GDC Narrative Summit
I was one of three global platinum-tier winners of the Game Developers Conference's annual Game Narrative Review Competition. Upon submitting a paper analyzing the narrative design of Xenoblade Chronicles, and creating a poster outlining my analysis, I was flown out to the 2023 conference to give a talk about narrative design.
My Process
I. Planning
My first goal was to establish a strong thesis to drive my analysis, as I wanted my essay to stay holistic rather than serve as a broad analysis of disconnected elements.
To do so, I:
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Focused on the game's central thematic message about fear of the unknown
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Analyzed how the characters, systems, environments, and music connect to the central theme
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Created a mind map in Miro to visualize and connect each point back to the core idea
PRODUCTION
II. Constructing the Paper
While writing, I iterated on my paper's structure a lot. A key challenge came from the fact that Xenoblade Chronicles's narrative is built around illusions. It is framed in a manner that warps the player's perception, at least before a certain twist allows the entirety of the game to be seen in a new light. As a result, I decided to format my paper so that the first half focuses on how the game uses level design, system design, and unreliable narration to manipulate the player, while the latter half analyzes the full truth and meaning behind the experience.
III. Poster Design
With the paper complete, my next step was to create a poster in Adobe Photoshop, where I designed assets based off of the game's user interface to create an engaging theme. My core intention with the poster was to convey the central ideas behind my analysis, and I as such picked four key points from it to discuss.
THE CONFERENCE
IV. Giving the Talk
With everything in place, I flew out to the Game Developers Conference to give my talk. Having been scheduled to be the second speaker of the competition winners, I was stunned to find out I was actually going first upon seeing my poster already up on display when I walked in.The strict time limit of the shared session limited my ability to go into the same depth of my paper, but I tackled my nerves, gave my talk, and later converted my analysis into a 50 minute video essay, which has since achieved 10k+ views.
The game I wrote about
My poster
Original UI (design inspiration)
GDC 2023!
My Follow-Up Video Essay
I Learned About:
1
Holistic Writing
I refined my writing style a great deal through this project. While I have been writing analysis papers on topics that interest me throughout my entire life, this paper served as the culmination of several of my former works. Completing it helped me grasp thesis-driven writing, particularly through pushing me to connect and several interdisciplinary and structural elements without losing my focus.
2
Communication
The Game Developers Conference is the largest event I have ever had the pleasure of speaking at. While I have always had a lot to say, this event helped me build the confidence to speak up and articulate my ideas. It helped me break out of the bubble I had lived in at my small college campus, inspiring my to continue onto pursuits such as video essays and research conferences.
3
Strong Narrative Tools
After taking the time to analyze the core of such a massive game's narrative, I learned a lot about how to convey an interactive story in an effective manner. I deepened my understanding of tools such as framing, musical symbolism, narrative system design, environmental storytelling, and how all of these can connect to convey a holistic story and narrative theme. These are all items I learned to apply.
