Transmedia Narrative: Navigating Canon Between Games, Comics, & Other Media with Jesse Scoble
Description
In a world of expansive IPs, player agency, and multi-format storytelling, how do you keep a narrative consistent without strangling its potential?
This week on The Corner of Story and Game, we sit down with Jesse Scoble, a veteran narrative designer and worldbuilder whose career spans Assassin’s Creed, Hyper Scape, City of Heroes, and even TTRPGs and now comics!
We explore the art and craft of narrative canon, and the question "what survives when a story jumps from game to comic to RPG and back again?" Jesse shares his experiences writing for different formats, how player agency complicates authorial intent, and what it means to write "between the lines" of existing universes. Along the way, we may talk a bit about his new comic endeavour, Dead Money.
Whether you’re working on your own transmedia project or just fascinated by how worlds evolve across platforms, this episode is packed with insight.
🧭 We discuss:
- How to balance narrative canon with player freedom
- What must stay stable when stories cross formats
- Lessons from AAA games, TTRPGs, and comics
- How to guide a team through narrative complexity
- The role of ambiguity in worldbuilding
Where to find Jesse:
- Dead Money (pre-order on Backerkit): https://jdstudios.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
- Substack: https://jessescoble.substack.com/publish/home
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessescoble/
- BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/jscoble.bsky.social
- Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/Jesse_Scoble
The Corner of Story and Game:
- Discord
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- Bluesky
- LinkedIn
- Email: gerald@storyandgame.com
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