PERSPECTIVE
Narrative Engine
Write it like you stole it
JON INGOLD
So I played a game today with an interesting plot and good characters – and also puzzles. You can see where this is going: I hit a puzzle I couldn’t solve. The plot evaporated. The characters ran out of things to say. It became like a theme park after closing time. It was sad, and by the time I found the way forwards, my suspension of disbelief had taken a critical hit.
I have a Post-it note about this stuck to the side of the cabinet behind my desk. It reads “STORY = CHANGE OVER TIME” and, ironically, it’s been there for more than a decade. It was scribbled on a train before my studio, Inkle, was founded, when co-founder Joseph Humfrey and I were on our way to a meeting with a potential partner. We were looking for pithy ways to explain why our games would be different from the other narrative games out there.