Narrative Design goes above mere writing, as Plato argued in Phaedrus §275a, writing is a dead form. It can’t be interacted with, and is therefore unsuitable for experiences in which the player is an active participant. Failing to reconcile the interactive nature of a simulated world with the storytelling which we channel through it does nothing more than demote the player to a viewer, and undermine the potential of our medium.
Without a doubt, the true essence of Narrative Design lays in understanding how to structure a story so that it reacts to the player’s actions, or better yet, be entirely driven by them. Only then can we peer past the world of images and grasp at the true potential of interactive experiences.
This can be as simple as the branching dialogues and storytelling state machines used in RPGs such as Disco Elysium and Fallout: New Vegas, or it can be as complex as the cascading combinatorics that stories in Dwarf Fortress are born out of. All this without forgetting about the platonic ideal of purely participant-driven storytelling which games like Dungeons & Dragons offers us a glimpse into.
Narrative Design is therefore a branch of Systems Design; Chiefly concerned with the structure, planning, and technical underlayings of storytelling in a virtual stage where the actors are active contributors to the play. Though of course, that’s not to underplay my ability to write: I’ve written plenty of short-form content, plotlines, lore, and scripts. I also graduated with a perfect score in creative writing from Vancouver Film School.