STORY, PERFORMANCE AND PLAY - 2026/7

Module Overview

Writing for the screen, including the digital screens of video games, is a complex process that requires writers and producers to bring together different considerations of space, place, character, dialogue, motion and temporality as well as the performance of these.

In this module you will build on the knowledge and skills you gained in your first-year modules in visual storytelling, screenwriting, games design, visual arts and animation and games studies to work more extensively with script and performance.

You will also study narrative design in more detail, exploring the development of the interactive narrative design and working with the interfaces of storytelling, narrative structure, play, performance, mechanics and games design.

Story Performance and Play also provides you with an introduction to working with professional actors.

Exploring aspects of writing and producing for games and working with actors. Working with practitioners you will be introduced to the basic process of actors in terms of their movement, approach and vocal practice, enabling you feel confident working with them and enabling them to achieve peak performance.

We will also consider some of the challenges of working with non-professional actors as performers within games contexts and how to adapt established acting and voice techniques to unlock collaboration and creativity.

Students will produce an essay exploring the practice of working with actors and/or voice in games, a script or visual narrative for use in a game or games and work collaboratively to produce a joint project capturing performance for games.

Story Performance and Play connects to other creative writing, games design and games studies modules in all years across the programme and acts as an important step in students' learning journeys in establishing the bringing together of scripting and performance ideas and methodologies with the technical programming, design, visual and sound art aspects that bring video games to life.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

MOONEY Stephen (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 30

ECTS Credits: 15

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Creative Writing, Performance - Scriptwriting (for Screen, Stage and Virtual Space), Capturing and Enhancing Live Performance, Working with Actors and Voice

Indicative content includes:

• Writing for performance


• Scriptwriting for screen, stage and virtual spaces


• Narrative design and narrative structure


• Character development


• Writing mechanics and play


• Capturing and enhancing live performance


• Working with actors and voice


• Acting conventions


• Introduction to working with Voice


• Introduction to working with Movement


• Critical commentary

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate achievement of the module learning outcomes.

Seminar, workshop and practical/performance sessions facilitating discussion with ongoing tutor feedback is designed mainly to assess transferable skills in working as part of a group and applying theory to creative design and practical/professional skills in developing and presenting work in suitably industry facing form and to professional standards as well as expressing ideas and critical analysis in oral communication. It also assesses subject knowledge in the different forms of practical and critical thinking and expertise explored in relation to creative writing, visual production, performance and games design and cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking and in using theory in the close examination of critical texts and process and design challenges in class.

The Essay, Collaborative Group Project and Creative Portfolio (script or visual narrative) with Reflective Critical Commentary assessments option allows students to demonstrate:

• subject knowledge relating to the close analysis of form, meaning, language and context in writing for games (including sustainability and global and cultural capability narratives)


• cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking


• practical script writing, visual narrative and narrative design skills (or related forms)


• professional/practical skills in communicating ideas, proposing, planning, designing, testing and realising story, performance and play outputs that will feed forward into their future careers as writers, producers, games designers and/or critics


• creative engagement with the opportunities and limitations of particular modes of writing, producing and designing, skills that will feed into their creative writing, games design and other modules in future years of the degree, including their final major project in their final year 


• creative engagement with theories, texts, themes and challenges discussed on the module


• an ability to locate their own creative work fruitfully and articulately in relation to existing creative writing, performance and digital production traditions and relevant contemporary fields as part of their journey to hone their contextualising skills through their degree


• their ability to work collaborative as part of a joint project in producing industry facing outputs

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Essay (1000 words) (25%)

This summative assessment is an opportunity for students to explore the complexities, opportunities and challenges of working with actors and/or voice in games

Collaborative Group Project (25%)

This summative assessment is an opportunity for students to work together as part of a team to explore and demonstrate their abilities in capturing performance for games, presenting a short collaborative visual presentation with sound for assessment

Creative Portfolio (script or visual narrative) with Reflective Critical Commentary (500 words) (50%)

This summative assessment is an opportunity for students to develop and present creative writing work in script or related form (either as one longer piece or a collection of shorter realised pieces) OR a visual narrative or narratives of equivalent size. Alongside this, students will produce a 500 word Reflective Critical Commentary.

Formative Assessment & Feedback:

Verbal feedback and formative 'feed forward' is provided through seminar, workshop and practical/performance session discussions, and tutor and peer feedback in these settings, with draft work presented as part of the confidence building safe space of the workshop element of the classes.

Design, documentation, presentation, professional writing and critical analysis skills will be developed and honed which will feed forward to the summative assessments for this module and towards building the students' resilience and confidence in preparing work for assessment and public presentation.

There is the option of a range of other feedback mechanisms agreed between tutor and students in week 1 of the module, such as seminar contribution and writing exercises.

Module aims

• provide students with the opportunity to develop further their repertoire of artistic and professional techniques and practices related to writing for games
• enable students develop further understanding of professional practices, conventions and contexts relevant to script writing for screen, stage and virtual spaces
• Provide students with a grounding in the professional practices, conventions and contexts relevant to working with actors, voice and performance
• enable students to experiment with innovative approaches to the production of story, performance and play in games
• consistently develop students' critical reflection, critical analysis and essay writing skills and the ability to work and apply analytical skill autonomously.
• create an environment where students work as a group in the production of collaborative creative work.
• develop and enhance confidence in designing and presenting their creative work, as well as in producing an appropriate, professional creative outcome (script, visual narrative or related form)

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• hone and further develop students' scriptwriting, visual narrative and narrative design skills (in a variety of forms) by developing an awareness of the application of their writing practice and processes in informing their critical thinking, and vice versa, and in further developing their own ideation, building and testing skills through responding to in-class briefs, discussion and sharing of writing and designing experience alongside study of critical and source materials


• assist students in acutely locating creative writing, performance studies theories, texts and practices and their own critical writing, and their own design work in historical and cultural contexts by identifying some of the key ideas and concerns in writing and producing for different type of screen context, and with actors and other participants and the cultural context of this, which will likely include global cultural and sustainability questions, and the relationship between creative design practice and critical and theoretical approaches to such 


• allow students to understand how the skills gained in the first year of the degree in visual storytelling, screenwriting, games design, visual arts and animation and games studies can be brought together in effective and productive ways to more extensively work with script and performance.


• equip students with an understanding of some key considerations about, and approaches to, working with actors, voice and performance


• develop further students' research and writing skills they will need to produce critically informed academic and creative writing (in a variety of forms) and creative criticism by developing competency and confidence in writing in a variety of different modes and media by encouraging thinking about forms and professional standards in writing styles through the safe space of the seminar, workshop and practical/performance session settings where ideas, advice and responses are shared with new writers and designers


• equip students with a basic grounding in resourcefulness and resilience as emerging writers and designers by giving them the freedom to experiment with forms, modes and styles in response to the design briefs in class, and by providing them with the supportive and encouraging safe space of the seminars, workshops and practical/performance sessions within which they can further develop their skills in receiving and giving constructive critical and creative responses to their own work and those of other students and begin to develop a further awareness of their creative process


• help students develop further the sorts of professional writing and communication skills and credentials that modern employers look for in the games and related creative industries (and beyond) through the editing and feedback process engendered though the briefs in class and the assessment briefs which foreground professional writing and presentation skills

The learning and teaching methods include:

A combination of lecture materials, seminars, workshops, practical/performance sessions, captured content, guided learning and independent learning, and includes a weekly workshopping element where students either present or respond to their own or other's creative work in a supportive, constructive and open manner.

Students will engage with preparatory reading, including, where relevant, creative work by other students, in advance of the seminar, workshop and/or practical/performance sessions which will combine discussion of interrelated critical ideas and texts with in-class creative or critical exercises and briefs each week. Designed to help students reflect on and apply their learning to creative and critical outputs, the seminar, workshop and practical/performance session environments act as safe spaces for developing and exchanging ideas, support, design and writing skills.

Varied learning materials such as lexical texts, visual materials, sculptural objects and other physical material prompts, video and sound objects, games and gamified texts are designed to increase student accessibility and will present them with a range of interpretive materials and approaches with which to work and develop their own thinking and creative responses.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELI2053

Other information

The School of Arts, Humanities & Creative Industries is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: This module acts alongside other creative writing modules to help students hone to a more highly polished and professional standard their writing, composition and communication skills. In focussing on, and growing, key writing and production skills, in this module you will develop the sorts of proficiencies and abilities that will facilitate your practice as a professional writer for games. Additionally, students will gain specialist industry knowledge on working with actors and voice. The skills developed in this module will help equip you also for the vast range of employment and career pathways that our students go on to after (and sometimes during) their degree beyond that of writing for games. Amongst these are: copywriting, editorial roles, teaching, publishing, marketing, proofreading, journalism and social media roles of all types just to name a few. The skills and aptitudes developed in this module will connect to the creative writing and broader games design related modules throughout your degree and feed into aspects such as character design, digital environments, visual narratives and narrative design, coding behaviours, designing levels and more.

Digital Capabilities: this module, in exploring scriptwriting for screen, stage and virtual spaces, capturing and enhancing live performance, including actors and voice, for integration into digital spaces and forms engages very strongly with ‘digital capabilities’. As part of this module’s approach, you will also explore interactive digital writing techniques, strategies and tools, such as narrative design software, writing for the screen and digital storyboarding. In addition, the opportunities and challenges posed by generative AI in creative writing and games design will form part of the skills development of students.

As part of the module seminar workshops, you will also be encouraged to communicate with one another professionally and to work on some exercises using SurreyLearn, Microsoft Teams, and other digital and file and output sharing platforms, skills will be carried forward to other modules across your degree and beyond.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Creative writing and games design are fields that teach us about the human experience and our part in local and global cultures, facilitating exchange of ideas and experiences and helping to foster creative and cultural empathy in readers, players and writers of all kinds across the globe. Creative and critical writing in these fields also play a very important recording and preservation role in narrativising and keeping alive and vibrant different cultural practices and experiences, often encoded in game play and design, especially those that might otherwise be silenced or endangered. The weekly seminar, workshop and practical/performance sessions give students the opportunity to present your own creative writing and games design work and to experience and respond to those of others in a friendly, constructive and open forum.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: how and why we play games are critical questions when considering individual and societal wellbeing. Famously, stories convey important lessons, comfort and significance (emotional, mental and spiritual) to us through the medium of language (including visual language), not just in what it says, but how it says it. Gaming, rather like poetry, can allow us to engage with and express feelings and concepts that everyday language sometimes cannot access. Play (and poetry!) is good for the soul!

This module, through workshopping, group work and shared writerly and design experience will help equip you for the real world setting of your current and future practice.

The creative writing workshops aspect of this module is even more so than in your first year a forum for you to receive support, guidance, encouragement and practically helpful feedback in a friendly and affirming environment that is difficult to replicate outside of university. The writing friendships and writerly connections you make in these creative writing workshops, and attached events, you will likely carry forward throughout your career as a writer.

Sustainability: On this module, you will study a range of writing, performance and play practices from different social, cultural and professional contexts. The ways people and communities play games can often codify aspects of culture and experience that may well be misunderstood, marginalised and/or endangered in our globalised world, and this module helps to give voice to some of these important cultural and identity spaces, helping to expand your knowledge and sensitivity as a thinker, writer and games designer. Creative writers and games designer also have the opportunity to write their own digital and gaming sustainability narratives in their current context in response to the ideas and techniques encountered in the writings on this module and can also realise cultural sustainability goals, playing an important role in increasing and maintaining awareness of cultural identity, themes and experience.

Students are made aware of sustainable design and production practices around the production and presentation of games, their players and the interfaces between them. Furthermore, from a content viewpoint, students may choose to produce creative work that directly addresses environmental and sustainability issues as part of their subject matter. Teachers across the School also work closely with the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability to explore and promote the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2026/7 academic year.