This online CPD training is for anyone who wants to develop their talent in the video game industry and create richer player experiences. It’s suitable if you:

• Are a game writer or narrative designer looking to build on your skills
• Are new to the industry and want to develop your portfolio and understand what a development team needs from a writer
• Are a solo developer or part of a small team looking to develop and secure funding for a game idea
• Work in other areas of game development and publishing, be it as a designer, producer, programmer or artist etc.
• Want to learn how to see the underlying framework behind all stories — both in video games and traditional media
• Can dedicate 10 hours on average per week to the training

Whether you’re looking to develop your portfolio, land a role at a studio, secure funding for a game, or train up your whole team, this professional training will allow you to:

• Acquire the key technical expertise game writers and narrative designers need
• Develop essential skills in writing shout-outs, cutscenes, branching narratives and in-game lore documents
• Gain the narrative skills to better integrate story into the production process, ensure story is heard within a development team, and resolve problems where game design requirements feel at odds with story needs
• Get to grips with industry tools such as Twine, Ink and Ren’Py
• Master story structure and have the skills to diagnose and fix story problems
• Gain greater understanding of industry expectations and processes within development teams
• Clearly identify and pursue your potential
• Network with others in the industry, and with the tutor team and special guests

Each course is divided into sessions. These sessions are released one by one (weekly or fortnightly, depending on the course). 

There’s no need to log on at a set time. You can work through the learning materials whenever suits you, day or night, wherever you are in the world. Just complete the assignments and join forum discussions by the session deadline. 

Our teaching method is based on the science of active learning: you read/listen/watch, try out, share and reflect. It’s a social experience – you become part of a small group, feeding back on each other’s writing to build a supportive bunch of readers you trust. Find out more here.

Session 1: The Protagonist and The Player –We start with an in-depth analysis of what a protagonist is, their desire and their relationship to the player. You’ll learn about good characterisation and how the identification process works.

Session 1: The Protagonist and The Player – We start with an in-depth analysis of what a protagonist is, their desire and their relationship to the player. You’ll learn about good characterisation and how the identification process works in interactive storytelling, and begin to develop the narrative foundations of your original game.

Session 2: Key Elements of Story – In addition to a protagonist and a desire, every story needs a compelling antagonist, an inciting incident, a journey, a crisis, a climax and a resolution. We’ll analyse all these elements in detail and how they work in games, looking at the best games out there today.

Session 3: Understanding Story Structure – We’ll focus on the ten questions you need to ask to make sure your story isn’t broken, and how you can structure it in three and five acts. By the end of the session, you’ll be able to deconstruct any story and will have mapped your game idea to a concise (but flexible!) act structure.

Session 4: Merging Story and Gameplay – The key challenge in game writing is to make story and gameplay work together. For this, you need to know your verbs, understand agency, choice, pacing and much more. You’ll lay out verbs and a roadmap of change in a macro design chart for your game, a hugely beneficial document to the development process.

Session 5: Storytelling Tips – How you tell your interactive story is as important as what the story is. A great story told badly is worse than an okay story told elegantly. You’ll learn 15 essential tips on how to perfect your storytelling, from mastering your hero’s journey to subverting expectations and delivering exposition effectively. Find out how to appeal to your audience and keep them gripped to the very end. You’ll have a one-to-one call with your tutor to discuss your professional goals in taking the course.

Session 6: Writing in a Development Team – Learn what a development team needs from a writer — how you can contribute to, improve and make an impact on the quality of the final experience. We’ll also delve into the many ‘artefacts’ that a games writer actually produces in their day to day work (from shout-outs and in-world lore to cutscenes) and you can get to grips with industry tools such as Twine, Ren’Py and Ink.

Session 7: Documenting the Vision – In this final two-week session, you’ll develop an industry-standard story bible or a pitch document for your game. The choice will depend on your professional goals, whether it’s developing your portfolio, landing a role at a studio, securing funding for a game, or mastering the art of boiling down a nebulous concept into a few pages.

You’ll then discuss your next steps into the industry, with advice from our team at whatever stage you are at.

Join our alumni

After your course, you can join our online alumni community where you’ll meet our growing network of past students. You’ll be able to.

• Rejoin your classmates in a private forum
• Continue to access an archived version of your course materials
• Meet alumni from other courses and share work for feedback
• Join discussions about games writing, script editing and the industry
• Attend live chats with guest writers and industry folk

Mentoring and one-to-one feedback

The John Yorke Story tutor team offer mentoring, script reads and reports. We are happy to quote by job or script, or to arrange a longer mentoring scheme as you work on a specific story idea. We’ll create a package to suit you, so for more information please email [email protected]

Taking things further

If you’d like to take another John Yorke Story course, we’ll give you a discount. Please get in touch for more details.

Women in Games Bursary

The games industry needs more women and we’re committed to helping encourage more female talent on the scene.

The bursary covers 25% of the regular course price and is available to one female applicant for each iteration of this course. To apply, email John Yorke Story and tell the team how you’d benefit.

As this counts as CPD training, you may also be able to get funding from your employer to do it. See here for all John Yorke Story’s latest bursary and funding opportunities.