Narrative Design

Purpose

Use When

• story, dialogue, lore, or character arcs need structure
• narrative and gameplay feel disconnected
• content growth is making canon hard to manage

Inputs

• game pillars
• quest or mission structure
• world rules
• localization constraints

Process

1. define narrative goals, arcs, and world rules
2. link story beats to gameplay and objective flow
3. write or outline dialogue with implementation constraints in mind
4. create a canon reference and naming consistency rules
5. plan subtitle, VO, and localization implications early

Outputs

• narrative brief
• canon notes
• dialogue or quest specs
• localization and VO considerations

Quality Bar

• supports the core fantasy and player goals
• defines readable rules, edge cases, and feedback
• creates concrete hooks for tuning, telemetry, and QA

Common Failure Modes

• adding systems that do not serve the core loop
• shipping vague rules that QA and engineering must guess at
• tuning without instrumentation or hypotheses

Related Agents

• narrative-designer
• gdd-designer
• audio-designer

Related Commands

• gdd
• quest-design
• update-docs

Notes

• Keep this skill aligned with the relevant rules layer and current project documentation.
• If engine-specific constraints materially change the workflow, hand off to the matching engine skill or engine-specific reviewer.