Inspiration is all around you, say narrative designers at Game Developers Conference 2026, at a panel attended by GamesRadar+. It's in the breeze, your empathy, and especially in the crazed yuri you've been urgently writing in your Notes app.
Responding to a question of where designers get "quick hits" of narrative inspiration, Gearbox expert writer – and former Call of Duty writer – Alexa Ray Corriea says, "I've been reading a lot of fanfiction," to the liberating sound of applause.
"Spending a lot of time on AO3," she adds about the popular fanfiction site Archive of Our Own, where I learned during my teen years about things you shouldn't do in church. Corriea is rewarded with another orgiastic round of applause as she continues, "Reading on franchises that I'm not involved in, just seeing where fan bases are going."
"People are very thirsty these days," she observes, "so I've been doing a lot of… research into that."
Similarly, narrative director at iwot games Diandra Anne Lasrado – who's spent nearly 20 years working for developers like BioWare and Blizzard – cites reality TV as "excellent narrative design."
"You want to learn about drama? You know what, Love is Blind," she says about the surely unscientific Netflix "experiment" where contestants, sequestered in windowless pods, agree to get married before seeing each other's faces. "I'm sad I missed the reunion, but I'm so excited to have that be a gift when I get home."
Ah, a gift. There's no better way to describe romance – a well of inspiration that only runs dry when you do.
