Design your Story as a Game

• Design your Story as a Game?
• Why would I need this?
• Improvisation.
• Interest.
• Engagement.

• Keep your stories exciting.
• Make your writing adaptable.
• Start small, Start now.

A few simple rules

• You will need a few rules to understand your Game.
• The Public will need a few rules to understand your Story.

• You can go for 1 rule per chapter.
• Or for 10 rules for the whole story.
• Keep it at 20 rule maximum.
• And 5-words Phrases max.
• A Sample Table of Rules:
  • Everything has a Purpose
  • Your Team is United
  • Living beings strive to Grow
  • Sun brings Hope
  • Hunger Gathers us
  • Play with Fire
  • Run through Seas & Skies
  • Temperance soothes the Mind
  • Ponder through Time
  • Follow the Footprints of the Survivors

Few rules to Improvise

• You may need to change the rules you’ve established.
• Offer the public a clear justification.
  • This crisis was necessary for character’s evolution
  • This is the aftermath of this catastrophe
• People will enjoy consequences.
• Therefore, picture any major change as a consequence of a crisis.
• You may need to adapt the application of the rule

• You will make mistakes.
• It is not a problem.
• Get back to the story & Get going.
• Rules will allow you to become flexible.
• Become more resilient though improvisation.
  • This character will die/disappear/transform
  • How will you change her Body/Mind/Soul?
  • What if the Protagonist & the Antagonist swap places?
  • Is hope lost for the rest of the cast?
  • Is your story Broken?
  • Will breaking your story be the best decision you make?

Write a Shared Story

• The Public is your team.
• Guide them through the Story.
• Guide them with the Story.
• Your story is a game, and games are collective.
• Map your story as a board game.
• Your chapters are 10 rooms, 10 trials for your public to play with.

• Beta-test with your Team.
• Look for the bugs : inconsistency & incomprehension.
• Your Team is your 1st Customer.
• Don’t stop until they’re fully satisfied.

• Ask your Co-Writers:
  • How do they define Fun?
  • What’s their favorite Game?
  • How long did it take them to learn the rules?
  • What strikes them as they play?
  • What are their most memorable game?

Have fun, Surprise yourself

• ‘We can’t wait to play.’
• Make people impatient, Make people Hungry.
• Be unpredictable.
• Be changeable.

• Try 5 different Genres.
• Write Action, then Horror, then Adventure, then Comedy, then Drama.
• And restart with a different combination of genre.
• Expose yourself to as many Settings as possible.
• These 5 Genre will serve as your core map.
• Your favorite setting is Thriller?
• Go for a mix of Action, Drama & Horror.
• You prefer Epics?
• Shake Action & Adventure together and add a drop of the 3 other genres.

• Contrasting Characters
• Start Small, with your 1st character, then the 2nd.
  • Simple characters, 2 Strengths, 2 Weaknesses, 1 Goal
• Start now, Improvisation creates Unusual results.
  • Use exaggeration, use Contrast.
• Single character or Team?
  • Make your people different size, shape, color

• Flashy Settings
• Start Small, start with 1 Landmark, 1 Room, 1 Small building.
  • Giant Landmarks, 1 main Quirk, Life & Death related
• Start now, What is the purpose of this location?
  • Unlimited resources, Oppressive Presence, Ridiculous inhabitants
• Draw a Small map of the location with the essential parts.
  • Somewhere to rest
  • Somewhere to have fun
  • Somewhere to fight

You do not need in-depth research

• Research should help.
• It should not limit.
• It should not censor you.
• Try not marketing your product as Authentic, or respectful of the traditions, or any other analogous formula.
• If you enjoy a specific setting/world/environment/language/culture create a create fable based on the elements you enjoy.

• Research will help you to add elements of credibility/depth.
• Both Matters.
• Yet, In the end this is make belief.
• What matters is consistency.
• What matters is contrast.
• What matters is contentment.

• Start Small, start with a small room only.
  • Somewhere to rest
  • Somewhere to have fun
  • Somewhere to fight
• Turn the room into the building.
  • Somewhere to rest/have fun
  • Somewhere to Produce & Manage Resources
  • Somewhere to fight
• Turn the building into the district, then in a town, than in a City
  • Somewhere to rest/have fun
  • Somewhere to Produce & Manage Resources
  • Somewhere to Trade
  • Somewhere to fight

• Start now, grow fast, grow steadily.
  • Your World is waiting
  • Your Public is waiting
  • You Game is waiting