Personal Development
Hands on Training icon
Hands On Training
Hands on Training icon

Writing Video Game Scenes and Dialogue

Course Cover
compare button icon

Course Features

icon

Duration

5 weeks

icon

Delivery Method

Online

icon

Available on

Limited Access

icon

Accessibility

Mobile, Desktop, Laptop

icon

Language

English

icon

Subtitles

English

icon

Level

Beginner

icon

Effort

6 hours per week

icon

Teaching Type

Self Paced

Course Description

Increasingly, game designers are realizing that cutscenes, cinematics and character interactions through dialogue are not just breaks from gameplay, or ways of providing exposition. They are integral to the player’s experience of a game. Talking is action. Dialogue is gameplay.

In this course we will explore how to create compelling, vital scenes, and how to use dialogue to support gameplay, deepen character, and advance the game’s story.

Early career game writers will often get their first experience writing dialogue for NPCs, especially the infamous barks and taunts. We’ll show you how to make this dialogue work, when it should sing and when it should be invisible.

Verified learners will access additional game industry interviews, assignments and discussion topics, connecting with a community of other writers and game enthusiasts.

Course Overview

projects-img

International Faculty

projects-img

Post Course Interactions

projects-img

Instructor-Moderated Discussions

Skills You Will Gain

What You Will Learn

The importance of voice and how to find and develop it

How scenes work, and how to build and deepen them

How to write unskippable dialogue

The fundamental building blocks of cinematic storytelling

How to excel at writing ambient conversations, barks and taunts.

Course Instructors

Peter Boychuk

Adjunct Professor

Peter Boychuk is an Adjunct Professor at UBC's School of Creative Writing where he currently teaches Writing for Video Games. He is also the Narrative Designer at Archiact Interactive, and was the le...

Andrew Gray

Program Coordinator

Andrew Gray helped develop the courses in the Video Game Writing Certificate and also provides learner course support. He founded UBC Creative Writing's online MFA Program and currently works to coor...
Course Cover