The Game Narrative Review program is a collaboration between Georgia’s leading game development schools, Neighborhood Studios, and the GDDA, which hosts the largest video game industry trade show in the southeastern United States, the SIEGE. Through this program, the GGDA invites participants with an interest in game narrative (non-professional) to submit one scene of an interactive dialogue. Submissions are evaluated by the GGDA advisory board to determine which ones deserve to be presented at the SIEGE. The authors of selected submissions are then notified and asked to create a complete scene of interactive dialogue with the help of voice actors from the Neighborhood Studio and industry experts. Accepted dialogues are then shown at SIEGE, and those participants are offered free passes to attend the conference and discuss their work with conference attendees.

What are the benefits to participating?

For participants:

• Gain knowledge of the elements of game narrative and storytelling effectiveness by creating an interactive dialogue.

• Authors of selected submissions will collaborate with voice over actors and industry experts to create their interactive dialogue scene.

• Finalists get:

o a free membership to GGDA

o their work displayed at the SIEGE

o exposure to industry contacts and hiring companies

o recognition that they can leverage professionally

o their work entered into the GGDA permanent online archives (www.youtube.com/GeorgiaGameDevs)

For participating schools:

• Exposure for the school to industry professionals

• Opportunities for their students to connect with leading employers

• An ongoing relationship with GGDA organizers

• Incentive for students to delve into narrative and writing in games, a growing aspect of the game development field.

For instructors who coordinate submissions (or encourage students to submit individually): • A valuable student exercise to add to their curricula

• A project that interfaces with industry professionals and gives students exposure outside the campus

What does participation require?

For schools and instructors:

Just circulate this “FAQ” to students along with the “Prompt” doc. But please also consider ways to implement this exercise more integrally into particular class curricula.

For participants: Write an interactive dialogue, as prescribed in the “Prompt” form (one author per entry). A 1-page interactive dialogue is all that is needed for the initial submission.

What types of games should you write the dialogue for?

Interactive dialogues are particularly important in story-driven games. Participants should aim at writing an interactive dialogue that moves the plot forward.

How should submissions be delivered?

Email all submissions to Dr. Victoria Lagrange: vlagrang@kennesaw.edu for review.

What are the submission deadlines?

• Completed scripts are due by Thursday, September 8th, 2022.

• Participants advancing to the next round will be notified mid-September, with instructions for creating their dialogue scene.

Whom to contact with questions?

For questions, please contact Dr. Victoria Lagrange: vlagrang@kennesaw.edu 

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Game Narrative Competition Prompt

Write one scene of interactive dialogue from your proposed game, using GoogleDoc. Dialogue should include one character besides the player and should be at least two Player Responses long (and no more than four). Use a scene in which the player is being told a new objective, whether a new quest or a new step in your main plot. A first sentence should explain when/where this dialogue takes place in the game, and then be followed by a dialogue tree. The layout shouldn’t take more than 1 page.

Keep in mind that:

• The objective should be clear to the player.

• Important information should be communicated to the player no matter which path they decide to take.

• The player’s options should be distinct from each other, reflect the variety of player types and responses, and matter for the narrative.

• The NPC should demonstrate a complex personality.

Submission

The submission should be a 1-page PDF including a 1-line introduction sentence and a dialogue diagram. The layout can be either landscape or portrait. The font should be no smaller than 12 pt.

Where and when to submit?

• Completed scripts are due by Thursday, September 8th, 2022.

Documents should be anonymized and be sent to the following email address: vlagrang@kennesaw.edu