Indie and Mid-Level Narrative Design, Post-Apocalyptic Worlds, Toxic Gamer Culture, AR/VR, and Online Testing with Edwin McRae

Edwin McRae talks about his role as a narrative designer and the various projects he’s working on. Hear how housesitting in New Zealand allows him to move around and work remotely with clients in the U.S., Poland, Denmark, Germany, and locally. Learn how he was a writer for the #1 soap opera in New Zealand and how he made the jump into game development.

Hear what he’d wished he’d know when starting in the industry and what it was like working on hugely popular Diablo II-style Path of Exile game. Learn how being a narrative designer is very different than writing for TV or film along with advice for someone trying to get into games. Learn about procedural generation and the with favorite projects he's worked on. 

Hear his thoughts on interactive fiction including some of his favorite games like A Dark Room, plus discussion on game engines and a book he’s written. Hear concerns about the ongoing toxic gamer culture and the potential backlash to shady engagement tactics. Learn a controversial opinion on AR, along with accolades for VR. Hear how designers are obsessed with post-apocalyptic storylines and sometimes break the 4th wall of design with continuity issues. Learn now quality TV shows are an inspiration for his narrative design work and what games he’s playing now that influence him.

Hear how user experience is one of the most important aspects of narrative design, the importance of online beta play testing, and what happens in focus tests. Learn where to find Edwin online, thoughts on being in the industry now, along with how SIGGRAPH-winning Level Ex is excelling in a unique genre.

Resources:

*New: Game Dev Advice Patreon

*Edwin McRae website

*Narrative Design For Indies website

*Books website

*Facebook site

*Game Writer Discord

*Path of Exile website

*Tencent Wikipedia

*80 Days website

*Guardian Maia YouTube

*Ink Script from Inkle Studios

*Project Haven Steam

*Drugwars Wikipedia

*A Dark Room Wikipedia

*Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light Wikipedia

*Mad Max Wikipedia

*Level Ex website

*Top 15 Game Design Podcasts You Must Follow in 2019 website picked Game Dev Advice at no. 8!

*Game Dev Advice Twitter

*Game Dev Advice email

*Game Dev Advice website

*Game Dev Advice Hotline: (224) 484-7733

*And thanks to Charles Dike Production podcast editing 

*Don't forget to subscribe and go to www.gamedevadvice.com for full show notes with links

About My Guest 

Edwin McRae has been working as a writer and narrative designer in the games industry for ten years. He helps indie and mid-level developers create in-game narratives that work in harmony with game mechanics. More recently, Edwin has written three GameLit novels and a couple of non-fiction books on Narrative Design, the latest of which is coming out in March of 2020.

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