STUDY PROGRAMME
Media Design and Multimedia Arts

AFAM CODE
ABPC67

DISCIPLINARY AREA
Methodologies and techniques of communication

DISCIPLINARY FIELD
Creative writing

CREDITS
8

APPROACH
Theoretical/project based

This course, created as a workshop, promotes the development of writing skills for videogames and board-games, and is divided into a module of Interactive Storytelling and a module of Game Production. The Interactive Storytelling module starts from the extended concept of entertainment in order to define the basics of narration, from character design to the rhythm of the events, and to adapt them to the typical procedures of the game, focusing on the capacity to find the best choice among different options. In the Game Production Lab, students explore the potential of this writing methodology declined in the field of multimedia products, considering not only sounds and images but also interactions, capable to generate different results in terms of the narrative developments of the story, which the designer has to keep under control.

The programme grants 8 credits, divided as follows:

• INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING: 4 CFA

• GAME PRODUCTION LAB: 4 CFA

Successful students will be able to:

• Identify and analyze the contribution of the narrative element in the structure of a game

• Develop a personal narration based on technological and multimedia contexts

• Analyze the link between textual and audiovisual language

• Develop complex screenplays that meet the needs of the audience and the market

• Design fictionary “transmedial” environments

• Judge the feasibility of a script

• Carry out a short fictional audio-visual production

INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING:

• The theory of “Natural funativity”

• The importance of the choice

• The definition of the character

• The entertaining curve

• The concept of “flow”

GAME PRODUCTION LAB:

• Character design

• Primitives and narration

• Introduction to level design

• Environmental Storytelling

• Realization of an interactive “visual novel”

This is a theoretical/project based course.

Students will take part in the following activities, which may vary depending on the development of different projects:

• Classroom lectures

• Use of tutorials, videos or other media tools

• Exercises and revisions

• Workshops

• Individual or group projects

• Individual or group study and research

Assessment tools may include:

• Completion of a project

• Graded exercises with a final oral exam

Further details about the exams will be provided by the professors.

The final grade will result from the weighted average of the programme modules.

• Alinovi F. (2011) Game Start! Strumenti per comprendere i videogiochi. Springer.

• Anthropy A. (2012) Rise of the Videogame Zinesters, Seven Stories Press.

• Baricco, A. (2018) The Game. Einaudi.

• Crawford C. (2005) On Interactive Storytelling, New Riders

• Dille F. & Zuur Platten J. (2007) The Ultimate Guide to Videogame Writing and Design, Random House.

• Juul J. (2005) Half-Real, The MIT Press.

• Solarski C. (2017) Interactive Stories and Video Game Art, CRC Press.

• Sylvester T. (2013) Designing Games, O’Reilly.

• Wardrip-Fruin N. Harrigan P. (2004) First Person, The MIT Press.

Many of the recommended sources, together with additional material, are also available online on MyNaba, in the Library section.

Books and resources might be requested or suggested by the professors.