• Professional development

    for game writers

    From a bestselling, award-winning game writer with 20+ years in the industry —

    The only game writing course that goes beyond breaking in.

    Join us for a FREE live event — our annual GDC Debrief, March 17th

  • The job is hard. We make it easier.

    The professional development path for game writers that the industry doesn't have, but desperately needs.

    Game writers and narrative designers deal with challenges most writing careers never prepare you for — and there's no clear path for getting better at the hard parts.

    How do you keep the story on track when the whole project is shifting underneath you? How do you learn what narrative directors, designers, and producers actually need from you — the casting packets, the pipelines, the collaboration skills nobody ever formally taught? How do you become the writer that studios fight to keep?

    MC1 is eight weeks of getting better at the work, getting better with people, and joining a professional community of writers who take this as seriously as you do.

  • The lessons behind the games

    A curriculum built on real experience — on teams, under deadlines, across 20+ years of studio work

    30 million

    games sold

    25+

    titles shipped

    $ 500 million

    in sales

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    Here's the professional development you've been looking for

    I think a large part of why I was able to get my next job in narrative design was because of the content I learned in this class. I've been recommending it to my friends who are looking to take their game writing to the next level.

    Ellie T

    Narrative Designer, Otherside Entertainment

  • Past Projects

    25+ shipped titles, from RPGs to shooters and everything in between.

    Everything MC1 teaches comes from real work on real games.

    Tomb Raider

    Tomb Raider

    Crystal Dynamics

    Nominee, Outstanding Achievement in Story, AIAS

    Nominee, Best Narrative, GDC

    Over 8 million copies sold worldwide

    Far Cry 2

    Far Cry 2

    Ubisoft Montreal

    Nominee, Best Writing, GDC

    Nominee, Game of the Year, AIAS

    BioShock

    BioShock

    2K Games

    Winner, Game of the Year, AIAS

    Winner, Best Writing, GDC

    Over 4 million units sold

    Launched a franchise

  • Hi, I'm Susan

    Founder & CEO, The Narrative Department

    Susan O'Connor

    I'm a bestselling, award-winning game writer with 20+ years in the industry. I founded the Game Narrative Summit at GDC, and I built MC1 to be the professional development I wished I'd had — because nobody should have to figure out the hard parts of this job alone.

    Our alumni are now working at:

    Bad Robot Games, Blizzard, Cloud Chamber, Crimson Herring, Deck Nine, Deviation Games, EA, Firaxis, HakJak, High Moon Studios, Jam City, Kluge Interactive, Massive Games, Monumental, NetEase, Obsidian, Spooky Doorway, Squid Games, System Era Softworks, Telltale, Tencent, Undead Labs, Wizards of the Coast, and ZeniMax.

    And the list keeps growing.

  • You got into this to make great games with great stories.

    We're here to help you do it.

    Can't make the live event? Join the MC1 waitlist for early access when registration opens.

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