| Unit name | Storytelling and Games |
|---|---|
| Unit code | FATVM0034 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Samuel |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
N/A |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
N/A |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
N/A |
| School/department | Department of Film and Television |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences |
Why is this unit important
How are games uniquely positioned to tell stories? What narrative strategies do they exploit to connect us with characters and immerse us in their worlds and environments? What happens at the intersection of narrative and technology? This foundational unit is essential to your developmental arc as you begin to conceive ideas for narrative games. It will allow you to identify the kinds of games that you are interested in writing, and the unique ways in which games lend themselves as a narrative storytelling medium. The unit will span genre and platform, thinking about narrative design in small-scale mobile games through to AAA titles developed by global teams. It will consider the strategies that developers have taken to push the bounds of narrative in games, as well as the affordances of games for opening access to players to develop their own narratives, e.g., through modding.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study
Storytelling and Games will not only equip you with foundational critical thinking skills informed by game studies scholarship, but also a set of transferable ideas that can then be applied to your own games. You will consider – within the context of a global industry – what makes storytelling in and through games unique. In the process, you will be prompted to challenge stereotypes and representations in your work. This unit sits alongside the 40-credit unit Writing for Games where you will be working in the game writers' room to design and develop a narrative outline.
An overview of content
This unit will position you at the intersection of debates around how games tell stories, informed by the latest research in game studies. It will consider narratological approaches alongside games as complex rules-based systems. You will encounter a range of narrative frameworks and their application through a series of gaming case studies across genre and platform, from indie to AAA productions. Attention will be given to dialogue, environmental storytelling, mechanics, agency, paratexts, and more. By deconstructing game narratives and reflecting on their components, you will gain the confidence to imagine new possibilities when it comes to narrative design.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
The responsibility of the narrative designer is to hold the whole game in their head. It is about slotting together the affordances of games with a complex narrative structure that the player co-authors. Through active play and inquiry-based learning, this unit will equip you with the analytical skills and context to confront this challenge. You will be able to critically review game narratives, reflect on how critics and scholars write about game narratives, and have experimented with constructing your own critical commentaries for existing games.
Learning Outcomes
A weekly 2h seminar/workshop and 3h active play session plus a series of industry guest lectures.
Learning on this unit will take the form of a weekly 2h seminar/workshop, followed by 3h of active play. Industry guest lectures may also occur during class time as well as concept game jams, where the idea is to think about a complex topic through games, using game design as a methodology. The 2h weekly seminar/workshop is intended to introduce you to topics, key debates in game studies, and provocations. During this time, you will have the opportunity to develop your understanding of these topics, before taking them into the weekly 3h active play session, where you will process them in relation to specific games and tasks. This will foster a culture of critical thinkers and conscientious consumers.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
You will write a blog post reviewing the narrative strategy of a chosen game, drawing on your game diary. Feedback will be given by peers in your learning group. This will enable you to practice critiquing game narratives for the essay task. You will also take part in concept game jams to critique aspects of storytelling in and through games.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Let's Play recorded playthrough, 5 minutes per group member (30%) [ILO 1-3] (group project)
2,500-word essay or video essay / podcast equivalent responding to questions posed around how games tell stories (70%) [ILOs 1, 2, 4] (individual)
Group assessment marks for the Let’s Play recorded playthroughs will comprise your individual 5-minute contribution and the overall execution of the final video.
When assessment does not go to plan
Reassessment for the essay component will take the same form as the original brief. For the Let’s Play recorded playthrough, if there are sufficient numbers a new group will be formed, enabling students to be assessed in the same manner as the original brief. If numbers are insufficient to create a group, students will individually create a 5-minute Let’s Play recorded playthrough and comment on how it would have added to their group’s original attempt.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. FATVM0034).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
