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Copyright © 2002-2023 Mark Barrett 

Docs

Articles, essays and select blog posts listed in alphabetical order. Each listing contains a brief summary and links for viewing or downloading each document.

Academic Intent and Reinventing the Wheel

PDF

A response to Janet Murray’s essay on Cyberdrama in First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game, edited by Noah Wardrip-Fruin and Pat Harrigan.

Emotional Involvement: The GDC Roundtables
Annual reports from the interactive storytelling roundtables I moderated in 2000, 2001 and 2002 at the Game Developers Conference.

    2000 Moderator’s Report

PDF

    2001 Moderator’s Report

PDF

    2002 Moderator’s Report

PDF

Graphics — the Language of Interactive Storytelling

PDF

Originally written in 2000, this article for Computer Graphics magazine describes the means by which emotional involvement and narrative experiences can be derived from interactivity. (The above link leads to a short excerpt. For the full document, please open or download the PDF.)

Interactivity and Narrative: A Discussion with Chris Crawford

PDF

An exchange of e-mails with Chris Crawford concerning what we may or may not be able to do on the bleeding edge of interactive entertainment design.

Irreconcilable Differences: Game vs. Story

PDF

The fundamental schism between gameplay and storytelling, and why this schism will never be resolved.

Localizing Narrative in Interactive Entertainment

PDF

A post-mortem regarding the pitfalls of script localization, and the means by which the process can be improved.

Meaning in Storytelling and the Impossibility of Computation

PDF

Why you shouldn’t wait for a story-generating algorithm.

Storytellers: A Hiring Guide for the Interactive Industry

PDF

A practical guide to the benefits and process of adding a storyteller to your development team.

‘Theme’ and Its Dire Effects, by Thomas McCormack

PDF

A liberating essay on how theme is commonly taught, why this approach is wrong, and what can be done about it, from Thomas McCormack’s book, The Fiction Editor, the Novel, and the Novelist.

Transparency in Interactive Entertainment

PDF

A treatise about the foundation upon which all entertainment is built, how interactive entertainment must build upon this foundation, and the implications of meeting, or failing to meet, this obligation. (The above link leads to a short excerpt. For the full document, please open or download the PDF.)