Character Development and Storytelling for Games (Game Development Series)
Lee Sheldon
Course Technology PTR
June 2004
Paperback, 488 pages
ISBN: 1592003532
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This is a book of ideas and of choices. Knowing which choices to make is not teachable. It‘s part of that creative instinct we call talent whose secret voice guides us every time we sit down at the keyboard. All stories are not identical. They are shaped by all those unique facets of the human beings who write them. All any writer can do when he wants to share his knowledge with others is be as open and giving as possible; and hope others can learn from that. You hold in your hands most of what I know about writing for games and much of what I believe and practice no matter what kind of writing I‘m doing. It is meant to inform, to instruct, and maybe even inspire. It is as much about game design as it is writing for games. The two are virtually inseparable. The book itself has been designed as a quest. We are all of us on a journey toward a destination for which there is no single road. ––Lee Sheldon, Author New Features< br />
- Written in an easy–to–read style for casual readers but still full of detail.
- The first book of its kind to deal specifically with writing for games.
- The author has long been a successful Hollywood writer/producer.
- Companion website available here: http://www.delmarlearning.com/companions/index.asp?isbn=1592003532
About the Author:
Lee Sheldon Lee Sheldon has written and designed 20 commercial video games and MMOs. His book Character Development and Storytelling for Games is required reading in game design programs at some of the world‘s most distinguished universities. Lee has contributed to several books on video games including Well–Played 2.0, Writing for Video Game Genres from the IGDA, Game Design: An Interactive Experience and Second Person. He is cited in many publications and is a regular lecturer and consultant on game design and writing in the US and abroad. Before his career in video games Lee wrote and produced over 200 popular television shows, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Charlie‘s Angels, and Cagney and Lacey. Recently he consulted on Danger Game, a TV series in development for the SyFy Channel. As head writer of the daytime serial Edge of Night he received a nomination for best writing from the Writers Guild of America. Lee has been twice nominated for Edgar awards by the Mystery Writers of America. His first mystery novel, Impossible Bliss, was re–issued in 2004. Lee began his academic career in 2006 as a professor at Indiana University where he taught game design and screenwriting. At IU Lee instituted the practice of designing classes as multiplayer games, worked on the serious games Quest Atlantis and Virtual Congress, and wrote and designed the alternate reality games The Skeleton Chase and Skeleton Chase 2: The Psychic funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Skeleton Chase 3: Warp Speed funded by Coca–Cola. He continues as creative director of the narrative–driven MMO Londontown. He is currently with Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute as Co–Director of the Games and Simulation Arts program. He is also writing and designing a new children‘s video game, and is writer and design consultant on a commercial browser–based MMO, as well as a Facebook game, both based on an internationally well–known IP.
