Writing For Video Game Genres 85
Aeonite writes "The third book in a pseudo-trilogy, Writing for Video Game Genres: From FPS to RPG, offers advice from 21 experts in the field of video game writing, pulled from the ranks of the IGDA's Game Writers Special Interest Group and wrangled together by editor Wendy Despain. It follows in the footsteps of Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing and Game Writing: Narrative Skills for Videogames, and in keeping with the trend, offers the most specific, targeted advice for how to write for an assortment of game genres." Read below for the rest of Michael's review.
Depending on your particular poison, the authors of each chapter might be immediately recognizable or complete unknowns. Possibly most likely to be familiar to a general audience are Sande Chen (The Witcher) and Richard Dansky (Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Far Cry), but Lee Sheldon (the Agatha Christie series), Andrew Walsh (Prince of Persia) and David Wessman (the Star Wars: X-Wing series) might also ring a bell.
| Writing for Video Game Genres: From FPS to RPG | |
| author | Wendy Despain (editor), Sande Chen, Richard Dansky, et al |
| pages | 300 |
| publisher | A.K. Peters Ltd |
| rating | 10 |
| reviewer | Michael Fiegel |
| ISBN | 978-1-56881-417-9 |
| summary | Genre-specific advice for game writers, from game writers |
The important thing here, however, is not who the writers are, so much as that they deftly cover a wide variety of terrain. As the subtitle suggests the book covers everything from FPS to RPG, from MMO to ARG, and the entirety of alphabet soup in-between. Each chapter covers the particular challenges of writing for one particular genre, and generally offers specific tips on how to overcome those challenges when writing for that genre. The chapter on MMOs, for example, discusses the fact that MMOs have stories that never end, worlds with millions of chosen ones, and a complete inability to control pacing or quest flow. "Writing for Platform Games" emphasizes the need to provide a coherent narrative even while the player is generally busy trying to complete the next jumping puzzle. Other familiar genres covered along the way include Adventure games, Sports games, Flight Simulators and Driving games.
Several of the chapters also venture outside of what traditionally constitutes a "game genre." For example, Richard Dansky and Chris Klug respectively cover Horror and Sci-Fi/Fantasy, themes that are based on the shape of the narrative rather than any particular gameplay format. Later chapters also explore Sandbox games (which author Ahmad Saad indicates can include everything from Grand Theft Auto III to SimCity), Serious games (being "games that do not have entertainment as a primary purpose"), and Casual games. Chapters are also devoted to specific platforms: Evan Skolnick covers Handheld games, and Graeme Davis explores Mobile Phone games. The fact that some of these categories necessarily include games that might also fall into genres covered earlier is never a problem here, however; each chapter offers specific advice relevant to its particular subject, and there is little if any "what he said" repetition to be found, and certainly nothing like outright contradictory advice from different authors.
While a single numbered outline format is followed throughout the book, each author writes in a slightly different fashion. This means that some authors (such as Andrew Walsh, in his coverage of Platformers) present swaths of dense copy within each numbered section, whereas others break up their chapter with numerous subheads, a single short paragraph beneath each point (as with Daniel Erickson's chapter on RPGs). Further, while the format of the book's bulleted lists is consistent throughout, their prevalence is somewhat uneven; Lee Sheldon's chapter on Adventure games is chock full of bullets, while Dansky's chapter on Horror games nearly dispenses with them altogether (but for one single list of five items). Certain chapters contain many charts, tables and/or screenshots, while others lack them altogether. One particular design feature — a boxed "Special Note" that intrudes into the margin — is used only a scant handful of times in the entire book, which makes each sudden instance more of a "Hey! Over Here!!" than the "Psst, by the way..." which I think was intended.
None of this is in any way bad: in fact, Despain's Preface encourages skipping around, and specifically addresses the issue of inconsistency by saying that the chapters are "written as personal essays with the individual style of each author intact." However, it is a notable feature of the book and worth a mention; this is not a book you read from cover to cover in one sitting.
The larger consideration for the purposes of review is this: should you buy a copy? The book's intended audience is — as with the earlier books in the "trilogy" — geared towards professionals already working in the game industry. Quotes on the back cover specifically mention "those of us swimming in the murky waters of games storytelling," and the book's closing chapter (J. Robinson Wheeler's "Writing For Interactive Fiction") dispenses with any illusion altogether, saying "If you're reading this book, you're a writer..." Even the Preface says "we" more than "you" when addressing the reader. The assumption is that you're already "one of us," and while that's a warm embrace for me (since I am indeed "one of them"), it might come across as a bit of a lukewarm shoulder for someone outside the industry.
In short, this book — perhaps even moreso than either of the previous IGDA Writers SIG books — is by writers, and for writers. As a "starting point from which we (game writers) can work together to improve the state of the art," the book provides an excellent foundation, and deserves to be on the bookshelf of any game writer or designer, be they novice or veteran. As for everyone else... if you're ready to dip a toe in the chilly waters of game writing, you could do far worse than to check out the advice within.
You can purchase Writing for Video Game Genres: From FPS to RPG from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews — to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Because most can't write for games. (Score:4, Interesting)
Writing for the interactive medium is very different, depending on the level of agency the game offers. If a game provides a fixed linear story, then a conventional writer can learn to do it; but many games offer the player the opportunity to affect the plot, and that severely wrings the withers of a lot of writers.
Writers are under the impression that it's "their" story. In a video game, it ain't.
Re:Why not get successful writers instead? (Score:5, Interesting)
An RPG writer I know of tells a story he got from from Mike Stackpole, where a Hollywood studio flew him out to meet their creative team and asked him all kinds of questions about his book property. In the end they decided not to go with the property, but there wasn't one question they asked him they wouldn't have known the answer to if any of them had actually read the book.
Re:Writing For Video Games (Score:5, Interesting)
-The main character is usually a kid. The kid's parents are usually dead or are killed at the beginning of the story. The kid was raised by an aunt, uncle or some other "guardian"
-Even if the main character is a soldier in the king's army, he's still a kid.
-The hero usually lives in some small village, which is often destroyed at the beginning of the game or somewhere in the first act.
-The plot usually involves something that will ultimately destroy the world.
-Any damsel in distress is invariably beautiful.
-Even when villains claim to want peace and a solution appears to be offered, it's never true. Even if one tries to cut a deal, there's always a shadowy overlord who will stab him in the back and return to the festivities of taking over or destroying the world.
-If the hero is ever put in jail, there is always a convenient way to escape - by talking with another inmate who has an escape plan, by stealing the guard's keys...
It's pretty sad how often these are true in any modern fantasy story.
NO plot ends @ X hours of gameplay - cutscenes (Score:2, Interesting)
I think the hardest thing for gamers and writers to face is that the plot has to end in some forced timeframe.
Reviews kill game houses that end the game with only 6 hours. Others pan a game for having 40 hrs of in game content.
WOW, EVE and others you can play for man months if not years as the outcome of the plot is injected and/or generates over time.
For RPGs go for a multiple (but less than 4) story arcs that are solid. B5, Trek and other successful series use this method as hopefully at least one will captivate the playing audience and immerse themselves into the story.
The best "trick" was Star Wars and the Boba Fett/Biggs or HL's Freemen sparse & unwritten arcs. How much fun was it to have the players/readers live that out for themselves and then build entire mod's or experiences around just a few ideas of a character. -- Thats the Role Play in RPG.
Even Halo's abrupt end due to budget cuts was like having your favorite serial TV show have a cliffhanger midseason!