Non-Linear Storytelling: Developing Story in Games
Today’s video games feature vast open worlds where players can disappear for countless hours. They venture off on unique adventures in search of the unexpected. Writers need to fill these worlds with countless stories and opportunities that inspire player exploration. With examples from his most recent game, FAR CRY PRIMAL, scriptwriter Kevin Shortt will walk through the process of crafting a convincing world and fantasy, developing believable characters, and building a narrative that can support a player’s meandering attention.
Kevin Shortt
Lead Writer, Ubisoft Montreal
Kevin is lead writer at Ubisoft Montreal and has spent over 10 years in video game development. His credits include FAR CRY PRIMAL, WATCH DOGS, JAMES CAMERON'S AVATAR: THE GAME and LOST: THE VIDEO GAME.
Raised in Guelph Ontario, Kevin moved to Vancouver where his writing career began as script coordinator on THE NEW ADAMS FAMILY and soon moved to Associate Producer with Disney Channel’s SO WIERD.
Kevin was drawn to interactive storytelling and in the early aughts, he launched a failed interactive sitcom, SUITE218.COM. The scars still run deep, but his love for non-linear storytelling has held firm. He rebounded with award-winning interactive work at Tribal DDB that helped to garner Marketing’s Digital Agency of the Year 2005. In 2006, he joined Ubisoft where he enjoys the daily challenges of non-linear storytelling in a powerfully interactive medium.
Montreal is home for Kevin, his wife, and their two kids. He runs a mean marathon, plays terrible guitar, and once performed sketch comedy in the Arabian Desert.
