As part of this summer’s START.WRITE.NOW, we’re featuring the What’s Your Story video game design challenge in partnership with Gamestar Mechanic. Video games often involve rich narratives that lead players along in their game play and give them hints, ideas and goals to achieve. Can you tell a story through your game design? Give it a shot! The deadline for this challenge is August 15, 2012.

There will be three winners in each of the following categories:
• best original character
• best narrative
• best design elements

Additionally, one grand prize winner will receive a free online course in game design!

To participate, login or create a free account on Gamestar Mechanic, then go to the Workshops page and scroll down to find the link to The Scholastic What’s Your Story? Contest.

Be sure to include parts like a setup, a confrontation, and a resolution in your game.

The setup is the part of the story that is used to establish the main characters, their relationships and the world they live in for the player.

The confrontation, also called the “rising action,” is the part of the story that has the main character attempting to solve the main problem of the story. Often, the main character is unable to solve this problem because they don’t have the skills it takes to deal with the challenge confronting them. This is usually the longest part of the story.

The resolution is the final part of the story, where the main character is finally able to conquer the problem they were presented with in the first part of the story. This part of the story typically includes a climax, which is the part where the tension and conflict of the story are brought to their most intense point.

There may be more to your story, but that’s ultimately up to you!

We look forward to seeing what you come up with!