Telling a good story is never easy, especially when you have to work within the limits of commercial game development.
But it's possible to construct compelling, affecting narratives in even the most bite-sized of games, and 2019 Game Developers Conference next month you'll enjoy an earnest look at the little tricks and narrative nuances that make stories sing -- even if players only engage with your game for a few minutes at a time.
So if crafting compelling narratives is important to you and your work, make sure to check out Ryan Kaufman's GDC 2019 Design track talk on "Narrative Nuances on Free-To-Play Mobile Games."
A Telltale Games veteran who now works as VP of narrative design at Jam City, Kaufman is an experienced storyteller who will demonstrate how considering things like screenshot sharing, frequent narrative payoffs for shorter session times and cliffhangers can help a story come to life and in turn, drive engagement, retention and virality.
You also need great writers and narrative leads, of course, and Kaufman will give you some insight into how to apply such talent to the task of creating compelling tales that fit well within a mobile F2P game environment. Expect to walk away with a better understanding why characterization, virality, overarching mysteries and other considerations drive retention, engagement and monetization, and discover the means it takes to create a compelling narrative experience catered to the mobile audience and platform!
If this is a talk you want to see, make sure to bookmark it on the GDC 2019 Session Scheduler. There you can begin to lay out your GDC 2019, which takes place March 18th through the 22nd at the (newly renovated!) Moscone Center in San Francisco.
Bring your team to GDC! Register a group of 10 or more and save 10 percent on conference passes. Learn more here.
For more details on GDC 2019 visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.