Narrative Game Design
storytellers vs. context Creators
The recurring themes and suggestions in the three assigned articles help me to describe my own space in the art and technology new world as it pertains to game design. I've struggled to define where I fit in as a multi-media designer. These common themes provide a metaphorical license to create: immersive worlds, player-centric stories, and contextual design.
In "Game Design as Narrative Architecture," Henry Jenkins compares emergent game design to kids in a sandbox or children playing with a dollhouse. In this case game designers divise a framework where players make choices with meaningful consequences within a space. I am personally drawn to color, movement and even some paradoxical chaos. However, I question myself, "How can I make this beautiful thing a game?" "How will I make this an interactive experience for someone other than myself?" It is the job of the narrative architect to set the stage and allow players to set their own goals, conflicts and desires. Jenkins says rewards and consequences can be emotional or concrete; so players follow their own emotional journey.
Dramatic flow is key, according to Jesper Juul in "Introduction to Game Time." This article addresses the tension element that entices and enthralls players in real time and projected worlds. With flow in mind, my own approach to game design creates conflict and flow through imagination. What will happen if I throw a ball at this cluster of particles and make them shatter in the most explosive way possible.? Now that's cool. I have created a context. It's the player who writes the story.
Celia Pierce espouses this idea of player-centric approach in game design; instead of telling players what the story is and will be, rather, we invite them to come play in the sandbox with the rest of us. Pierce's article, “Towards a Game Theory of Game," also refers to rewards and consequences, as well as, the dramatic arc. Think of the player as a kid sitting in a sandbox with some buckets, shovels and rakes. What will the kid build? What other tools will he need to find? How excited will he be when he puts the top on his sand castle?
In "Game Design as Narrative Architecture," Henry Jenkins compares emergent game design to kids in a sandbox or children playing with a dollhouse. In this case game designers divise a framework where players make choices with meaningful consequences within a space. I am personally drawn to color, movement and even some paradoxical chaos. However, I question myself, "How can I make this beautiful thing a game?" "How will I make this an interactive experience for someone other than myself?" It is the job of the narrative architect to set the stage and allow players to set their own goals, conflicts and desires. Jenkins says rewards and consequences can be emotional or concrete; so players follow their own emotional journey.
Dramatic flow is key, according to Jesper Juul in "Introduction to Game Time." This article addresses the tension element that entices and enthralls players in real time and projected worlds. With flow in mind, my own approach to game design creates conflict and flow through imagination. What will happen if I throw a ball at this cluster of particles and make them shatter in the most explosive way possible.? Now that's cool. I have created a context. It's the player who writes the story.
Celia Pierce espouses this idea of player-centric approach in game design; instead of telling players what the story is and will be, rather, we invite them to come play in the sandbox with the rest of us. Pierce's article, “Towards a Game Theory of Game," also refers to rewards and consequences, as well as, the dramatic arc. Think of the player as a kid sitting in a sandbox with some buckets, shovels and rakes. What will the kid build? What other tools will he need to find? How excited will he be when he puts the top on his sand castle?
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This is my current design focus-- Create something that the casual passer-by, well, cannot pass by. My current project is the Lorenz Attractor. A player throws a ball into the moving butterfly shape at any point, and the results are never the same. Reactions depend on the input. Lorenz is an algorithm like Einstein's Relativity. The equation is always the same. It's the conditions that change. In this example, Lorenz should always seek to return to a healed state. The shapes and flow are fascinating. All of this "wow- behavior" because a player threw a yellow ball into a virtual space just to see what would happen.
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Assistance provided for comparison chart .
OpenAI. ChatGPT, version GPT-5.1, OpenAI, 2025. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025 |
To illustrate my point comparing, Einstein's relativity and Lorenz's choes: You can think of them like tools in the same toolbox. Both models have:
• variables storing input • a function that performs the core calculation • a loop that repeats that function • an array or list storing results • and a visualization that draws those results The only difference is the equation inside the function. Relativity uses a linear formula. Lorenz uses nonlinear differential equations. |
Articles for this assignment, writing and reflection:
Jenkins, Henry. “Game Design as Narrative Architecture.” First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan, MIT Press, 2004, pp. 118–130.
Juul, Jesper. “Introduction to Game Time.” First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game, edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan, MIT Press, 2004, pp. 131–142. http://www.jesperjuul.net/text/timetoplay/.
Pearce, Celia. “Towards a Game Theory of Game.” Electronic Book Review, 8 July 2004, https://electronicbookreview.com/publications/towards-a-game-theory-of-game/.
