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Over the past twenty years, video games have become economically and culturally powerful. Games are not only a fertile and inventive cultural domain, but a means of making a living as a writer.

This course is an introduction to writing for video games, with an emphasis on narrative, characterization, and worldbuilding. Together we will explore games from a variety of genres to understand how storytelling works in games, why it works, and lessons from games we can apply in other kinds of writing.

Students will receive a small writing assignment each week, ranging from playing and reflecting on a particular game, to drafting original lore, to writing short playable interactive fiction. These assignments will culminate in a larger final assignment that synthesizes what we have learned across the course.

Because writing for games often involves giving feedback and making pitches within interdisciplinary teams, this course will involve regular in-class activities and occasional low-pressure presentations. Lectures will also include guest presentations from acclaimed game writers and narrative designers.

We will learn from influential hits like Disco Elysium, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Baldur's Gate 3. But we'll also explore indie gems, and students will have the freedom to study and analyze games that resonate personally.

This course will have a strong emphasis on inclusive storytelling that celebrates human and cultural diversity.

Course Parameters:

• This course is meant to share useful skills for all kinds of writing; it should contribute meaningfully to creative abilities even if students never write a game professionally
• Students don't need to be "gamers", though should ideally come with at least some experience playing games from a variety of genres, especially narrative games.
• This is not a theory or games studies (ludology) course; it's a creative writing course in which we learn from games to become better writers and communicators across genres and disciplines.
• No programming is required for this course (though programmers may have opportunities to use their skills in assignments). The course will include a primer on key programming concepts (variables, functions, loops, etc.) as they relate to writing and our writing tools.
• All students should be able to have a laptop computer to use during class. (If this is an issue, please contact your instructor in advance.)