Writing as Design: The Future of Houses, a Transformative Single-Player VR Experience

Over the last several years, significant screenwriting research has explored cinematic virtual reality (CVR) narratives; however, less work has considered the development of narrative-driven VR works with multiple interactive elements, such as those that move into the territory of game design or live performance. As a part corrective to this situation, this chapter presents an analysis of the writing process that gave rise to The Future of Houses: Designing for a Circular Economy, an interactive, educational VR experience born out of a larger project seeking to communicate scientific research into ‘Energy Futures’. The writing process associated with the gamified element of The Future of Houses involved regular meetings over a period of approximately three months by a team of narrative designers with varying backgrounds and experience. In this chapter, I analyse an approach to narrative development that foregrounds spatial storytelling, the user’s journey and user experience (UX), and that highlights the challenges and opportunities of working with a multidisciplinary team.