Slay the Dragon Assignments

Slay the Dragon's end-of-chapter exercises.

Chapter 0 - Playing to Learn

Start your Game Journal

Play games with an analytical eye. Start a Game Journal and fill it with your reflections on and impressions of every game you play, good or bad. Record your thoughts during or shortly after the game.

Play a Board Game

For your first entry, play a board game that you've never played before. As writers, ask about the rules, obstacles, rewards and achievements, setbacks, and quality of the game structure. As a gamer, ask about the characters, the representation of the characters, the story line, the goal of the characters, how the goal of the characters is different from the goal of the players, and how the world of the game is conveyed to the player. Play a game and in one page describe the world of the story, the plot, and the gameplay. Record your impressions in your Game Journal.

Play a Videogame with a Story

Chapter 1 - Making a Game

Write your Own Game

In this exercise, gameplay is locked, and it's up to you to make the game as interesting as possible using only the tools of storytelling.

Rules

• The game board is rectangular with spaces around the edge - 11 x 7 spaces.
• One six-sided dice
• Both players start on the same space (#1). Taking turns, each player rolls the die and moves their token one to six spaces around the board.
• The first player to reach the end space (#32) wins.

This is the most boring gameplay possible. Bring the game to life by building the game world, who the two players are, what happens in each scene as the players move toward the end of the game (and the story).

Turn your Favorite Movie into a Board Game

Now focus on creating gameplay to reflect an existing story.

Design the Game Board

• Create a simple board game using a game template. You can use the board game above or do an Internet search for "Board Game Templates" if you want more examples.
• Choose a board. You now begin to see a structure. Do all this in pencil. Very rudimentary.
• Write down your ideas. How do you see the game being played out? What is the objective of the game?
• What are the mechanics? Dice? How many? Are there cards that need to be created and drawn?
• How many players can play at one time? Is the game competitive or cooperative?

The Story of the Game

• How do the beats in the movie lead to the end of the game? Think of the pivotal scenes in the movie you have chosen. How can they be represented on the game board?
• Do you need cards or branching paths to represent turning points in the story? How can you represent progress and setbacks?
• Who are your characters? Let's say it's a hero vs. villain game. Will you have the good guy start in one direction around the board while the bad guy starts moving in the other direction? If the land on the same space, will they fight? How do they fight? Do they roll dice? What are the results of that fight?

Test the Game

• Write down the rules
• Play the game. Test it. Have friends play it and watch them play. Record your observations in your game journal.
• Rewrite the rules.
• Have more friends play it. Record more observations.

Refine the Game

• Redo and refine the artwork
• Rewrite the game rules and add a story introduction
• Rewrite the cards. Do they stay in a character's voice?

Chapter 2 - Exploring the Game World

Explore the World of Videogames

• Find a news outlet and follow it regularly. Record new ideas or reflections in your game journal. Follow two game sites a day.
• Listen to two podcasts a week.
• Use the GDC Vault

Imagine your Game World

• Write down ten ideas (two sentences each) you have for a videogame and put the list away.
• Choose three of the ten ideas. Add one or two sentences to your descriptions. Put the list away again.
• Choose one of the three. Spend time thinking about your game and record any new notions in your game journal.

Chapter 3 - Expressing Your Game Idea

Watch a Game Movie

Watch a 'game movie,' stitched from all the cutscenes of a game. Record your impressions in your game journal.

Imagine Jack and Jill: The Videogame

• Create a videogame narrative from the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill"
• Who is Jack? Who is Jill? Where do they live? What is the story genre? How big is the hill? Is it guarded by a dragon? Make it interesting with gameplay and obstacles.
• Write a one-paragraph dexription of your version of Jack and Jill: The Videogame.

Gamefly Exercise

• Imagine you can see your game on the shelf. What does it look like? What is the title? What is the tagline? What is on the cover?
• Make a mock-up of the game box.
• Write the description. Find examples on GameFly.

Chapter 4 - Speaking of Structure

Express the Quest in One Line

In your game journal, list ten games. Next to each title, write one sentence that states the main objective of the game. What does the player want? What does the PC want? What is the engine that drives the narrative forward? Why is the PC having trouble getting what he wants? Distill into one line the main quest of the game and why is the quest difficult.

Reverse Engineer a Game Story

• Play a game.
• Write the major story points.
• Can you identify a three-act structure? A five-act structure? Any structure? Can you see the whammos-the big moments the spin the story in a new direction?

Reboot a Classic Game

Take a classic arcade or mobile game that is light on story. Can it be rebooted as a story-driven game? Can you change the genre?

Structure your Game

• Break down the story of your game.
• In one sentence, write down the main action of the story of your game.
• Expand that one sentence to one paragraph: Make sure you have a beginning, middle, and end using a very linear narrative.
• Rework it. Take the same scenario and create a branching narrative using hyperlinks.

Chapter 5 - Meeting Your Characters

Remember your Favorite Characters

• Write your favorite videogames characters.
• What are their backstories? What is their goal? What do you like about them? What traits do they have?
• Write a one-line description of each character.
• In the same game, who is their antagonist? Who or what are the main obstacles holding the hero at bay?
• Write down a one-line description of the protagonist's antagonist.

Make Character Creation Cards

• On ten index cards, list ten ordinary professions.
• On ten more cards, list ten character archetypes. No cliches, use Solar System planets or something else fresh.
• On ten more, list ten extraordinary situations.
• Shuffle the cards, mix and match, and find something inspiring,
• Write in three sentences how the situation will force your character to change. Who will they become by the end of the story?

Chapter 6 - Speaking Through your Characters

Give each character a unique voice.

Kratos, Mario, and Niko Bellic get stuck in an elevator...

Using screenplat format, write a dialogue scene in which three of your favorite video game characters get stuck in an elevator. How do they react? What do they do? Minimize the character descriptions and action. Focus on the dialogue.

Find your Character's Voice

Let's focus on the main character of your game. In first person, write a three paragraph monologue in her voice. Talk about what is happening now in the story, the past, their expectations, whatever. Get a sense of your main character. What do they dream about? What keeps them going each day?

Write Barks for your Character

In Excel, make three columns headed "Direction," "Line," and "Trigger." Direction is the feeling of the actor. Write different lines the PC would say when they are...

• About to attack (x8)
• Attacked themselves (x8)
• Near death (x4)
• Near victory (x4)
• Idle (x8)

Chapter 7 - Playing with Gameplay

Describe Ten Minutes of Gameplay

• Play a game.
• In your game journal, describe the first (or any) ten minutes of gameplay. Describe what you were doing, thinking, and feeling. What did you get to do? How much freedom of action did you have?

Add a mechanic to your favorite game

• Imagine or replay your favorite game.
• What if you added a mechanic that is not organic to the game. How would it affect the player's experience? Would it change the difficulty?

Create a story based on game mechanics

Game mechanics are the verbs.

1. Accelerating and Decelerating 2. Arranging 3. Attacking and Defending 4. Building 5. Buying and Selling 6. Catching 7. Conquering 8. Contracting 9. Directing 10. Discarding 11. Enveloping 12. Exchanging 13. Herding 14. Jumping 15. Matching 16. Nurturing 17. Placing 18. Powering 19. Seeking Information 20. Selecting 21. Sequencing 22. Shooting 23. Speaking 24. Taking 25. Voting

• Get some dice to roll. Choose five mechanics at random from this list.
• Of those five random mechanics, choose three and develop a one- or two-paragraph game pitch that uses the three mechanics. Describe the world where the game takes place, the PC, the goal, the antagonist(s), and how the three mechanics are used in the game world.

Chapter 8 - Leveling Up

Analyze a Level

• Reverse engineer a game level
• Take a game you love and play it on a skill level that allows you to get through it quickly
• Map it out in your game journal.
• What happens on the level? Is there a beginning, middle, and end? How is the PC changed by playing the level? What was the PC's goal in the level? Did she succeed or fail?

Write a level-by-level outline for your game

Begin to flesh out your game by outlining the story and characters. Begin with a good title then write...

• a two-or-three-paragraph summary of the plot
• the cast of characters (the PC and the adversary at minimum). Give a two- or three-sentence description of each character.
• in three or four sentences per level (quest, mission, etc), briefly describe each level from both a story and gameplay standpoint
• summarize the gameplay in your game. Describe the core game mechanics. How do these integrate into your story? How does gameplay evolve as the game progresses?

Chapter 9 - Building Your World

In the opening of media, there's nothing more important than establishing the world of the story.

Complete your World-Building Checklist

Thinking of these questions will help you write the lore of your game.

• What is the history of my world?
• What is the technology or magic (if any) of my world?
• Who are the inhabitants of my world?
• What is the culture of my world?
• Are there class distinctions? Different races? What is the hierarchy?
• What do the inhabitants eat? Do they hunt?
• What is their religion?
• What are the different countries? Cities?
• What are the languages?
• What is the current situation in my world? Is it a time of war? Peace? Fear? Calm?

The scale can be any size you choose. A planet or an abandoned space station can answer these questions.

Write your Opening Scene

A well-written introduction can bond the player to the characters and world. It contains a hook.

• Use screenplay format.
• Write the hook of your game.
• Conceive a scene that will grab the player and get them excited to play the game so they can guide the PC on their quest.
• What can you do in the scene that gets the player thinking "What happens next?
• How do you introduce the gameplay?
• How does the scene point the players in the right direction so that they know the objective of the first level?

Chapter 10 - Feeling Your World

Map the Emotions of Your Game

What emotions will the PC feel at various stages? What emotions will the player feel? Write an emotion map of your game that discusses wars in which the emotional journey of the PC can correspond to the journey of action that the player will progress through.

Write a DLC Concept

• Let's pretend the publisher asks you to produce a DLC episode for any game you like.
• Choose an existing game and create a short (three or four paragraph) pitch for a DLC expansion of the world in the game. You can create new characters. You can use new locations.
• Can you capture the spirit of the original game?

Chapter 11 - Using New Tools

Write an Interactive Short Story

• Write an interactive short story set in the world of your game.
• Have at least eight decision points
• Consider using decisions that branch so that the reader might not hit every decision point in one read-through
• Consider having multiple endings

Build a Level

Use the level editor in a commercial game to create your own game level.

• Plan on paper - what will players do? what obstacles will be in their way?
• Does the level editor have features that would enable you include story content? What story could you tell through the design gameplay of your custom level?

Explore a "Game Processor"

• Download, install, and follow tutorials in Game Maker: Studio, GameSalad Creator, or Stencyl.

Chapter 12 - Bringing it Together

Write your Game Concept Document (GCD)

There's no such thing as a spec script for a game. Put together a GCD that serves as a discussion document and a creative reference.Keep it short, no more than about twenty pages. It's a sample. It's not a Game Design Document (GDD), which can be hundreds of pages long. GDDs end the conversation, but GCDs start the conversation.

• Title - good title is your first foot in the door
• Cover Page with Artwork - Evoke the mood and setting
• Executive Summary - Your GameFly pitch. Tell who I am, where I am, what I get to do, and why.
• Genre and Core Game Mechanics - What are the main play mechanics?
• Platform - Be broad. Is it for consoles? Mobile? PCs? How will the player play the game?
• Concept (gameplay/story) Summary - Longer description of both the story and the gameplay. One page maximum. Be sure to discuss how the story reflects the gameplay and vice-versa.
• Gameplay Description - Briefly discuss how this game plays differently from and better than similar recent hits in its genre.
• World Description - Players will be spending a lot of their time in your game's world. Why is it exciting? Different? Dramatic? Worthy of their exploration?
• Protagonist Brief Bio - Plus key NPCs and Bosses
• Description of Your Game's Beginning - How will you start so that the player is hooked from the very beginning? How do you plan to keep them playing?
• Game Structure/ Level Outline - Expand upon the concept summary by giving a level-by-level description of the story beats and gameplay progression in each level. This will give your reader a sense that you have a definite shape of the player's experience in mind, as well as a sense of the scope of the entire project.
• Gameplay Highlights - What do I get to see or do in the trailer? What's awesome about your game that will have one player telling another player to try it through word of mouth?
• Sample Cinematic Script
• Sample Barks in your character's voice