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Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing
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.
Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing
author
Wendy Despain (Editor)
pages
250
publisher
A.K. Peters Ltd
rating
10
reviewer
Michael Fiegel
ISBN
978-1-56881-416-2
summary
A detailed look at professional video game writing techniques.
Three authors from the first book — Richard Dansky, Rhianna Pratchett, and Andrew Walsh — also pen chapters here; they are joined by a dozen others, including three authors who helped edit the first book: Sande Chen, Wendy Despain, and Beth Dillon. In the interest of full disclosure, my own name appears beside a few quotes in this book; I am a member of the IGDA Writer's SIG, but I had no involvement in the writing or editing of the book itself.
When I reviewed Game Writing last year, my only reservations were that the book could have used some more specific examples from relevant games, and that it could have included a chapter on breaking into the field of game writing. It's nice to see that both of those issues have been addressed in this book. In fact, the latter issue is dealt with right where it should be — in chapter 1, "How to Break In and Stay In." Author Beth Dillon covers the importance of education, experience and a solid portfolio, but spends more time on the all-important notion of networking. Much of the chapter is also devoted to "how I did it" stories, which offer prospective writers a fairly good idea of the many ways in which one can get involved writing for games.
The next several chapters cover specific types of game writing documents and formats. Collectively they are in my opinion among the best in the book, even though they really can only touch the surface of the vast amount of documentation — internal and external — that goes along with the making of a game. As one might expect, the first of these — Chapter 2 — covers the broad issue of format in a discussion of "Interactive Script Formatting." Here, Author (and editor) Wendy Despain discusses the lack of a single script format, the standard screenplay format, the realities of using Microsoft Excel, branching narratives and the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset. In the next chapter, Erin Hoffman offers a brief, concise discussion of the need for brief, concise pitch documents and executive summaries, two of the key documents found in the early stages of game design.
Chapter 4, by John Feil, then focuses on the types of Game Documentation that appear once game development has actually begun; he covers everything from versioning, wikis and source control, to the evolution of documents from pitch to treatment to game design document, as well as supplementary documents such as technical design docs and scripts. Feil also pens chapter 5, "Manuals, In-Game Text, and Credits", which has a fairly self-explanatory title. Worth noting in this chapter is the acceptance of some unpleasant realities of the industry, including the last-minute rush to get manuals done, the difficulties in working with various groups, and the fact that no one reads the manual anyway. Also mentioned is the issue of credits in the game industry — one of the primary reasons for manuals, and a constant thorn in the side of just about everyone who's ever made a game. The IGDA is working hard on a standard, and the book mentions their efforts, which can be followed on the IGDA website.
Several later chapters also cover specific types of documentation in some detail. Chapter 12, by Andrew Walsh, covers Tutorials, including issues of narrative models and the fact that tutorials are often added late in the development cycle. Chapter 13, by Alice Henderson, focuses on Strategy Guides, covering issues such as dealing with bugs, acquiring screenshots and maps, and dealing with drafts and deadlines.
In-between and elsewhere, the book also covers: the emerging industry of narrative design; the pros and cons of remote contracting versus working in a game studio; writing in a team; breaking writing up into "bite-sized chunks" to get the work done; writing for new intellectual property (versus existing IP); writing for different types of audiences; and working with voice actors in the recording studio. Some of these chapters drift a bit closer to ground already covered in the SIG's first book, but each does offer a degree of additional detail that readers will find helpful. Especially noteworthy is Richard Dansky's chapter on Script Doctoring, which offers a plethora of information and tips on how to do it well, along with plenty of exercises on how to practice your skills.
Dansky's piece is followed by Evan Skolnick's "Game Writing and Narrative in the Future," which looks at the direction the industry is going, and explores why writers are necessary, and how a theoretical game story system for future games might work (with a sideways glance at ELIZA and the Turing Test). After this final chapter, the book contains four appendices full of script samples, pitch documents, excerpts and other writing documents from games such as Bratz: Forever Diamondz, Pests, Food Finder and Call of Juarez. As is always the case when such gaming documents are presented, the lists of barks ("Great!" "Sweet" "Awesome!") are at once ridiculous and helpful to see in print, demonstrating quite a lot about the nature of game writing in their seeming redundancy.
Closing out the book is a list of author bios (there are 15, contributing to 16 chapters), including the likes of the aforementioned Richard Dansky (Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell), Chris Klug (Stargate Worlds, Earth & Beyond), Rhianna Pratchett (Heavenly Sword, Overlord), Anne Toole (The Witcher, Stargate Worlds) and Andrew Walsh (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Notable is the fact that 7 out of the 15 authors are women; in a male-dominated industry, it would seem that in the realm of writing, at least, things are a bit more balanced.
In addition to being filled with useful information and tips, most of the chapters also feature one or more exercises at the end, providing readers (who are presumably also writers) with ways to test their skills in a practical manner using the techniques and theories discussed in each chapter. In some cases the Exercises are a bit lackluster and seem tacked on, but many are quite comprehensive and detailed; Dansky offers five such exercises which resemble nothing so much as a final exam from a college course on Script Doctoring. Alas, it seems doubtful that Professor Richard will be available to grade everyone 's work.
Professional Techniques is definitely a book by writers, for writers; even moreso than its predecessor. Insightful discussion of game writing issues is matched with many excellent examples and helpful exercises, and the whole piece is only very slightly marred by some odd chapter arrangement in the middle of the book. This arrangement places Chapter 5's coverage of Manuals and In-Game Help and Chapter 12's discussion of Tutorials further apart than seems logical, especially considering the wide range of topics covered in-between. However, this is truly nit-picking, and overall the book deserves top marks. Stylistically and informatively, it's at least on par with its elder cousin, and will serve as an excellent addition to the library of any game writer — current, or prospective. I highly recommend it.
You can purchase Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews — to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page."
When I reviewed Game Writing last year, my only reservations were that the book could have used some more specific examples from relevant games, and that it could have included a chapter on breaking into the field of game writing. It's nice to see that both of those issues have been addressed in this book. In fact, the latter issue is dealt with right where it should be — in chapter 1, "How to Break In and Stay In." Author Beth Dillon covers the importance of education, experience and a solid portfolio, but spends more time on the all-important notion of networking. Much of the chapter is also devoted to "how I did it" stories, which offer prospective writers a fairly good idea of the many ways in which one can get involved writing for games.
The next several chapters cover specific types of game writing documents and formats. Collectively they are in my opinion among the best in the book, even though they really can only touch the surface of the vast amount of documentation — internal and external — that goes along with the making of a game. As one might expect, the first of these — Chapter 2 — covers the broad issue of format in a discussion of "Interactive Script Formatting." Here, Author (and editor) Wendy Despain discusses the lack of a single script format, the standard screenplay format, the realities of using Microsoft Excel, branching narratives and the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset. In the next chapter, Erin Hoffman offers a brief, concise discussion of the need for brief, concise pitch documents and executive summaries, two of the key documents found in the early stages of game design.
Chapter 4, by John Feil, then focuses on the types of Game Documentation that appear once game development has actually begun; he covers everything from versioning, wikis and source control, to the evolution of documents from pitch to treatment to game design document, as well as supplementary documents such as technical design docs and scripts. Feil also pens chapter 5, "Manuals, In-Game Text, and Credits", which has a fairly self-explanatory title. Worth noting in this chapter is the acceptance of some unpleasant realities of the industry, including the last-minute rush to get manuals done, the difficulties in working with various groups, and the fact that no one reads the manual anyway. Also mentioned is the issue of credits in the game industry — one of the primary reasons for manuals, and a constant thorn in the side of just about everyone who's ever made a game. The IGDA is working hard on a standard, and the book mentions their efforts, which can be followed on the IGDA website.
Several later chapters also cover specific types of documentation in some detail. Chapter 12, by Andrew Walsh, covers Tutorials, including issues of narrative models and the fact that tutorials are often added late in the development cycle. Chapter 13, by Alice Henderson, focuses on Strategy Guides, covering issues such as dealing with bugs, acquiring screenshots and maps, and dealing with drafts and deadlines.
In-between and elsewhere, the book also covers: the emerging industry of narrative design; the pros and cons of remote contracting versus working in a game studio; writing in a team; breaking writing up into "bite-sized chunks" to get the work done; writing for new intellectual property (versus existing IP); writing for different types of audiences; and working with voice actors in the recording studio. Some of these chapters drift a bit closer to ground already covered in the SIG's first book, but each does offer a degree of additional detail that readers will find helpful. Especially noteworthy is Richard Dansky's chapter on Script Doctoring, which offers a plethora of information and tips on how to do it well, along with plenty of exercises on how to practice your skills.
Dansky's piece is followed by Evan Skolnick's "Game Writing and Narrative in the Future," which looks at the direction the industry is going, and explores why writers are necessary, and how a theoretical game story system for future games might work (with a sideways glance at ELIZA and the Turing Test). After this final chapter, the book contains four appendices full of script samples, pitch documents, excerpts and other writing documents from games such as Bratz: Forever Diamondz, Pests, Food Finder and Call of Juarez. As is always the case when such gaming documents are presented, the lists of barks ("Great!" "Sweet" "Awesome!") are at once ridiculous and helpful to see in print, demonstrating quite a lot about the nature of game writing in their seeming redundancy.
Closing out the book is a list of author bios (there are 15, contributing to 16 chapters), including the likes of the aforementioned Richard Dansky (Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell), Chris Klug (Stargate Worlds, Earth & Beyond), Rhianna Pratchett (Heavenly Sword, Overlord), Anne Toole (The Witcher, Stargate Worlds) and Andrew Walsh (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix). Notable is the fact that 7 out of the 15 authors are women; in a male-dominated industry, it would seem that in the realm of writing, at least, things are a bit more balanced.
In addition to being filled with useful information and tips, most of the chapters also feature one or more exercises at the end, providing readers (who are presumably also writers) with ways to test their skills in a practical manner using the techniques and theories discussed in each chapter. In some cases the Exercises are a bit lackluster and seem tacked on, but many are quite comprehensive and detailed; Dansky offers five such exercises which resemble nothing so much as a final exam from a college course on Script Doctoring. Alas, it seems doubtful that Professor Richard will be available to grade everyone 's work.
Professional Techniques is definitely a book by writers, for writers; even moreso than its predecessor. Insightful discussion of game writing issues is matched with many excellent examples and helpful exercises, and the whole piece is only very slightly marred by some odd chapter arrangement in the middle of the book. This arrangement places Chapter 5's coverage of Manuals and In-Game Help and Chapter 12's discussion of Tutorials further apart than seems logical, especially considering the wide range of topics covered in-between. However, this is truly nit-picking, and overall the book deserves top marks. Stylistically and informatively, it's at least on par with its elder cousin, and will serve as an excellent addition to the library of any game writer — current, or prospective. I highly recommend it.
You can purchase Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews — to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page."
QUOTE: "Closing out the book is a list of author bios (there are 15, contributing to 16 chapters), including the likes of the aforementioned Richard Dansky (Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell), Chris Klug (Stargate Worlds, Earth & Beyond), Rhianna Pratchett (Heavenly Sword, Overlord), Anne Toole (The Witcher, Stargate Worlds) and Andrew Walsh (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)"
Other then Ghost Recon... are any of these games any good!? Stargate isn't out yet, never heard of "the witcher" and Splinter Cell made me want to yell endlessly at the person who designed the camera angles...
I'd be more interested in hearing from people who designed world of warcraft ("uh, we just hired 15 crack dealers and had them explain how they get people hooked.. the program wrote itself from there...") or GTA4 ("It's just like living in New York, we're surprised anyone likes it...").
Who stole my key?
I hear ya brotha!
I just got out of somE compAny two months ago.
I was working on a project with a Korean developer who got homesick and decided to return to Korea in the middle of the project. My manager didn't bother to change the schedule for such a small thing as losing 50% of the manpower on the project.
On top of that, after the other developer left, I discovered that most of the code he wrote was completely non-functional garbage. There was one server-side database class that he claimed was complete, but all the SQL queries read "select 1"!
I put in 70+ hours a week for about 3 months, rewrote a lot of his code, and managed to keep all the deadlines.
Then when I asked how they were planning to reward me for my efforts, I was met with the statement that "ThE compAny doesn't pay overtime". Sure fine...then what are you planning to do instead of pay overtime? The response was that because I was already the highest paid member of the team, that they couldn't afford to pay me any bonus or give me any extra time off. WTF?
I gave my notice and got the hell out of there three months before the project was finished. That's the first time I have ever left a project in the middle, and I don't regret it for even a second. I only wish I had left the project in a worse state. Since I left the project in a decent state, they won't feel much pain at my departure.
ThE compAny is definitely one to avoid if you value your free time, or if you at least want to get paid fairly for your time.
My new boss has the policy that "Every hour worked is an hour compensated." That's a policy I can live much more peacefully with.
"Scientists prove we were never here."
-- Devo
It's been my experience that the key to breaking into the gaming industry is to break into the gaming industry. That sounds silly, but more and more we have folks like the Counterstrike and Portal developers making games and subsequently getting hired by a development studio. Writers likely have a similar route, building up a portfolio and demonstrating the ability to write dialog, item descriptions, and other game-specific text.
I made a number of modules for Neverwinter Nights and Neverwinter Nights 2, and I had several job offers from Bioware and others along the way. Recently, the folks at Obsidian asked for a high quality version of the video for Lute Hero, which they plan on showing in Paris as part of a discussion on user generated content.
Nothing says "hire me" like passion and experience. In the gaming industry, that typically means creating mods and your own games at the beginning.
In the end, I opted for my stable and well-paying job in the healthcare industry. Making games is a great hobby, but the reality of the gaming industry is that it's still fairly immature and not as well paying as others. I also enjoy the fact that I can make games the way I want, even if they may be non-traditional of vaguely "inappropriate".
I would concur with the protagonist wakes up with amnesia and saves the world as well as add the following:
1) No angst-ridden junior high kid setting off on an adventure to save the world while the adult population offers no assistance and is oblivious to the dangers until it's too late turning to the angst-ridden teen who in turn transforms any sense of plot into a 60 hour long "Told You So" session.
2) No more wandering heroes that seemingly habitually refuse to help but ultimatley come around once a love interest arrives.
3) Apply the EVIL OVERLORD LIST to the villian, thus removing idiotic mistakes that no person would make.
4) NO MORE TIME TRAVEL. EVER. Why go back in time and kill the hero as a child. GO back and kill his great grandparents.
5) NO MORE ADVENTURE GUILDS. EVER. When in history do we see "Heroes for Hire?" shops? *coughyoustupidbastardsthatwroteforFable*
6) No more mysterious orphans, parentless adventurers, or heroes adopted by mysterious geriactric wizards.
7) No spandex. EVER.
8) At least obey the most basic highschool taught laws of physics unless magic is involved and even if your going to break them, use some common sense! Don't make me bring up that retarded Knight Rider remake where the car gets hit and doesn't get damaged. Ok lets say the car doesn't get damaged, at 30 miles and hour it should as least skid a little upon impact, did it fire pylons into the ground to anchor itself? Weight a few tons? WTF. If the Hulk is strong enough to life a mountain, fine. I can accept that in a comic. But wouldn't it crumble around him where he's holding it as the stone can't take the pressure? Hell wouldn't it go molten where he's holding it due to the pressure involved? Come on...
9) I'm sorry but if someone is going to magically transform into a giant monster of some sort, then change back, they're gonna be naked unless the cloths were a part of them.
10) NO PLOTS INVOLVING EVIL TWINS. EVER.
11) No plots involving death rays. EVER. Death Rays are retarded in a world where a baseball bat can easily kill someone with a good hit to the head. Just about anything can cause death, a death ray is just stupid (It's a ray weapons fine. The fact it's a weapon kinda implies death to a degree). We don't call an 80 amp circuit a Death Circuit do we? How about a quest to find the scared Death Pencil that can kill anyone when you stab them in the neck with it... Any writer that pens "death ray" in a novel, game, or comic should be beaten with lead pipe, I mean a Death Pipe!
12) NO MORE ELF, DWARF, HUMAN combos please. WTF how about a Kobold, A used car salesman, and a Minataur set out on a quest to steal back a 1979 El Camino for an accountant from Skokie?
13) Just because we are humans doesn't mean the characters need to be in the story. Hell I'll take a Fraggle Rock game where you play a Doozer trying to build the most delicious buildings out of radish beams
14) Dark and gritty is a cheap cop-out from the Film Noir era to avoid having to do better character development. A crime ridden city can have a nice clear blue-sky, 80 degrees with a 15 mile an hour breeze from the NE.
15) WRITE WITH A PURPOSE IN INTERACTIVE FICTION. An adventure without a moral or purpose is plain hack-and-slash stupidity. Pick: man vs. man, man vs. himself, man vs. nature. Comedy or Tragedy?
16) NO MORE DEUS EX MACHINA CRAP! Don't start a murder mystery with 8 suspects then in the last 3 pages throw in someone out of nowhere to be the killer without explaination, backstory, foreshadowing, etc. No more wizards at the last minute, gods showing up, etc.
17) Don't answer EVER SINGLE PLOT POINT. It's ok to leave people wondering, it gives them something to talk about with their friends.
18) DO NOT OVEREXPLAIN THINGS! If John is eating a Folxichoi on planet Rebu-5 I don't care what it is or where he is if he's getting on a ship back to earth in two paragraphs. A simple, "While John looked out for the last time at the blue h
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-