In the Beginning: Preproduction

Every game begins with a story. Often story ideas come from game designers themselves or are pitched by outsiders, but increasingly they are based on other forms of entertainment like popular movies. Other common sources are sequels or spin offs of existing games and simulations of real-world events.

Once the basic game concept is decided upon, writers and artists work together on a storyboard. A storyboard consists of rough sketches and technical instructions sequentially organized to depict each scene of the game. It is a visual representation of the story and a reference for the writers, artists and designers just as it would be for a film. But while a film has a single storyline, a video game can have thousands of outcomes. Therefore various levels, or "worlds," of the game must be sketched out.

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