Collaborative Worldbuilding for Video Games

215 Pages·2023·8.037 MB·English

by  Kaitlin Tremblay

Collaborative
Worldbuilding for
Video Games
This book is a theoretical and practical deep dive into the craft of world-
building for video games, with an explicit focus on how different job dis-
ciplines contribute to worldbuilding. In addition to providing lenses for
recognizing the various components in creating fictional and digital worlds,
the author positions worldbuilding as a reciprocal and dynamic process,
a process which acknowledges that worldbuilding is both created by and
instrumental in the design of narrative, gameplay, art, audio, and more.
Collaborative Worldbuilding for Video Games encourages mutual respect
and collaboration among teams and provides game writers and narrative
designers tools for effectively incorporating other job roles into their own
worldbuilding practice and vice versa.
Features:
• Provides in-depth exploration of worldbuilding via respective job
disciplines
• Deep dives and case studies into a variety of games, both AAA and
indie
• Includes boxed articles for deeper interrogation and exploration of
key ideas
• Contains templates and checklists for practical tips on worldbuilding

Collaborative
Worldbuilding for
Video Games
Kaitlin Tremblay
Cover image credit: Shutterstock.com
First edition published 2023
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
and by CRC Press
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
© 2023 Kaitlin Tremblay
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and
publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of
their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all m aterial
reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this
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and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.
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Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-1-032-38558-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-38554-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-34561-9 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003345619
Typeset in Minion
by codeMantra
To my brothers, Brian and Eric, my original co-conspirators.

Contents
Author, xi
Acknowledgments, xiii
Introduction: Being in Awe 1
HOW THIS BOOK IS STRUCTURED 3
WHAT TO EXPECT WITH THIS BOOK 6
Chapter 1 ◾ Overview of Worldbuilding 9
WHAT IS WORLDBUILDING? 9
WHY IS WORLDBUILDING IMPORTANT? 13
KEY PRINCIPLES OF WORLDBUILDING 14
Prioritize Believability 15
Be Expansive/Open 17
Focus on Tangibility 20
Find Inherent Pressures 22
WHAT IS IMMERSION? 24
NOTES 26
Chapter 2 ◾ A Cross-Discipline Breakdown of
Worldbuilding 29
NARRATIVE 30
Narrative Collectibles 30
Naming Conventions 33
Descriptions 36
vii
viii ◾ Contents
Characters 38
Dialogue 40
GAMEPLAY 42
Systems 43
Mechanics 46
Verbs 48
Quests/Missions 50
Level Design 53
Enemies and Creatures 59
ART 62
Environment Art 62
Character Art 66
Creature Art 69
Animation 70
Palettes 72
UI 74
HUDs 75
Menus 76
Quest Logs 78
Maps 79
PROGRAMMING 82
Boundaries 82
AI Behaviors 84
World Simulation 86
Physics 88
AUDIO 89
Sound Effects 91
Foley 94
Soundtrack 96
Voice Design/Direction 98
Contents ◾ ix
CASE STUDY: A WORLD WITHOUT WORDS
IN GRIS 102
NOTES 104
Chapter 3 ◾ How to Get Started Creating a World 109
GOALS 110
WORLD BIBLE 112
World Bible Template 113
REMINDERS WHEN WORLDBUILDING 115
NOTES 116
Chapter 4 ◾ Collaboration in Worldbuilding: A Series
of Deeper Dives 117
BUILDING THE HEART OF A WORLD 118
What Remains of Edith Finch’s Ensemble Cast 119
Neo Cab’s Fashion Representing a World in Flux 123
Character Sheet Template 125
DETERMINING THE FEEL OF A WORLD 126
Silent Hill’s Fog and The Medium’s Semi- Fixed Cameras 128
Procedural Generation of a World: No Man’s Sky’s Planets
and Watch Dogs: Legion’s Population 131
CREATING COMPELLING CONFLICT IN A WORLD 135
Finding Yourself in a World: Stonefly’s Ecosystem and
Sable’s Gliding 136
Psychonauts 2’s Externalizing Internal Conflict 138
EXPRESSING THE ENVIRONMENT OF A WORLD 139
Outer Wilds’ Entire Solar System 141
Cloud Gardens’ Flora as Protagonist 144
Environmental Storytelling as Mechanic in Umurangi
Generation 146
DOCUMENTING A WORLD’S HISTORY 148
Tell Me Why’s Personal History 149