Writing for Games: Theory and Practice Hannah Nicklin 9781032023052

• A uniquely cross-disciplinary and cross-experience book written as an accessible guide for people new to storytelling in games, new to games as a practice, and those eager to develop their existing practices & knowledge around storytelling in games.
• Offers careful, clear, and practical advice for understanding creative writing, in the context of games, and in discovering and developing your own games writing practice.
• Focuses on writing, not narrative design, as an area underdeveloped in the context of games storytelling.

Hannah Nicklin is an award-winning narrative and game designer, writer, and academic who has been practicing for nearly 15 years. She works hard to create playful experiences that see people, and make people feel seen, and also argues for making games a more radical space through mentoring, advocacy, and redefining process. Trained as a playwright, Hannah moved into interactive practices early on in her career and is now the CEO and Studio Lead at Danish indie studio Die Gute Fabrik, who most recently launched Mutazione in 2019. She has a PhD in games-influenced theatre and theatre-influenced games as anti-capitalist practice and spends her spare time racing bikes (the pedal kind). @hannahnicklin gutefabrik.com

"Hannah Nicklin's Writing for Games is an essential manual for anyone working on games, whether they are story-driven or not. It is a comprehensive overview of the process of writing for games, and what it actually means in context, how it is integrated in the process of production, and how it relates to writing for other media. As an interdisciplinary text, it is the perfect bridge for writers from other media into games; at the same time, it also helps game designers and developers understand how writing connects games to other disciplines and guides the reader to how to draw inspiration from them. Even if the reader does not intend to be a writer, Writing for Games is a very accessible text to understand the work of writers and narrative designers, providing detailed strategies to incorporate games and stories successfully. The advice and lessons all come from practice and first-hand knowledge, which ensures that the learnings are relevant to day-to-day practices of game development. All told with a very personable and approachable tone - a joy to read."

Clara Fernandez-Vara, Associate Arts Professor, New York University.

"Hannah Nicklin's Writing for Games is an essential manual for anyone working on games, whether they are story-driven or not. It is a comprehensive overview of the process of writing for games, and what it actually means in context, how it is integrated in the process of production, and how it relates to writing for other media. As an interdisciplinary text, it is the perfect bridge for writers from other media into games; at the same time, it also helps game designers and developers understand how writing connects games to other disciplines and guides the reader to how to draw inspiration from them. Even if the reader does not intend to be a writer, Writing for Games is a very accessible text to understand the work of writers and narrative designers, providing detailed strategies to incorporate games and stories successfully. The advice and lessons all come from practice and first-hand knowledge, which ensures that the learnings are relevant to day-to-day practices of game development. All told with a very personable and approachable tone - a joy to read."

Clara Fernandez-Vara, Associate Arts Professor, New York University.