Game Writers SIG/Initiatives/The Sequel
International Game Developers Association
Contents |
Game Writing Book: Take Two
The SIG has written a great book, now we have to let people now about it. We need folks to help build word of mouth, search the net for reviews, and help spread the word. And if they want to start thinking about what might be good for the next book, well, nobody's going to stop them.
Contact: Wendy Despain
Plan of Attack
- I'll start a discussion thread on the general mailing list looking for input on a proposed list of chapters/outline for the book.
- Once we have consensus on a list of chapters we'll start looking for volunteers to write each chapter and editors to help edit those chapters.
- First we'll have writers submit outlines for their chapters and have the editors take a first pass at those outlines. Wendy Despain will oversee it all to make sure the chapters work together and don't overlap too much.
- If anyone can't get an outline submitted in a reasonable time we'll find a new author for that chapter. Same with editors.
- Once we have outlines for all chapters edited and working together, we'll get started on writing the chapters.
- We can use this outline as a presentation for publishers.
- Editors for chapters will be responsible for encouraging their authors to get their chapters finished. Then edit those chapters and turn them in.
- Wendy Despain will then make sure all those chapters are cohesive and work together, editing the book as a whole and turning it in to the publisher.
Current Status
Debating the /draft chapter outline. Currently divided into two books: /Genre Book Outline and /Technique Book Outline.
Comments by reviewers on our first book
our next book
We've joked about not knowing what we could possibly write for our next book, but the gamasutra reviewer was nice enough to provide some suggestions for us. Thought I'd collect them into this email so we have them in our archives.
The book is an overall gem, although it does have one notable shortcoming, namely that it’s rather short – less than 300 pages. This seems to prevent the lengthy list of authors from going into as great a depth on their topics as they otherwise might have, since many of these topics could easily take an entire book to explore in detail.
We’d also love to have seen more examples from actual games, to show aspiring game writers how the final result can take shape. Perhaps in the next edition we’ll find a CD-ROM bundled with the book, containing partial or complete game scripts from among the well-known games penned by the authors.
Could be useful to cover genre-specific writing in more detail – e.g. writing for action games, thrillers, sports games, RPGs, etc.
The conversation on the general list about writing samples got me thinking - a lot of fiction writing books provide writing prompts and little assignments readers can practice with. I don't know of any game writing books that provide some direction for readers who want to try creating a sample dialog map or writing barks.
Universities especially might see this as a valuable feature.
It would almost be close to creating a textbook for game writing. It'd be cool to have curriculum ideas too. Is there much in game writing education? How can schools/individuals create a writing portfolio for games before actually getting into the industry?
Great angle.
- Beth
Once again, this is partly for my own reference but figured the rest of you guys might be interested as well. These are random chunks taken from the review of our book on Slashdot and some of the comments. The review is really very positive and most of the comments are too, but I'm taking note of what we can do better next time.
My biggest complaint with the book is what's not covered. For instance, examples from real games, is billed as a main feature on the back cover, but there could have been more of them, especially with regards to more current games. This is not to say that they're not in there, but certain chapters (particularly those in the book's first third) would have benefited from less Star Wars and more Knights of the Old Republic. It's helpful to be aware of the high-level theory, but this is after all a book about game writing, so more examples from relevant games would be welcome.
I also found myself wishing that the book had devoted a chapter to breaking into the field of videogame writing. Books on other aspects of game design and development typically include such information: I have several on my desk right now that discuss how to create a portfolio and land a job as a Level Designer or Game Designer. Do videogame writers simply spring from the head of Zeus, ready for battle? With this information in place, the book would be a more useful tool to everyone from the pro writer to the complete novice; as it stands, the book is much more helpful to those already in the field. However, wishing that the book covered job entry is, I admit, somewhat akin to wishing that a book on carpentry also included a chapter on lumberjacking. Relevant, but not to be faulted for its absence.
With regards to the book being reviewed, I think it's hardly a useful item as far as us gamers are concerned. Not because it's not written for us, but because it doesn't teach game writers what it ought to -- how to have people read over your crap to make sure it's logical, how to ask people to say your dialogue out loud so you realize it sounds hilariously lame, how to notice when people see your "surprise ending" coming a mile away, and how to tell when the reason they don't is because it flies in the face of any sort of common sense. Game writers need to *improve* over where they currently are. The last thing they need is a "this is how it's done nowadays so make sure you know it inside-and-out" book.
Sequel requested..."Game Documentation Writing"
Read the manual for a game released in the past couple of years? They typically consist of 20-30 pages of three things:
How to install the game (duh) How the main menu works How the main game screen works
If you're lucky, it might tell you a few things like information on specific weapons or units. But maybe not all of them.
How about giving me a comprehensive list of hotkeys? Or an explanation of all the features of online play? Do you think maybe you could mention something about port forwarding for the massive number of broadband users who would benefit from it? HOW ABOUT INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO PLAY BOTH FACTIONS??? (I'm talking to you, developers of Company of Heroes)
Too bad videogames are still limited by the versatility of their prewritten scripts. You either have to have a bunch of mute whores (GTA) or a lot of very obsessive task-oriented people NPCs. "I really think we should get back to the mission." "I hardly think this is a time to be fooling around." "Stop touching me!"
The problem with lots of games, but not all, is that the formula is either "Choose Your Own Adventure" oriented, where your actions have profound and unpredictable consequences, often with no rhyme or reason, or the story lines are fixed as you advance through the adventure, with too little interaction, just little movies. There has to be a better model.
I admit it's been a long, long time since I've played any non-arcade style games so my comments may be obsolete, but the central puzzle of these adventure-style games seems to be to guess what the game designer was thinking at the time. Wouldn't it be great if you could solve problems in ways that the writers never anticipated? Or are there games that really allow that today and I just don't know about them?
We've strayed onto Level Design from Game Plot writing. I'll touch on both. Fortunately for the game writers, although solving problems in unique ways is becoming more mainstream, the script doesn't need to worry much about this. That's because the nature of the plot just needs to set up why your character needs to complete that goal. Oh, your princess is captured? Well you need to get into that castle and save her. The galactic counsel has been infiltrated by a Sith Lord? Well you'd better sneak through the Death Star to confront him. While more and more games are giving you more ways to solve problems (Deus Ex lets you build your own climbing structures, pick locks, program robots. Splinter Cell lets you knock people out, hide bodies, disable alarms, hide or just shoot) Since it's the developer's job to make the game fun and playable, at least one solution will always exist and be known to the developer. If you could imagine a game with an infinite number of interactive elements (down to the chemical composition), you could claim there MUST be a solution to the problem, then the programmer's job would be done, and could just write your character to get locked in a solid steel room in a straight jacket, and say, "There's a way out, in theory." The way communism works, in theory. That's why you're always going to have the dumb-AI guard with the security pass facing the wrong way outside the compound gate. The invisible hand of "We hope you enjoy our game" will always leave an obvious and less-creativity-necessary-than-reality way through. Sure, there'll be a few alternate ways to win, and by the end you'll have to be rather clever using what you've learned. But since you're still just solving a set objective at a time, the plot can be untouched no matter how you solve a problem.
