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On Cutscenes and Viewpoint Changes
It’s been a while since your game’s scheming villain has actually shown up. There’s a good reason for that–you know the player will try to kill her as soon as she appears, and there’s only so many...
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Writing Romance in (non-Romance) Games: Branching Romances
Here’s where it gets complicated. Or… well, more so. This post is a companion to Writing Romance in (non-Romance Games): Linear Romances. You’ll find a number of assumptions about our overall topic...
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Writing Romance in (non-Romance) Games: Linear Romances
Ah, romance. Compelling romance subplots are tough to write at the best of times. Consider their place in linear media–how many otherwise strong films or novels suffer from an unconvincing,...
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In Defense of Didacticism
While watching reports and live-tweets come in from the recent East Coast Games Conference, I was intrigued to see a number of speakers independently touch on the same point. Warren Spector advised,...
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“Story Engines” and Content Development
How do you deliver narrative to a player in a content-rich, nonlinear game? This is neither a purely mechanical question (“non-player characters scattered through the open world will offer quests,...
View ArticleEmpathy and Responsibility in Writing
Generally speaking, I try to focus this blog on “how you might write” rather than “what you should be writing.” We’re about craft here, not art–not because one is more important than the other, but...
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Gameplay, Challenge, and Narrative Integration in Adventure Games
This post isn’t about adventure games. It only reads that way. For four decades, the adventure game genre has been practically synonymous with “story-driven” video games. In the early 1980s, Infocom...
View ArticleThe Family Thing: Why Killing My Wife / Husband / Child / Dog Doesn’t...
We’ve seen it over and over again: Our wife dies in our arms, or our brother is brutally gunned down, or our mother is eaten by monsters. This tragedy provides the impetus for our journey into...
View ArticleCharacter Differentiation in a Cast of Thousands
I’ve totally neglected my game writing posts, of late–I’ve got a number of articles half-composed, with titles like “Writing for Failure” and “Complex Stories and Atomic Narrative Theory.”...
View ArticleSix Metrics for Better Game Narrative
Understanding your audience will make your writing better. That’s not a statement that should need much explanation, but in brief: Storytelling is communication. It’s about reaching out to strangers...
View ArticleOn a Lack of Originality in Science-Fiction and Fantasy Game Settings
Video games are frequently criticized for utilizing the same genres, tropes, and settings time and again. Space marines, Tolkien-derived medieval fantasy full of elves and dwarves, military...
View ArticleYes, You Have To Write a Game Plot Summary; and Yes, It Has To Be Good
Some days we discuss high-level theory. Some days we get our hands dirty with realities of the business. If you’re working on an overall story document for your team’s game and you’re not sure how to...
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Why It Worked: Saints Row IV and Living Exuberantly
A well-written comedy can get away with just about anything so long as it’s funny. Paper-thin plots, characters that vacillate between personalities, and a dearth of thematic meat are by no means a...
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Every Game Is Its Own Medium
In traditional media–films, television, novels, comics, etc.–a creator usually assumes a level of familiarity with his medium of choice on the part of the audience. As a filmmaker, you know your...
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Branching Conversation Systems and the Working Writer, Part 5: Arts and Craft
This is the fifth part in a multi-part series on branching conversation systems (crossposted at Gamasutra.com). See the Introduction for context. Last time, we went over high-level principles you...
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Branching Conversation Systems and the Working Writer, Part 4: Key Principles
This is the fourth part in a multi-part series on branching conversation systems (crossposted at Gamasutra.com). See the Introduction for context. You have the tools. You know how to structure a...
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Branching Conversation Systems and the Working Writer, Part 3: Building a...
This is the third part in a multi-part series on branching conversation systems (crossposted at Gamasutra.com). See the Introduction for context. I’ll promise you one thing: It won’t get less exciting...
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Branching Conversation Systems and the Working Writer, Part 2: Design...
This is the second part in a multi-part series on branching conversation systems (crossposted at Gamasutra.com). See the Introduction for context. So you’ve decided that a branching conversation system...
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Branching Conversation Systems and the Working Writer, Part 1: Introduction
This is the first part in a multi-part series on branching conversation systems (crossposted at Gamasutra.com). See “This Blog Series” (below) for an overview of each part; experienced game writers may...
View ArticleLearning to Budget at a Glance
I’m hoping to discuss some more ambitious topics in the coming weeks, but let’s take a break from serious technique analyses and talk about a very basic skill every video game writer should possess...
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