What do you think?
Rate this book
An Introduction to Game Writing: A Workbook for Interactive Stories
Learning anything new can be a daunting task, particularly a skill like game writing. Without the right approach, many of those who’d love to learn this thrilling way of telling stories can be put off before they begin.
This book takes away that daunting aspect by introducing the reader to the exciting nature of game writing in a step by step process that any person can pick up quickly.
Requiring no previous knowledge or outstanding English skills, the eager novice will learn to create interactive stories in next to no time.
Building on three decades of experience in the games industry and having run workshops for learners of all ages, the author will take you on a journey that may kick-start a lifelong passion for writing and telling stories in a new, stimulating and interactive way.
The first steps of any journey are always the hardest, but this book will help smooth the path.
This book takes away that daunting aspect by introducing the reader to the exciting nature of game writing in a step by step process that any person can pick up quickly.
Requiring no previous knowledge or outstanding English skills, the eager novice will learn to create interactive stories in next to no time.
Building on three decades of experience in the games industry and having run workshops for learners of all ages, the author will take you on a journey that may kick-start a lifelong passion for writing and telling stories in a new, stimulating and interactive way.
The first steps of any journey are always the hardest, but this book will help smooth the path.
- GenresWritingNonfiction
136 pages, Paperback
Published June 14, 2021
10 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Steve Ince
26 books4 followersSteve Ince is a writer, artist and game designer with many years of experience, working with a variety of global clients and has gained two prestigious award nominations for his work.
His book, Writing for Video Games, was published by A&C Black. This was recently followed by the book, An Introduction to Game Writing then 201 Things for Better Game Writing.
The first of his ventures into novel writing was with the urban fantasy story, Blood and Earth set in the historic town of York.
Steve’s skills have been utilised on a number of children’s books, both with his writing and his illustration. The Magic Snowflake, The Doll’s House, The Quinton Quads and the Mystery of Malprentice Manor and Amanda Alexander and the Very Friendly Panda, to name a few.
He also wrote the short film, Payment.
Although now retired from game writing, Steve continues to write books and create online comic strips.
Steve loves Yorkshire Tea.
His book, Writing for Video Games, was published by A&C Black. This was recently followed by the book, An Introduction to Game Writing then 201 Things for Better Game Writing.
The first of his ventures into novel writing was with the urban fantasy story, Blood and Earth set in the historic town of York.
Steve’s skills have been utilised on a number of children’s books, both with his writing and his illustration. The Magic Snowflake, The Doll’s House, The Quinton Quads and the Mystery of Malprentice Manor and Amanda Alexander and the Very Friendly Panda, to name a few.
He also wrote the short film, Payment.
Although now retired from game writing, Steve continues to write books and create online comic strips.
Steve loves Yorkshire Tea.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 28, 2023
Very good theory and tools
This workbook gives a good foundation in how to plan/ map out an interactive story with helpful tools and exercises.
This workbook gives a good foundation in how to plan/ map out an interactive story with helpful tools and exercises.
March 24, 2023
This is an INTRO, so don't expect a lot of details.
This is a really nice intro to interactive fiction. Steve uses Twine to develop stories in the book, because Twine is a great starting point, but you could easily use the guidelines in this book in other formats.
The thing I like best about this book is that it is paced very nicely for a total beginner and could easily be used with tweens and teens. It has a workshop feel to it. In fact, I'll probably use this book as material for some workshops I'm planning for CoderDojo. The pacing and content would be ideal for a secondary school audience.
As mentioned in the title of my review, this is an introductory text. It doesn't go into a lot of advanced interactive fiction capabilities, like adding images, music, sound effects, voiceovers, styling with CSS, macros, JavaScript, version control, or any of many other advanced techniques. You can find other books and online tutorials that cover those topics.
It also doesn't go in-depth on writing style or dialogue, etc. Again, there are excellent materials out there about writing narrative and dialogue for games.
This book is a great place to start if you've never written interactive fiction before and think it would be fun to try out. This will get you going down the path to creating your first game.
This is a really nice intro to interactive fiction. Steve uses Twine to develop stories in the book, because Twine is a great starting point, but you could easily use the guidelines in this book in other formats.
The thing I like best about this book is that it is paced very nicely for a total beginner and could easily be used with tweens and teens. It has a workshop feel to it. In fact, I'll probably use this book as material for some workshops I'm planning for CoderDojo. The pacing and content would be ideal for a secondary school audience.
As mentioned in the title of my review, this is an introductory text. It doesn't go into a lot of advanced interactive fiction capabilities, like adding images, music, sound effects, voiceovers, styling with CSS, macros, JavaScript, version control, or any of many other advanced techniques. You can find other books and online tutorials that cover those topics.
It also doesn't go in-depth on writing style or dialogue, etc. Again, there are excellent materials out there about writing narrative and dialogue for games.
This book is a great place to start if you've never written interactive fiction before and think it would be fun to try out. This will get you going down the path to creating your first game.
July 2, 2023
As someone new to twine, but has always been Artist, great book.
I found this to be very helpful in giving me an understanding of what is possible in pursuing my goal of taking my artwork that I’ve been producing for well over 30 years, and finding a way to do what for me is the hard part.
I found this to be very helpful in giving me an understanding of what is possible in pursuing my goal of taking my artwork that I’ve been producing for well over 30 years, and finding a way to do what for me is the hard part.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews