Basics of Narrative (3 cr)

Evaluation scale

0-5

Objective

The object of the course
What is narrative? You have a great story but how to tell it? What elements are included to narrative? In this course you will learn the basics of narrative and story design. You will learn which elements and conventions are important when making a good narrative. This course makes a tour to the narrative approach in different media fields but the main focus is in games. What kind of narrative design is used e.g. in open world or in Metroidvania games? Are there any key factors which separates good and bad narrative from each other’s? What kind of stories engage people to play games?

After completing this course, you have basic understanding about the general framework of narrative terms and guidelines and you are able to implement your knowledge in your game development process.

Course competences
You are able toproduce content for a game project and can work with the tools in meaningful and systematic way.
You can produce value for a game project while working in a specific specialist role.
You also take responsibility for group learning and sharing what has been learned.

The learning objectives of the course
After completing this course you will understand the basic aspects and terms of narrative and are able to produce storyline material in different forms for a game. You are able to define different ways to engage people in different platforms and understand that such elements as audio or visuals are also part of narrative approach. Narrative is also used in game industry in non-game parts such as marketing and during this course you will find out how to use narrative elements in game business in general

Content

In the course you will be focused on the basic concepts and conventions related to narrative design. You will learn in which way narrative elements influence to player experience through aesthetic how to implement game aesthetics and story elements to your game and what different kind of ways of storyboard can be used in different game genres and platforms. You will also learn the work process of the narrative field as well as how to work with other artistic/production members.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

Sufficient (1): You have knowledge in the area of narrative design. You know the concepts of narrative and storyboard and you know what they mean.

Satisfactory (2): You understand the concepts of narrative design and how they are related to game development process. You have a comprehension of the different elements of a design process. You understand the role of a script-/storywriter

Assessment criteria, good (3)

Englanniksi
Good (3): You understand the concepts of game design and can apply the gained knowledge in a real-life development project. You are able to apply your skills as narrative designer also in other platforms and media. Your synopsis and storyboard plan is is good and consistent with minor errors

Very good (4): You understand the narrative process and framework thoroughly and you will be able to analyze given narrative material in detail. You are able to produce game dev and/or commercial narrative material by yourself. You can analytically develop narrative material in the production

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

Excellent (5): You understand the narrative process and framework thoroughly and you will be able to analyze given narrative material in detail. You are able to produce valid artistic and/or commercial narrative material by yourself. The material you provide gives extra value to productions and your synopsis/storyboard gives something extra to your co-workers. You can analytically develop narrative material in game production demo.