Writing event

On the 3rd of December 2009 in London's South Bank, IGDA London, the Game Writers' SIG, and the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, teamed up to present an audience with a panel of experienced game writers.

The panel, from left to right: Tom Jubert, James Swallow, Rhianna Pratchett, and Andrew Walsh.

Tom Jubert

Penumbra series, Lost Horizon

James Swallow

Killzone 2, Maelstrom, Deus Ex 3

Rhianna Pratchett

Heavenly Sword, the Overlord series, and Mirror's Edge.

Andrew S. Walsh

Harry Potter, Risen, Prince of Persia

Introduction

As the chair for the event, Andy introduced the panel and laid out the plan. The panel would begin by describing how they got into the industry. Andy would then suggest some topics for discussion, followed by a quick fire round. To end, they would take questions from the audience.

Getting started

Each panellist had a different story but the common theme was described by James as 'stick-to-it-ness.'

James wrote for an officially licensed Star Trek magazine. He met some developers at the launch of a related game, who it turned out had based their story on his writings. He didn't have to make a formal job application because, back then, a specific game writing role didn't exist.

Rhianna began as a freelance journalist working for PC games magazines. She remembered hearing about a job with PC Zone magazine which she landed after passionately criticising their Diablo II review. In 2000 she returned to freelancing and went to work at The Guardian. She was approached to work on Beyond Divinity, the sequel to a game that she had earlier championed as a games journalist. She thought that her support for smaller, quirky titles as a journalist, had helped her get her first few game writing roles, including Ghost Master and Stronghold Legends.

Tom intended to get into games through programming. But he said he wasn't very good at it so he switched to journalism. He began by writing for gaming web sites in his spare time. He also got a job at Lionhead in QA to gain some experience within the industry. He got his first game writing job by rewriting the intro to Frictional Games' Penumbra. He contacted the developers unsolicited and they were impressed enough to offer him a job. He was not initially paid for his work but he did receive royalties. He felt lucky in several ways: he got in as the team moved from amateur to professional developers, the game turned out well, he got to take on a lot of responsibility, and there were two sequels.

Andy ran a theatre company and from there moved to writing for TV. One repeating experience he had was initially receiving a rejection from a company and later receiving an offer of the same job but for more money. (Stick-to-it-ness for profit.) Andy's first experience of games was with the BBC micro. There were story based games around then but those weren't the ones he was playing. It was only later, in a chance meeting with a game developer, that he learned games needed writers too.

Why games?

Game writing is still new. Their are not many alternatives in writing which retain such freedom to innovate. Rhianna and Andy were both gamers but hadn't planned to go into games as a career. Jim had always played games but was annoyed by the quality of game writing and felt that he could do better and help shape the medium. For Tom, game writing was his dream job.

Changes

Many early games didn't have stories; or they were separately included in a booklet with the game. Players didn't necessarily demand or expect stories and would create their own narrative. Now, players usually expect stories with their games. This requires greater up front planning. So the question is less about whether a writer is required, and more about how best to use a writer.

Team sizes have grown, but there has also been a resurgence in small, profitable games. Writers have become more important here as well: smaller games rely more on text and less on graphics.

There are more writers working in games now, which means: more mentors, more peers, more conferences, and more help for aspiring writers.

Qualifications

The consensus was that qualifications helped in gaining experience, getting work, and learning discipline. But it's not the qualification as much as the practice that makes a writer.

Andy valued his work experience as a chance to learn from the common mistakes of other writers, before moving into writing himself.

Using writers from other media

Each medium is its own discipline and writers from other media don't always understand the differences.

When professional writers were first introduced from other media it didn't work out well: they didn't know how to write for games. But with a writer who is willing to learn the peculiarities, and integrate with the rest of the team, it can work. Rhianna added that a writer should be a gamer to understand how to write for games.

Cheese

Andy explained, through the metaphor of different flavours of cheese, how people often confuse things they don't like, with things that are bad. This is a common problem for games today, as the genres are not yet clearly defined; and until they are, writers should avoid playing with gamers' expectations.

The panel gave examples of what they considered good writing:

Psychonauts

good comedy, touching, use of level design to tell the story

Vampire: Bloodlines

interesting world, well written characters

The Void

innovative structure

World of Goo

natural story development, use of subtext

Half Life 2

use of environment

Left 4 Dead 2

subtle clues, open to interpretation

What is a writer?

Writers often fill many roles in games. There are many types of content that all need writing, like: narrative, dialogue, side-quests, barks. And more writing that isn't directly visible, like: concept work, back-story, characterisation.

Tom liked that writers' roles are not yet well defined. He enjoys the freedom.

Quick fire questions

Are games equal to other mediums?

Yes.

Do games need story?

A story isn't always necessary. But if you're going to have one, it should be integrated into the development rather than an afterthought.

Is story expensive?

It can be made cheaper by thinking about it earlier. Studios often don't view writing as an investment. They don't think they'll get their money back, even when the huge profits of blockbuster story driven games shows they are wrong.

Biggest and smallest?

The panel had worked on games with a few thousand words to 100,000+ words. Many studios have an unrealistic idea of the amount of time required to create a script.

Will you earn fame and fortune?

Nobody's going to buy a game because your name is on it. It's not going to make you rich and famous.

Audience questions

The audience filled the theatre

Do you use a different approach, when writing to involve the player emotionally, and when writing to instruct the player?

Emotion in games is difficult anyway. This is a hard question to answer. You have to think at each stage if you are blocking the player, and if the player is willing to be blocked. You are sometimes required to squeeze a lot into a tiny scene, or a single line of dialogue. It helps when the team are closely integrated.

Can you disappoint a player by giving them too much choice?

There is a danger with giving player control of the narrative and dialogue, that the work will lose its integrity. Arbitrary choices by the player could lead to endings that aren't appropriate, either for the player, or for the character.

A pure branching structure doesn't scale, in a technical sense, as most of the work would be unseen by most of the players. And players don't like replaying story driven games just to see alternative story options. A better structure is a trunk and vine, where the player can choose to follow any of the vines that split off, but they each lead back to the trunk. The overall story is therefore the same for all players, even if the details are different for everyone.

The industry seems more focussed on choice than the players are. Players can get lost if the directions aren't obvious. But you can also disappoint players with a fixed ending, as Andy had experienced with Prince of Persia.

Can you break the 4th wall?

It depends on the type of game. It generally works in comedy games.

How do you deal with a game where players don't expect a story?

A lot of early text adventure games were pure story. As graphics improved, story took a back seat. Now, story is coming back. People need time to adjust to trends. And player expectations can be a problem if games aren't marketed clearly.

What resources are there for writers?

The Writers’ Guild Guidelines

Guidelines for writers and those working with writers in the video games industry

Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames

The first book in the series. By multiple writers, so it is slightly uneven, but it covers most areas you will want to look at.

Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing

The second book in the series. This one delves deeper into techniques such as: narrative design, writing tutorials, and in-game text.

Writing for Video Game Genres: From FPS to RPG

This third book takes a close look at the needs of different game genres.

Do you participate in the audio recording?

Yes this is another job a writer is expected to do. Many scripts are split up into simple sequential lines with very little context so it's important for the writer to be available to explain the lines. The writer can also be involved in directing and casting the dialogue and motion capture.