Video: Diverse game characters - write them now!

Ubisoft scriptwriter Jill Murray shares practical advice on writing the French Creole female protagonist Aveline de Grandpre from Assassin's Creed III: Liberation in this GDC 2013 lecture.

in this GDC 2013 lecture. The video is now free, courtesy of the GDC Vault.

"The more stereotypical characters we create, the more we write ourselves into corners," warns Murray. To avoid this, she offers several tips and tools for more diverse characters.

Session Name: Diverse Game Characters: Write Them Now!

Speaker(s): Jill Murray

Company Name(s): Ubisoft

Track / Format: Advocacy

Overview: Variety is the spice of life. Games are a playful exploration of life. Clearly the two are made for each other. For writers and narrative designers, this means building diversity into the cast of characters with whom we populate game worlds. This requires research, imagination, consideration, and yes, the risk of getting it wrong. But attention paid to diversity strengthens every aspect of writing, and opens us to new narrative possibilities and gameplay paradigms. This session is a diversity bootcamp covering everything from "sensitive topics" to finding the nugget of commonality we share with each character we invent.
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