacy that this form of…

Soft Skills for Narrative Design

Lots of people ask — me, and in various discord servers, or twitter…

Concepts for creating compelling characters

If your game includes characters of any kind, they can become one of the most important, but often most neglected, aspects of the game. Players latch on to a good character, identifying with them or loving to hate them. They are our gateway into a world…

Contents & How To Use This Guide

Hello, and welcome to the Game Writing Guide.

This publication exists to aid both new writers and developers — whom for whatever reason can’t work with a professional writer — get the basics right, and improve their storytelling skills.