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 wish to skim early posts and jump directly into later segments as they’re added.

Video games are bad at handling conversations. Video games are especially bad at handling interactive conversations. There’s a reason most classic games are remembered for their gameplay or atmosphere rather than their dialogue: talking isn’t a strength of the medium.

But dialogue is a powerful and versatile storytelling tool–it characterizes, it builds relationships, it turns subtext into text, it gives rhythm and pacing to scenes, it creates an “index” of key words and phrases to a narrative, it brings drama into quiet moments… and so on. Foregoing dialogue altogether enormously limits the kinds of stories a video game can tell. So we’ve been using it from almost the beginning, despite our better judgment. Continue reading →

A Short Update

I’ve been remiss in updating the blog over the past few months. The dry spell will end shortly as I begin a new multi-part game writing series. In the meantime, a few personal notes and links:

  • My short story “One Thousand Levels Down” was published in Star Wars Insider 151, available on newsstands and in electronic format.
  • BioWare announced Shadow Realms, a multiplayer action RPG. As I was Lead Writer in the very early days of the project, I’m both excited to see it reach the public eye and interested to see how it’s changed and evolved since my departure.
  • Marvel Comics announced that my Star Wars: Purge – The Tyrant’s Fist comics will be among the comics reprinted in STAR WARS LEGENDS EPIC COLLECTION: THE EMPIRE VOL. 1.
  • I continue to take on new video game projects (and continue hammering away at old favorites) which I can’t yet talk about. Sorry. I’m hoping to mention some soon.
  • Lastly, I’ve become enamored of the CRPG Addict blog, in which one dedicated player is working his way through virtually every computer role-playing game ever published. It’s a fascinating history of the genre.

Learning 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 (but probably won’t, starting out): budgeting at a glance.

When I say “budgeting” I don’t mean in dollar figures–I’m talking about the time and effort needed by a writer and other developers to implement a writer’s designs. (In the end, of course, this does equate to cash, but the numbers themselves are a red herring.) Game development is a slow, unpredictable, painstaking process–a writer who doesn’t understand the scope of her requests and their impact on the team is a burden to the project, not a benefit. Continue reading →

Designing Stories for Nonlinear Game Segments (or “Civic Planning for Side Quest City”)

It’s been a busy few months–I’ve been juggling multiple projects across multiple media and haven’t had the opportunity to blog much. I’ll be at the Game Developer’s Conference next week and hope to see some of y’all there. In the meantime, here’s a quick and dirty examination of an important subject: designing stories for nonlinear game segments. In other words, side quests.

Continue reading →

Player and Player Character Motivation in Video Games

We’ve touched on player motivation before, but let’s briefly give it our full focus. Boiled down to a simple statement, bridging the gap between player motivation and player character motivation is one of the the most important factors in a game narrative’s success.

(Success, in this case, being shorthand for “ability to elicit the desired audience reaction,” which should be broad enough to cover both “making the player cry” and “increasing the player’s engagement with the game setting and thereby the player’s willingness to spend money on microtransactions.” We’ve got a big tent on this site, with room for everyone.)

In traditional storytelling media, writers are concerned with finding ways to make the audience empathize with the protagonist. And for good reason–even when an audience may not want a given protagonist to succeed at her goals, we should care about her fate and the fate of secondary characters (otherwise, what’s the point?) It’s difficult to care about a character we’re unable to understand or relate to.

In interactive narrative, empathy continues to play a role–but it’s intimately tied to the player’s own motivation. Continue reading →