Individual skill

narrative-design

The craft of weaving story into interactive systems where the player is both audience and author. This skill covers the unique challenges of game narrative: branching structures that respect player agency, environmental storytelling that rewards exploration, dialogue systems that feel alive, and the delicate balance between authored experience and emergent narrative. Unlike linear media, games don't tell stories TO players - they create the conditions for stories to emerge WITH players. The narrative designer's job is to build the scaffolding that supports infinite player-authored moments while maintaining coherent themes and emotional arcs. This skill synthesizes lessons from Disco Elysium's internal monologue as gameplay, Hades' death-as-narrative-engine, interactive fiction's branching mastery (Inkle, Twine), and procedural narrative pioneers like Dwarf Fortress. It addresses ludonarrative harmony, bark systems, cinematics that respect agency, and the "and therefore" test that separates plot from story. Use when "narrative design, game story, game writing, dialogue system, branching narrative, player choice, environmental storytelling, bark system, quest design, lore delivery, ludonarrative, interactive fiction, inkle, twine, dialogue tree, player agency, cinematic design, voice direction, localization, procedural narrative, narrative, game-writing, dialogue, branching, player-agency, environmental-storytelling, quest-design, voice-acting, localization, interactive-fiction, procedural-narrative, ludonarrative" mentioned.

skills/narrative-design/SKILL.md

Source commit e8dcf4e8737921a10088bd5c9eb65e81f74c051f

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Observed behavior

Instructions only

Last checked

Nov 11, 2026

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