Supporting narrative design in video games: proposal and case study with an educational video game

Abstract

Among the elements to consider when designing a video game, narrative stands out due to its importance in contextualizing and motivating. However, there are no standard processes for creating interactive digital narratives. In educational video games, a suitable narrative is even more essential to captivate players with a story, which serves as a vehicle for transmitting and evaluating knowledge. Consequently, this article proposes a narrative design process for video games, developed for general application but particularly useful for educational games. It defines a narrative structure, a set of design steps, and the documents generated during the process, each one representing a different perspective of the game’s narrative. To validate the proposal, a narrative-rich game called Time Invaders was designed to teach reading comprehension. It was tested with 237 school-age children, measuring their experience and satisfaction. The study revealed that the narrative was the most valued element of the game.