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Game Writing
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Jan 31, 2007 04:32 PM
from the more-capes-and-spaceships dept.
from the more-capes-and-spaceships dept.
Aeonite writes "Billed as the 'first complete guide to writing for games', Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames provides an excellent overview of the ins-and-outs of writing for the videogame industry. As might be expected from a publication of the IGDA's Game Writers' Special Interest Group, the book is dense with information, addressing everything from high-level narrative theory to the specifics of dialogue engine design and game localization." Read the rest of Aeonite's review.
| Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames | |
| author | Chris Mark Bateman |
| pages | 336 |
| publisher | Thomson Delmar Learning |
| rating | 9 |
| reviewer | Aeonite |
| ISBN | 1584504900 |
| summary | an excellent overview of the ins-and-outs of writing for the videogame industry |
When I see that a movie has multiple writers involved, I get a little nervous. It's usually a bad sign, generally indicating that the narrative will be somewhat piecemeal and uneven. As this book has 13 writers and a half-dozen additional subeditors, I was likewise nervous, but I was happy to discover that although each chapter has a different emphasis, the general tone remains steady throughout the book. There's a little more fluff up front, and a little more crunch in the back, but taken as a whole the book maintains a coherent focus. These 13 voices speak in harmony, and adequately cover both the creative and technical aspects of writing for games without any noticeable bumps.
The preface by Chris Bateman explains that a book on videogame writing is difficult to write, as many areas of the industry are still ill-defined. Whereas Hollywood has a fairly standard screenplay format that's fairly easy to work with, the videogame industry offers no single script format, due to the different requirements of different genres and different companies. Personal experience has taught me, for instance, that Microsoft Excel is one of the more useful tools when writing for games; one would not generally associate spreadsheets with narrative flow.
The chief complaint here is that there are no clear examples of great game narratives, with the industry's shining stars falling somewhat below the highest standards of work in other media. My interpretation of this is that Half-Life 2 is less Godfather 2, and more Escape From L.A. — good enough, but not great. According to Bateman, chief culprits for the lack of artistic polish may include the fact that the game industry is so young (compared to radio, television, and movies) and the lack of artistic freedom within the industry.
Worth calling out here is an example of where the industry seems to be falling short. At one point, the book discusses the concept of 'forced failure' in games, and why it's a narrative tactic to be avoided. A good example of this (my own, not the book's) is near the end of the original Half-Life game, which sees Gordon Freeman captured, stripped of all his gear, and dumped in a trash compactor, with the player unable to do anything but watch. Yet Half-Life won numerous Game of the Year awards, and is still considered by many to be one of the best games of all time. The point is not that Half-Life is a bad game for using 'forced failure', but rather that it could have been a a better game if it hadn't resorted to that tactic. In other words, even good games can do better, and this book is a first step towards achieving that goal, by way of establishing a 'coherent narrative language' for games.
The book itself is divided into 14 chapters. The first three can be roughly clustered into a category called Game Narrative, as they all focus on higher-level narrative theory. Chapter 1 provides an overall introduction, defining story, character, and other such terms before delving into what makes game writing unique (as compared to other media) and how a writer uses the tools provided (dialogue, cutscenes, etc.). Chapter 2 covers the Basics of Narrative, including Aristotle's Poetics, Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, Freytag's Pyramid, Syd Field's Screenplay model, and the other sorts of things we English majors learn in school in lieu of math and science. Extensive discussion of Star Wars: Episode IV and how it maps to these models is provided, along with some coverage of Jungian and Campbellian Archetypes. Chapter 3 is an overview of what's involved with writing for games, covering the difference between narrative and story, types of narrative, pacing, structure, and the concept of player agency.
The next four chapters of the book contain less high-level theory and more specific application. The first two cover the path the character takes through the game, with Chapter 4 being an exploration of Nonlinear Game Narrative (branching structure, parallel paths, and how to merge story and game) and Chapter 5 discussing how to keep the player on track (breadcrumbing, funneling, the "edge of the world", etc.). Chapter 6 covers Game Characters (including types of protagonists, antagonists, and NPCs, and the traits and characteristics thereof), and Chapter 7 deals with the specifics of cutscenes and scripted events, and the dangers of removing player control.
Chapters 8 through 10 see the camera zooming out a bit more to cover the broader concepts of Writing Comedy for Videogames, Writing for Licenses, and The Needs of the Audience, respectively. Of the three, the last is the crunchiest, covering specific demographic data and the issues of gender, ethnicity and disability as they relate to a game audience.
The final four chapters cover issues specific to videogame writing, and as a whole generally focus on dialogue. The short Chapter 11 deals with Localization issues (translation, lip synching, cultural differences), with Chapter 12 covering Voice Actors more generally, including: a discussion of context, inflection, and emotion; the need to be at the recording session; and other technical considerations. Chapter 13 deals with Interchangeable Dialogue Content, and covers stitching, dialogue driven by game events, and the problems associated with simultaneity, interruptions and inflections. Chapter 14 closes the book on a crunchy note, covering Dialogue Engines in some detail, with many examples of the codelike format involved (dynamic elements, if-then statements, cases and states).
Although it probably goes without saying, this is obviously a book by writers, for writers. The book is very heavy with text, featuring only a very few charts and icons to break up the copy, so as far as layout and flow there's little to complain about aside from some minor inconsistencies, such as the little 'Note' icons which appear in Chapter 3 and nowhere else. Though dense with information, it's fairly easy to find your way around, as the book features an 8-page glossary, 6-page index and a perhaps too-detailed 9-page table of contents. Also worth noting is the copyediting; aside from some very sporadic typographical issues, the book gets an A+ for editing (with Chapter 2 perhaps only an A). Overall, it's hardly worth mentioning, which is always a good thing when it comes to typos.
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.
As a whole, the book does what it sets out to accomplish, and provides a good overview of the issues involved in writing for videogames. It's a must-have for anyone in the videogame industry, or anyone who wishes to be.
You can purchase Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing 49 comments
Aeonite writes "Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing is the followup to Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames, and the second book written by members of the Game Writers' Special Interest Group of the 14,000 member strong IGDA. The book covers much of the same terrain as its predecessor, but offers a tighter focus on some specific points, covering more technical (as in technique) details rather than broader narrative theory; if the first book was a Google Map, this one would be the Street View." Keep reading for the rest of Michael's review.
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Almost $20 cheaper at Amazon (Score:4, Informative)
(that's an associates link. if that is a problem, don't click on it.)
Buy one for DNF coding team. (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, to have that kind of job security.
Parent
That's funny... (Score:4, Funny)
That's funny.. The copy of "Borland Turbo C++ 3.0 Games" that I bought in 1993 claims right on the cover to be a "Complete guide to writing video games [...]".
Key word: "FOR" (Score:2)
For great justice... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:For great justice... (Score:5, Insightful)
Also, don't knock the original Rambo. Just because the subsequent movies were over the top action flicks with little merit aside from their entertainment value does not mean that the original movie was not a solid screenplay as well as a solid film. It is easy to forget today that Rambo really broadened the action genre, allowing for a developing embrace of the anti-hero who transitions to actual hero by virtue of bucking the system. It also explored the treatment of a segment of the American population when they returned home from an unpopular conflict with personal demons that we as a society demanded they lock away.
Parent
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Sequel requested (Score:2)
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 t
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Oh wait, how do you actually *play* the game? That's not what a manual's for!
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Still waiting for the book... (Score:4, Funny)
learn something new everyday (Score:4, Funny)
that's why so many movies suck.
Microsoft Excel is one of the more useful tools when writing for games; one would not generally associate spreadsheets with narrative flow.
that's why so many games suck
Storytelling Ability Is the Primary Requirement (Score:2, Interesting)
Developers always spend a lot of time worrying about the technical aspects of Game Writing. In fact, coding is the easy part. Storytelling, the art of making us care about the game play and become engaged in the story, is the central problem. Although deve
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I would say
Re:Storytelling Ability Is the Primary Requirement (Score:5, Insightful)
Do you have any idea how arrogant that statement is? Not to be a troll, but I can't count the number of times Liberal Art majors in College tried to act holier than thou because they experienced the "symbolism" of a story, and felt it was so much more important than science or math.
Yes, I realize that storytelling is important to games as well, but don't try to act like "coding is the easy part". Most people don't even stop to read the text in these games, particularly MMORPG's. More realistically, people tend to care about their level, their gear, and how quickly they can kill another player. Don't try to marginalize the skill and dedication of programmer's just because you FEEL that the story is harder to write than the code.
Parent
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THE complete guide (Score:2, Funny)
2. ???
3. Profit!
Huh? Please dont editorialize (Score:2)
Short version (Score:5, Funny)
[ ] wizard
[ ] dragon
[ ] robot
is threatening
[ ] a princess
[ ] a prince
[ ] an island inhabited by ewok-esque creatures
as the
[ ] son
[ ] daughter
[ ] best man
it is your duty to
[ ] club everything in your path
[ ] collect money
[ ] get lost in dungeons
[ ] all of the above
See also this fine Slashdot article (Score:2)
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Uwe Boll? Is that you?
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