Christina Norman (@truffle) is currently working for Bioware. She designs Mass Effect games. Here are her tweets livereporting Game Developers Conference 2011, particularly about developing story in social games.
Presenter is showing that character and story in social games is already moving forward incredibly fast. Story is already important.—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Presenter is showing how story demographics of social games correspond to tv demographics #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Good storytelling can aid in retention, if you can achieve the "Lost" or "Sopranos" effect, keep players coming back to finish #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Many novels were released in serialized form to sell newspapers or magazines, pure story to increase retention #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
It is harder for social games to be immersive when notifications and pop ups constantly interrupt gameplay. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Writing for social games can be daunting because it is a daily activity, but soap operas manage it! #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Smurf's village being shown as an example of a dollhouse social game that includes character and story.—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Dollhouse games are most Facebook games where you have a space you build up and decorate. Frontierville also has good story. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Coherent story that matches the activities you do in game is key. Like frontierville quest to build a cabin for your spouse. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Second half is more about the business side. Presenter is going through all the info we can get from Facebook profiles. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Profile tells us who your friends are, metrics in game tell us how you interact with your friends in game. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Using this data you can customize your story based on who is playing, and their relationship with their friends. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Examples: your girlfriend is in another castle, your school's reputation is at stake. Leverage emotional ties players already have. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Simple narrative quest example: quest to plant rice, say it is to feed starving children, narrative encourages emotional investment—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
I have been saying for a while we need more shared narrative in games that is not 100% the same. My story != your story. #gdc11—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
Combine storytelling with metrics we can see what kind of story players care about. #gdc11 customize story further to the player.—
Christina Norman (@truffle) March 01, 2011
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Jeraldine Rutten
March 6, 2011 at 3:10 PM
Video games is still the king of children’s pastime.