Chris Avellone at Game Narrative Summit

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A 4 Hour Story in 400 Simple Steps: Fallout DLC

SPEAKER/S: Chris Avellone (Obsidian Entertainment, Inc)

DAY / TIME / LOCATION: TBD

TRACK / DURATION / FORMAT / AUDIENCE LEVEL: Game Narrative Summit / 60-Minute / Lecture / All

GDC VAULT RECORDING: TBD

 

DESCRIPTION: Using Fallout: New Vegas DLC's Dead Money as a test case, creative director Chris Avellone runs through the process in creating a small RPG game narrative from pitch to completion, detailing all the tasks along the way: Pitch docs, narrative standards docs, thematic design, maps and level layouts, bug fixing and more until your game story is finally in a player's hands. Focus and questions include specific studio tools and techniques: story flowchart creation, building emotional vistas, script proofing, and text editing and lockdown sessions.

 

TAKEAWAY: Specific layouts, formats for conversation editors, localizaton info, level and character design templates, approaches to character concepting, research, and more of a "how to" and "what needs to be done" in terms of game narrative - this will be a listing of a complete product cycle for a narrative designer on an RPG.

 

 

In the Shadow of Greatness - Sequels and Reboots Deconstructed

SPEAKER/S: Mary DeMarle (Eidos Montreal), Tom Abernathy (Microsoft Studios), Chris Avellone (Obsidian Entertainment, Inc), Raphael Van Lierop (HELM Studio) and Ivan Mulkeen (Eidos Montreal)

DAY / TIME / LOCATION: TBD

TRACK / DURATION / FORMAT / AUDIENCE LEVEL: Game Narrative Summit / 60-Minute / Panel / All

GDC VAULT RECORDING: TBD

 

DESCRIPTION: In the era of reboots and trilogies, what are the challenges that a development team faces when it comes to how they treat beloved game IP's? This session will bring together developers from various studios who have all had their hand involved in recreating or reigniting projects that have previously struck gold. Special consideration will be given to how to follow up a successful or beloved story, including how to do right by the existing fans, while attracting the ever important larger fan-base - and how you overcome the preconception that one must play the prequel before playing the sequels.

 

TAKEAWAY: This panel will address: What are the major considerations taken and needed for successful reboots and sequels? What common misconceptions can we debunk? How does DLC fit into the narrative structure (for fans and for developers)? What does the future look like for original IPs?