Harleigh Awner (Technical Narrative Designer, Sony Santa Monica Studio)
Pass Type:
All Access Pass, Core Pass
Topic:
Design
Format:
Lecture
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Home bases in games have long been a player-driven experience: supporting characters lack agency and believability. In this session, Harleigh describes an approach to creating a home base that is character-driven: what it means to give characters the independence to act, why it’s important, the challenges the team faced, and the solutions they found. This lecture will break down two visits to Sindri’s House by describing in detail the structure of each visit and how the team approached balancing the goals of character autonomy and unrestricted player control.
Takeaway
Attendees will learn how to create narrative-focused spaces with a focus on independent NPC behavior and character interaction through examples from Sindri’s House in God of War Ragnarök, and how to evolve on the home base framework established in previous popular games.
Intended Audience
This session is intended for designers creating home bases or other hubs in their games or anyone interested in narrative design.