Narrattive Designer: Fabulator Ludus

Narrative Designer: Fabulator Ludus by Stephen E. Dinehart IV is a deceptively small book.  At a little more than 100 pages, it is packed full of very dense ideas on narrative design and storytelling more generally.  I will not say too much about it because I feel like it is the type of book that you need to read a few times to reach a better understanding.

But I do wish the book had a glossary.  It would have been very helpful!

Kindle Book: Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling

Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling is the second book my friend recommended to me on game design. Unlike A Theory of Fun, this one seemed a lot more technical and harder for me to get through. I am not a programmer and have never programmed anything, so the chapters on designing an interactive storytelling engine were especially tough for me to get through.

But with that disclaimer aside, Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling is a valuable book for game designers to read (and for game writers as well). Crawford details exactly what interactive storytelling is and how it is different from the stories present in games. He talks about the importance of verb thinking, how verb thinking is difficult for English-speakers, and how traditional games still give players the same few choices over and over. His book is difficult to wrap your head around in ways (especially if you are like me and lack certain frames of reference) but it is still worth reading.

About part way through, I came to the realization that I will benefit from rereading this book in the future. It's given me a lot to think about (and has made me want to try interactive storytelling), but I need to go off for a bit (and maybe learn some basics of scripting languages) before I come back to Crawford's theories.

Kindle Book: A Theory of Fun for Game Design

I've been reading Ralph Koster's A Theory of Fun for Game Design on and off for the last few weeks. A Theory of Fun was recommended to me by a friend. I was excited to find it on Kindle, which meant it was a lot easier to bring this book along with me. :)

A Theory of Game Design is not a book I would have picked up myself right now without my friend's urging. I've been focusing on books about writing video games, while this is theory about game design. That being said, Koster's book is an extremely good read. He breaks games down and starts a theoretical discussion on both games and players. He uses everyday language, making this book easy to understand. If you are remotely interested in game design, you should definitely give this book a read!