Topics include: What is world building in game? Why world building important for gaming? Why everyone is a worldbuilder? Principles of worldbuilding? Ways to improve the world building How to write world building and some tips Exercise on world building

1. Game design specialization AFT: 732 Credit: 3
World building
A narrative wrapping
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2. Course overview
Through this course students can understand the concepts of world building in game design.
CO1:: Analyze the world building concept for game design.
CO2:: Evaluate the essentials of worldbuilding for game design.
CO3:: Point out the narrative structure of creating life, places, culture with beyond and fantasy for worldbuilding in game design.
CO4:: Develop a fantasy world for a game.
CO5:: Produce a fantasy map for the game.
CO6:: Create a fantasy world using worldbuilding software .
Course outcomes Keywords
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Core topic
1. Introduction to world building.
2. Fundamental of Creating life
3. Creating places in world building
4. Essentials of culture and beyond
5. A world building with software

3. 1. Introduction to
world building
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Topics include:
1. What is world building in game?
2. Why world building important for gaming?
3. Why everyone is a worldbuilder?
4. Principles of worldbuilding?
5. Ways to improve the world building
6. How to write world building and some tips
7. Exercise on world building

4. 1. Introduction to world building.
1.1 What is world building in game?
And why it is not a level design?
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5. World building
Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, such
as the galaxy where Star Wars takes place, or Middle Earth in Lord of
the Rings. It can also mean constructing a specific set of rules for a
world that is ours in some respects, but not in others, like the world of
the Harry Potter universe, for example.
It’s something that novelists, filmmakers, cartoonists, board game
designers, and others do before they begin to build a story that does not
take place in a world that does not follow our rules of history, biology,
and physics.

6. World building
Worldbuilding usually involves creating the rules and structures of the
imaginary world, so the imaginary world will feel consistent and rich
with depth. It also helps support the themes the creators wish to
engage with.
Worldbuilding involves things like imagining geography – how much
water does your world have? How many continents or forests? What
kinds of geological features?

7. World building
It’s also about things like physics – does your world operate according to
the known laws of physics, as a science fiction alien world might? Or
does it operate according to rules that are made up, like a magical world
where things float?
Worldbuilding also involves imagining things like sociology, biology, and
anthropology.
What kinds of people and animals live in your world? What kinds of
other sentient life? Can rocks feel things in your world? Do the birds talk
to you? Are there giants?

8. World building
And if you have humans or otherwise sentient beings in your world,
how are their societies organized? What are their governments like? Are
there castes, taboos, laws, traditions, superstitions(Andhwishvas)? What
do your invented characters do every day, and most importantly, why do
they do this?
As you can see, worldbuilding can potentially involve a lot of work, a lot
of thought, and a lot of depth. This rich thinking can give us worlds that
are so interesting and deep that consumers want to continue to
experience them for themselves. If you’ve got a rich and varied world ,
people, our consumers – want to revisit it again and again and again.

9. World building
‘This rich thinking can give us worlds that
are so interesting and deep that consumers
want to continue to experience them for
themselves’.

10. World building in game
The basics of Worldbuilding, the foundation, is a set of
rules for your world.
What languages exist and which ones do your
characters speak? How does society work? Is the game
a dystopian wasteland like the Fallout series where
bottle caps are the world’s currency? Do different rules
apply such as magic or faster than light travel? What
religions exist, and how do they work? What is the
history of the world? What is the world’s place within
the universe?
Worldbuilding allows for stories to be told within its constraints, within its rules. It is only when
characters try to overcome an obstacle do we get a story.
Good worldbuilding will enhance the themes of the story.
Worldbuilding is about heightening the emotional impact of your gameplay and story.

11. World building is it not a level design
It would be easy to confuse worldbuilding with level design and game creation.
You can have great level design and bad worldbuilding.
Think of level design as the flow through an environment, be it physical movement through the
world/level and the challenge.
Worldbuilding is the history and story of the world, shown visually, from the way a building looks,
to rubbish strewn on the floor.
This will change the way a player will interact in the game spaces. Players will bring their own
personal experiences which will inform the way they play and comprehend this new world.
Level designers are often responsible for the difficulty of the game because they are placing the
ground and enemies in a 2d side scroller. In a 3d game there are placing the network of paths you
can follow.

12. Who Is Responsible For Worldbuilding When Designing A Game?
A wide variety of disciplines come together to implement
worldbuilding including art, design, and programming.
In order to have a powerful cohesive world, everyone in a team needs
to be pulling in the same direction. The narrative and mechanical
themes of a game are more powerful if they are reflected in the play
space of the world. This will often be led by the game director. Whose
job it is to make sure all departments are contributing to the whole.

13. Who Is Responsible For Worldbuilding When Designing A Game?
Level designers work closely with environmental artists in order to
make a functional space. That meets the needs of the gameplay and the
story.
The platform the game is going to be on will also have an impact on the
type of worldbuilding. Mobile phone games for example have different
challenges in regards to consumer retention, where they are often
played for a shorter amount of time compared with PC or console
games. So mobile phone games don’t have time to allow the player to
explore the world, they have to be more focused experiences.

14. 1. Introduction to world building.
1.2 Why world building important for gaming?
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15. Why does world building important for games?
In the world of game design, the purpose of world building is to create a context for
the game, or what we frequently call the “narrative wrapping”
Even in games that aren't story-heavy or driven by experiences composed in the same
way as novels and movies, the world in which the game takes place matters.
Worldbuilding gives you characters you care about, and motivation to engage with the
world and its mechanisms. It creates a curiosity that drives you to explore, level up and
see what happens next, or what content you can access as you go. It provides objectives
and puzzles that push you further into the game.
Worldbuilding also goes hand in hand with some mechanisms. Do you want your players
to fly? Do you want them to be able to transform?

16. WHY DOES WORLD BUILDING MATTER FOR GAMES?
For example, want to make a game where players can fight with giant lizards while in
the shells of giant robots, you should create a compelling world in which giant lizards
and giant robots can logically exist, and have their good stuff in it. Reasons to fight each
other.
Unlike movies, novels or television, the player is part of the story in games and part of
the world made by the creators. Building a powerful and rich world engages players in
the mechanics of gameplay and allows immersion in the game world created by game
developers.
It gives them a chance to write their own story and find this experience both
entertaining and compelling. The mechanics provide loops of compulsion, but the
narrative provides emotional connection, mystery, and the discovery.

17. Why does being ethical important?
Being ethical is important because people engage in imaginary worlds with the same passion and
affection that they experience in their real lives.
People are motivated to do things within the fantasy world of games because of the narrative
reasons we give them in our carefully designed narrative worlds.
‘’It is important because in games, the player is a participant by an agency in the world we created.
And because players not only watch something, but act in the worlds we create, I believe we have
an obligation as moral beings and citizens of this small planet to make worlds that do not
intentionally (or unintentionally) ignore the realities of our world, or to advance problematic issues
in our real-life and living realities for our players.’’
How exactly do we do this? How do we make worlds ethically according to ethical principles?
I believes that there are some basic principles that we can begin to follow. Some of these things
have to do with the world we create, but a lot of it has to do with the way we live in that world.

18. Reflection of humanity – even in a world without humans
All stories with sentient beings – they be: robots, aliens, orcs, hobbits, fairies or giant raging
monsters - create reflections of humans or human emotions. Every character in a fictional world
embodies some element of humanity - which is why we respond to them.
Even when we make games about zombies, elves, fairies, robots or aliens, we always make games
that reflect aspects of humanity.
‘No matter what distant star your game world is set in,
it must reflect the depth and richness of human nature in order to resonate with players’.
All imaginary beings are just extensions of our own humanity. But how do we go about creating
authentic reflections of humanity within them? This is the biggest question.
And for this first, we need to honor the same kinds of diversity that exists in our real world and
aspire to the same kind of psychological and social depth in our imaginary worlds.

19. The idea of the diversity
Great worldbuilding is like an onion
Worldbuilding in games is about creating a unified world, through designing play spaces. Which
shares a lot of design theory with interior design. How to master a space in such a way that the
player expresses a required emotion. Which should feedback into the gameplay to make a
powerful experience.
Lets see the GDC talk about: Interior Design and Environment Art: Mastering Space, Mastering
Place.
Duration: 1 hour

20. 1.3 Why everyone is a worldbuilder?
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21. The idea of the diversity
Why everyone is a worldbuilder
Even if you do not do worldbuilding professionally, even if you have
never made a game or written a story, you are still a worldbuilder.
We all live within a narrative wrapper we have created for ourselves. It’s
part of the human experience to take the raw material of our lives and
turn it into a coherent narrative, a story with twists and turns, love and
sorrow, conflict and resolution. That story, which we tell ourselves,
begins with our birth and ends with where we are today.

22. The idea of the diversity
Why everyone is a worldbuilder
It’s part of what we tell people when we meet them, though parts of the story come out
to different people and at different times. We tell our story in bars, in board rooms,
during class or night out parties.
Stories allow us to interpret the things that have happened to us, and that’s incredibly
powerful.
But it can also be limiting.
We tell ourselves that we have good intentions, so we stop interrogating ourselves. We
tell ourselves that it’s too complicated, so we go for something easy and reductive.

23. The idea of the diversity
Why everyone is a worldbuilder
Sometimes the stories we tell ourselves limit us from building a new story or seeing the
old one in a new way. Sometimes the world building we’ve done on our own lives
diminishes us rather than enriches us.
Letting go means stepping away from the world we have built for ourselves and see
what else is out there. See what is happening in the here and now, away from our own
story.
That’s when we can create new worlds – not only for players, but also for ourselves.

24. 1.4 Principles of worldbuilding?
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1. Introduction to world building. 3.Lecture

25. The idea of the diversity
Principles of worldbuilding
1. NATURAL AND BASED ON REALITY
2. POSITIVE MASCULINE AND FEMININE REPRESENTATIONS
3. EXPRESS REALITY AS MORE INTENSE, BEAUTIFUL OR INTERESTING
4. FREEDOM AND ADVENTURE
5. MATURITY AND RESPONSIBILITY
6. FULL OF LIFE
7. DEPTH

26. The idea of the diversity
Principles of worldbuilding
The world must have its roots in reality. It must represent realistic characters, ideas,
motives and situations which are coming from the real world. This is done without
ideological biases and without dumbing down, neutralizing, hiding or misrepresenting
anything.
Characters are normal people put in interesting situations. They can be quite simple, but
they are not bastardized to fit a narrative. Their opinions and reactions naturally emerge
from what they experience.
This does not limit the extent to which elements can be magnified or changed but the
reason must be to make the world most interesting, intense or beautiful and not to fit a
narrative.
1. Natural and based on reality

27. The idea of the diversity
Principles of worldbuilding
2. Positive masculine and feminine representations
Everything in the world is a play between masculine and feminine characteristics and
representations of masculine and feminine energies. There are positive and negative
representations of each in every situation. Both energies are balanced and seen as
equal with realistic expressions of each one.

28. The idea of the diversity
Principles of worldbuilding
The world takes every occasion to make reality more interesting. Things are bigger,
more intense, more relaxing, more harmonious, smarter or more peaceful than in
reality. It is not about creating things that are fake to give synthetic feelings but just
pushing the boundaries of reality. It must give the audience a way to explore situations,
characters, relationships, ideas and stories that they could normally not.
And characters must react as normal human beings to what they see and the choices
they make. They must not be heroes or special beings, but everyday people put into
extraordinary worlds. In general, the kind of emotions that characters will experience
will be the emotions experienced by the audience.
3. Express reality as more intense, beautiful or interesting

29. The idea of the diversity
Principles of worldbuilding
The world must be a way to experience freedom and adventure. Characters must
experience a life larger than average people in the real world. They must meet kings and
queens, risk their life in spatial dogfights and make passionate love.
The audience should feel empowered and that characters have free will over their
actions. There should be a sense that the world is in motion and that it is filled with
potential adventures and things to discover. Characters must be living this adventure
and constantly progress and explore.
4. Freedom and adventure

30. The idea of the diversity
Principles of worldbuilding
5. Maturity and responsibility
The world should approach themes and ideas in a mature way. And the world should
not impose opinions on the audience. Characters should display a sense of responsibility
towards what is happening in the world and decide for themselves what to do.
The characters should drive the story and the story should not be happening to them.
Characters should have motives and a purpose and should not be defined by their
physical or mental attributes but by their actions and decisions.
This helps avoid making stereotypical characters. Heroes are not born, they are made. A
character is not smart or kind but is a researcher wanting to discover new things or a
priestess wanting to make her village blossom.

31. The idea of the diversity
Principles of worldbuilding
The world must be full of life. At every scale and in every dimension. Characters should
have conflicts and internal lives. Cities must have secret places and bustling streets.
Environments should be teeming with life and so on.
This is especially important if the world has a visual component like video games and
movies. The audience may not consciously notice that tube laying next to the spaceship
but it sure influences how much they enjoy the world.
6. Full of life

32. 7. Depth
The world must have depth. Appearances and an interesting exterior do not make up for
a lack of themes and internal substance. Everything must have meaning and depth.
There must be layers to characters and events and the audience must not feel like
everything is out in the open. Their investment in the world must be rewarded by
deeper levels of meaning.

33. Class activity: Write a hypothetical short concept that resembles our real world using
these principals.
1. Natural and based on reality
2. Positive masculine and feminine representations
3. Express reality as more intense, beautiful or interesting
4. Freedom and adventure
5. Maturity and responsibility
6. Full of life
7. Depth

34. 1. Introduction to world building.
1.5 Ways to improve the world building
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4.Lecture

35. The idea of the diversity
Ways to improve the world building
1. Understanding the core aspects of world building
2. Build world familiarity with thematic layers
3. Rely on maps and languages
4. Build cultural evidence
5. Ensure logical consistency
6. Imply complex systems

36. 1. Understanding the core aspects of world building
We often have games that are purely fictional because the narrative
demands it, and we got others that are completely in the real world,
but they might be in a different time or somewhere in the middle.
This is important because it does matter in terms of culturalization
decisions. If you're setting your game in the real world and using real
geography with real culture and history, you have a different set of rules
you have to follow.

37. Realism is a design decision how realistic they want to look. Realisation is the
combination of the narrative goals of your game and its experience goals.
So what's the story behind the game and what is the player actually doing in your
game?
That's the most basic level to define; what your realisation goals are. The realisation
goals basically set out how much of the world you actually need to make, and that's
really important."

38. 2. Build world familiarity with thematic layers
There are thematic layers that you can use when creating a world that will make it feel
more complete. And it is depending on the type of universe we are building.
• Climatology (the scientific study of climate.) and atmosphere
• Geophysics(the physics of the earth.)
• Biosphere ( the regions of the surface, atmosphere, and hydrosphere of the earth)
• Demographics (species, genders, ages, ethnicities)
• Cultural identities (language, history/lore, symbology)
• Cultural systems (faith, politics, economy, transportation)
And be careful about how you use these layers- ideally, they need to add to the
narrative in a meaningful way.

39. 3. Rely on maps and languages
This may sound like common sense, but maps and languages are both
crucial steps to making a world feel alive.
A great example of a game language that led to a realized world is
Simlish, the language invented for The Sims. While it may sound like
gibberish language there's actually some logic to it. It all participates in
making the player feel like their character is part of a wider world.
No one is expecting you to create a new language every time you
develop a game, but you can achieve a sense of belonging to a culture
by using specific expressions, dialects or accents.

40. 4. Build cultural evidence
Cultural evidence is another strong tool to create a fully realized world,
and it's essentially the process of making good stuff.
when you're creating an object and throwing it in the environment you
need to think:
• Why is this going into the environment?
• What does it mean?
• What relevance does it have to the narrative and all the other things
that are going on?
Always ask these question to your self.

41. 5. Ensure logical consistency
Not only should the cultural evidence we are building make sense for
the universe we are creating, but everything should be logically
consistent with the design of the world.
6. Imply complex systems
In order to imply complex systems in our world, we need to create
connections between characters, locations, architecture -- we need to
think more then beyond, without necessarily building it.

42. 1.6 How to write world building and some tips
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43. The idea of the diversity
How to write world building and tips
1. Decide what kind of world you want
2. Decide where to start
3. List the rules and laws
4. Describe the environment
5. Define the culture
6. Define the language
7. Identify the history
8. Use existing works to inspire you
9. Describe how characters develop
10.Plan with caution

44. 1. Decide what kind of world you want
Pick a genre. Is this a dystopian or fantasy novel (or both)? Does it take
place on our Earth or on an alternate earth? Knowing this will help
figure out the tone and mood of your world.
2. Decide where to start
Whether it’s the language spoken by the inhabitants or the apocalyptic
landscape, pick the aspect of the world you’re most excited about
exploring and start there.

45. 3. List the rules and laws
The inhabitants who live in this world you’ve created will have their
own independent existence. What is their governing system? Who is in
charge? Is this a magical world? If so, who can use the magic system?
How powerful is it? Setting up boundaries helps create a fictional world
that functions more like a real world.
4. Describe the environment
Give your fantasy world a sense of place. What’s the weather like? How
does it affect the rest of the world? Are there natural disasters? Are
there extreme temperatures? What natural resources exist in this
location? How do people use the land? Establishing the environment is
a useful detail in the creation of your world.

46. 5. Define the culture
What do the inhabitants of this universe believe in?
Is there religion?
Is there a god?
Do they have any sacred customs?
What do they celebrate?
How do these factors shape their points of view?
Breathe life into the characters who populate this location by giving
them a meaningful existence. Write down how people behave and what
they do in their daily life.

47. 6.Define the language
As a worldbuilder, indicate how the inhabitants communicate.
Is there a common tongue?
Are there taboo subjects?
Knowing what can and can not be said in your world can be an apt
source for conflict. Differing languages and dialects can also indicate the
diversity of your characters.
For instance, George R. R. Martin’s world of Westeros in his Game of
Thrones series has multiple languages spoken by various different
tribes, and each language belongs to a culture with its own rich history.

48. 7. Identify the history
What is your world’s history?
Have there been any world wars?
Do the countries within your world have enemies?
Are there rival nations?
Is there a sole antagonist?
Providing the backstory for your world can give it an added dimension
and make it feel more tangible.

49. 8. Use existing works to inspire you
Revisit the works of successful fantasy authors to get inspiration. Never
steal ideas, but review the work of other fantasy writers to see how
they answer the same worldbuilding questions within their own novel
writing.
9. Describe how characters develop
our character development is based on the sociopolitical factors you
establish. Is their status based on their class or wealth? Do they have
jobs they can get promoted at? Is their political system oppressive?
How do they respond to grief or loss? Do they fall in love? Figuring out
how your main characters grow is an important defining aspect of your
characters’ world.

50. 10. Plan with caution
Building a detailed world for fantasy fiction can be fun, and it’s easy to
get lost in the small details you want to include in your universe.
However, focusing on too many aspects of your fantasy worldbuilding
will not only take time away from the actual writing but possibly limit
your freedom when trying to change your story later. You may feel like
you have to follow the worldbuilding you’ve laid out for yourself
(especially after spending so much time on it)—but your story and
other details will continuously change along the way, so it’s better not
to get too hung up on the minor things.

51. Class activity: Continue with yesterday short concept and implement
world-building tips that you learn in this session.

52. 1. Introduction to world building.
1.6 Exercise on world building
52
Step 1: Plan but Don’t Over-Plan
Step 2: Describe Your World
Step 3: Inhabit Your World
Step 4: Establish the History of Your World
Step 5: Determine the Culture of Your World
Step 6: Power Your World
5.Lecture