Games

Course information

Storytellers who can tell interactive narratives are needed not just in the game industry, but also in journalism, museums and the world of advertising. This minor teaches you to work with the tools needed by the storyteller of the future. In two related projects (self-expression and present yourself), you combine theory and practice, and learn to identify the opportunities for putting interactive projects on the market.

This programme is for you if you have an interest in and experience with applied creative work using the medium of interactive narration, knowledge of multimedia, game design and filmmaking, or experience as a dramatist. You want to combine your passion for telling stories with an interest in the opportunities of new technology and multimedia.
Based on your own expertise, you learn which opportunities are offered to you by interactive narrative design. You learn the basic skills of interactive narrative design in the areas of design, writing interactive narratives, forming and testing ideas, technology and communication.

You do two projects.

• Project 1 (in pairs), which takes ’36 dramatic situations’ as its starting point and where you create an interactive presentation based on a personal narrative.
• In project 2, you work in a team and develop a promising interactive concept (including a working prototype), which you pitch to the target group of your project.
• The minor is rounded off by a personal presentation, in which you reflect on your own development as an interactive narrative designer, using examples from your project. It is a ten-minute presentation for a committee of lecturers.
  

In the so-called "interactive narrative labs", or just "labs" in the first block, you will get lectures and project supervision from the core teachers. Each lab runs for three weeks, parallel to the project. Each of the two labs focuses on a particular part of the process of creating an Interactive Narrative Design:

Lab 1: Ideation, prototyping & playtesting
Open your curiosity doors with Lab1! During the three weeks of this lab we will explore different types of interactive narratives, ranging from improvisation theater to digital games. Reflection on your experience with these plays an important role. What happened, how did you feel and how did the narrative designers achieve that through their artefact? Playtesting other works will inspire you to create your own. You will learn how to ideate with the goal of rapid prototyping. Within a series of smaller challenges, you will ideate, create, test and reflect. What did you learn from the playtest? What could be improved? Based on your insights, you'll iterate and test again.

Lab 2: writing for interaction & designing agency
During Lab 2 you will dive deeper into the actual scripting and writing process of creating interactive narratives. We will start with the fundamentals of storytelling, exploring character, conflict, worldbuilding and plotting and from there on move on to the specific challenges and possibilities of telling in an interactive manner and creating agency for players. A 'script' in an interactive story can be quite diverse, so you will not only learn how to write dialogue and story, but also how to utilize tutorials, quests, item descriptions and visual storytelling to create a meaningful whole. But we will not only be looking at the structural and technical side of storytelling during the lab: you will gain more insight in how to create deeper emotional choices within your narrative by creating a 'heatmap' for your interactive narrative.

Programme for exchange students Games (start September)

Course descriptions

1. Click on this link.
2. Select your exchange programme under 'EXCHANGE MODULES' on the left side.
3. Alternatively, copy and paste the module codes into the 'course ID/name' field.

Place in the curriculum and related courses

The exchange programme consists of 1 3rd year 30 credit course.

Please note

For this course, a laptop capable of running Unity Engine is mandatory, and familiarity with Unity Engine is highly recommended.

Student stories

To get an impression of what students have designed and experienced in this course please look at these student stories.