Games Design and Creative Writing

Games design and creative writing is a combination that acknowledges what the games industry has come to recognise more fully in recent years: that compelling games require compelling stories, and that the skills of the writer, from character development and narrative structure to dialogue and world-building, are as central to great game design as any technical capability. Games are among the most powerful storytelling media available, and the practitioners who can combine design thinking with genuine writing craft are increasingly valued across the industry.

At Brunel University London, this three-year, full-time degree develops both sets of skills in parallel. You will study creative writing techniques and traditions, developing your abilities in fiction, narrative, character, and dialogue, alongside the specific demands of narrative design in games, including branching story structures, player agency, interactive fiction, and world-building for interactive environments. The programme explores how traditional story principles apply to games design and gameplay, and how the interactive dimension of games creates storytelling possibilities and challenges that linear media cannot replicate.

The typical entry tariff of 120 points reflects an accessible approach to a practice-based creative programme.

Graduates of games design and creative writing work in games studios as narrative designers, writers, and game designers, contributing to the storytelling and world-building dimensions of game development. Others work in the wider creative industries in writing, content creation, interactive fiction, escape room design, and transmedia storytelling. Publishing, journalism, and education are also destinations for graduates whose writing skills take them beyond the games context.

Many graduates also develop independent creative practices alongside commercial work, and some go on to postgraduate study in creative writing, game design, or interactive narrative to deepen their expertise.