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General information

Subject type: Mandatory

Coordinator: Juan José Pons López

Trimester: First term

Credits: 4

Teaching staff: 

Antonio José Planells De La Maza

Academic year: 2025

Teaching course: 4

Languages ​​of instruction

  • Catalan

The materials can be provided in Catalan as well as in Spanish or English.

Competencies / Learning Outcomes

Specific skills

  • E1. Demonstrate knowledge of the history of video games and analyze the reference video games with arguments based on evaluation criteria contextualized in the historical and cultural framework.

  • E2. Design the mechanics, rules, structure and narrative of video games following the criteria of gameplay and balance to provide the best possible gaming experience.

General competencies

  • G1. Demonstrate having and understanding advanced knowledge of their area of ​​study that includes the theoretical, practical and methodological aspects, with a level of depth that reaches the forefront of knowledge.

  • G2. Solve complex problems in their field of work, by applying their knowledge, developing arguments and procedures, and using creative and innovative ideas.

  • G3. Gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their area of ​​study) to make judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific, or ethical issues.

  • G4. Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to a specialized and non-specialized audience.

Transversal competences

  • T1. Communicate in a third language, preferably English, with an appropriate level of oral and written communication and in accordance with the needs of graduates.

  • T2. Work as a member of an interdisciplinary team either as an additional member or performing management tasks in order to contribute to developing projects with pragmatism and a sense of responsibility, making commitments and taking into account available resources.

Presentation of the subject

The subject of Narrative takes a holistic approach (literature, cinema and games) to the phenomenon of telling, living and playing stories in the framework of the subject of Game Design and Creation. In this way, it is key to understand not only the formal elements of the narratological tradition (characters, plots, temporality and space) but also the contemporary debates that arise from the current playful positions. In addition, the subject has a strong link with the cultural and social framework of the video game, thus generating a text / context reading that takes into account both the cultural function of the medium and its ability to present new imaginaries. This theoretical approach is complemented by the realization of different practices, all of them oriented to the conceptual creation of a small game of marked narrative character.

Contents

1. Preliminary concepts.

1.1. Narration vs. Fiction. Story vs. World. The concept of possible world and ludofictional world.

1.2. Background (Backstory) and Context (Setting).

 

2. Ludofiction within the framework of digital leisure.

2.1. History, events and narrative structures.

2.1.1 Action as a narrative engine.

2.1.2 Plots, conflict and objectives.

2.1.3 The relationship between plots and rules.

2.1.4 Narrative structures: from classic models to storylets.

2.1.5 From the Environmental Narrative to the Indexical Narrative.

2.2. The existing ones: The character and the space

2.2.1 Concept of interactive character

2.2.2 Identification and control of the user

2.2.3 Configuration and transformation arc

2.2.4 Emotional, psychological characterization and actions

2.2.5. The types of space and the construction of axes.

 

3. Narrative Design (I): quests, dialogues and puzzles.

3.1 Narrative Designer and related figures: screenwriter, writer and game designer.

3.2. The design of missions or quests.

3.3. Linear and non-linear dialogs.

3.4. The design of narrative puzzles.

3.5. case study

 

4. Narrative Design (II): The staging and the creation of cinematics.

4.1. The composition and the picture.

4.2. Types of shots and camera movements.

4.3. The outfield and the pictorial plan.

 

5. Audiovisual and Interactive Narratology (I): formal dimension

5.1. Time: duration, order and frequency.

5.2. The voice: the narrator.

5.3. The rupture: Metalepsis.

 

6. Audiovisual and Interactive Narratology (II): universal arguments

6.1. From the mytheme to the narrative motif and the structure of the arguments

6.2. The labyrinth as a primordial structure

6.3. The arguments of the journey: the search for treasure, the return home and the founding of the homeland

6.4. The arguments of power: revenge, resistance and the exercise of authority

6.5. The arguments of love, family and loss

6.6. The mirror, the creative drive and the struggle between light and darkness

Activities and evaluation system

The grade of each student will be calculated following the following percentages:

A1. Laboratory practice: Creation of an audiovisual script and a short film  30%

A2. Laboratory practice: Design of a narrative game 30%

A3. Final exam 40%

Final grade = A1 0,3 + A2 0,3 + A3 0,4 

Considerations:

  • It is necessary to obtain a mark higher than 5 in the final exam to pass the subject.
  • Spelling errors, writing errors and formal and technical problems specific to the subject will be penalized with 0,10 points, up to a maximum of 4 points, in all assessable activities and tests. In the case of the final ordinary and recovery exam, the maximum reduction will be 2 points.
  • An activity not delivered or delivered late and without justification (court summons or medical matter) counts as a 0.

Recovery:

  • The recovery will be done with a recovery exam that will have the same format and contents as the exam of activity 3.
  • It is necessary to obtain a mark superior to 5 in the final exam of recovery to pass the asignatura.
  • The grade of the make-up exam will be applied only to the grade of activity 3. Therefore, the weighting of the rest of the activities will be taken into account to obtain the final grade of the make-up.
  • The delivery of the rest of the activities will not be admitted to be re-evaluated in the framework of the recovery.
  • In case of passing the recovery, the maximum final mark that can be obtained in the total of the subject is 8.

Any form of academic fraud will be sanctioned in accordance with the school's assessment regulations. If signs of fraud are detected, including the improper use of generative artificial intelligence tools, the subject's teaching staff may call the student for an individual interview with the aim of verifying authorship. In this sense, the Narrative subject does not allow the use of artificial intelligence in any of its activities.

 

Bibliography

Basic

Cuadrado Alvarado, Alfonso & Planells de la Maza, Antonio José (2020). Fiction and video games. Theory and practice of ludonarración. Barcelona: UOC Press.

Heussner, Tobias; Kristen Finley, Toiya; Brandes Hepler, Jennifer & Lemay, Ann (2015). The Game Narrative Toolbox. Abingdon: CRC Press.

Walton, Marek & Suckling, Maurice (2012). Video Game Writing: From Macro to Micro. Dulles: Mercury Learning and Information. 

Complementary

Anyó, Lluis (2016). The player involved: Video games and narratives. Barcelona: Laertes.

Aristotle (2004). Poetics. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

Balló, Jordi & Pérez, Xavier (2006). The immortal seed: universal arguments in cinema. Barcelona: Anagram.

Bateman, Chris (Ed.). (2021). Game writing: Narrative skills for videogames. New York: Bloomsbury.

Bordwell, David (1996). Narration in fiction cinema. Barcelona: Paidós.

Campbell, Joseph (1959). The hero of a thousand faces: psychoanalysis of the myth. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Cuadrado Alvarado, Alfonso (2017). Audiovisual narration. Madrid: Synthesis.

Gaudreault, André & Jost, François (1995). The cinematographic story. Cinema and Narratology. Barcelona: Paidós.

Heussner, Tobias (Ed.)(2019). The Advanced Game Narrative Toolbox. Abingdon: CRC Press.

Katz, Steven (2005). Shot to shot: from idea to screen. Madrid: Plot.

King, Stephen (2018). while i write Madrid: Debolsillo.

Lebowitz, Josiah & Klug, Chris (2012). Interactive Storytelling for Video Games: Proven Writing Techniques for Role Playing Games, Online Games, First Person Shooters, and more. Massachusetts: Focal Press.

Marx, Christy (2007). Writing for animation, comics & games. London: Taylor & Francis.

McKee, Robert (2011). the script Story. Barcelona: Alba Editorial.

McKee, Robert (2018). The dialogue: The art of speaking on the page, the scene and the screen. Barcelona: Alba Editorial.

Murray, Janet (1999). Hamlet in the Holocover. The future of narrative in cyberspace. Barcelona: Paidós.

Navarro Remesal, Víctor (2016). Directed freedom A grammar of the analysis and design of video games. Santander: Shangrila. 

Nicklin, Hannah (2022). Writing for Games: Theory and Practice. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Planells de la Maza, Antonio José (2015). Video games and fictional worlds. Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra.

Sheldon, Lee (2014). Character development and storytelling for games (2nd edition). Boston: Course Technology. 

Short, Tanya X. & Adams, Tarn (Eds.)(2019). Procedural Storytelling in Game Design. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Skolnick, Evan (2014). Video Game Storytelling. Berkeley: Watson-Guptill Publications.