Good game writing doesn’t appear fully formed. It’s carved, reshaped, and sometimes duct-taped together at 2 a.m. In this series of microtalks, three veteran narrative professionals share their best practices for editing, patching, evolving, and polishing your game story while in the trenches of development.

Diandra Lasrado will demonstrate that in a constantly changing world where writers are seemingly disappearing, the discipline of editing is more crucial than ever in AAA. Marissa Koors will bring the indie perspective, revealing how an editor's command of narrative magic optimizes limited resources and relieves pressure on small teams. Finally, Joshua Rubin shares hard-won triage techniques for rescuing broken stories when it’s too late for gameplay to change.

Together, these talks give writers, narrative designers, and studio leads field-tested toolkits for strengthening story, as well as new perspective into the narrative discipline. Because great game writing isn’t born perfect—it’s edited and refined through collaboration, and sometimes saved in the nick of time.

Takeaway

Attendees will learn how editing enhances game narrative, and come away with practical editorial techniques and best practices for managing feedback workflows, anticipating interdepartmental needs, and refining narrative at every stage of development.

Intended Audience

This talk is intended for writers, narrative designers, studio leads seeking scalable narrative quality, and anyone who works with, or aspires to learn more about game stories and how they come together.