Nicholas Andriani Rankin

Tag: stories

  • The Five Commandments of Storytelling

    The Five Commandments of Storytelling

    1. Inciting Incident The inciting incident destabilizes the protagonist by upsetting the balance of their life for good or for ill. Every inciting incident is either causal (the result of an active choice by an AVATAR) or coincidental (something unexpected or random or accidental). In response, the protagonist forms a goal, which they begin to pursue. Read…

  • A Midsummer Night’s Maze: Interactive Fiction and Narrative Design

    A Midsummer Night’s Maze: Interactive Fiction and Narrative Design

    Possible video game plot and summary for an interactive fiction based on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: Title: “A Midsummer Night’s Maze” Synopsis In the magical land of Athens, four young lovers are caught in a love triangle, each pining for the affection of the other. At the same time, a group of mischievous fairies and…

  • The Pixar Storytelling Process

    Pixar films tell great stories. Toy Story. Finding Nemo. WALL-E. Up. These and other films have together grossed $ billions and won many awards. For example, WALL-E, one of my favorites, earned $533 million at the box office and several awards, including an Academy Award for best animated feature. How do they do it? Pixar story artist, Emma Coats, says…