Game Writing

Last updated Jan 19, 2023 Edit Source

• Seed

See also: games, creative writing, game design

• Games are interesting to write for because of the concept of agential distance (see: Games Agency as Art)
  • The agency of the player shapes their own experience of the game
• Tension
  • When the playing strives to fulfil and objective or goal and the game pushes back
  • External to the narrative
• Conflict
  • When a character strives to fulfil an objective or goal and an antagonist pushes back
  • Internal to the narrative
• Gameplay loops (called ludic loops by Nguyen)
  • A cycle in which the player uses the core mechanics to resolve tension
  • These may occur at different pace layers and serve to anchor the player in the game
    • The narrative should support the gameplay loops to be effective
• Episodes
  • Can be split into more manageable pieces
  • Can be released episodically (e.g. DELTARUNE)
  • Establishes patterns (and allows you to break these patterns for exaggerated effect)
• Example story
  • Protagonist attends a very elite preparatory school
  • All his friends are incredibly smart
  • He’s the highest scoring kid in the class but… the secret is he has been stealing the answer keys from the teachers lounge since he’s started school there. As such, he hasn’t actually learned anything in school, just how to steal really well
  • All previous episodes have been solo: player versus environment
    • Security cameras, guards, alarms, etc.
  • Episode: this time when stealing the answer key, he sees his best friend also trying to steal the answers. This leads to a reckoning about whether all his friends are actually smart or actually faking it like him
    • This adds a new element: other NPC characters who are trying to reach the answer key before you do
    • Adds time pressure and extra dynamism
  • Larger commentary is about whether these ‘preparatory’ institutions really prepare students for the real world or just to get really good at these ‘vanity’ metrics like GPA that schools always portray

• escaping a coma
• progression is based on player knowing what is going on
• character design
  • driven by seeking familiarity
• layers
  • layer 1: subconscious
    • no visuals just text
    • a fear of small and closed spaces
    • a strong want to figure out “where am i” and “how do i get out”
    • cant remember the past
    • memory gated on figuring out they are in a coma
  • layer 2: sleep
    • sluggish character movement
    • a weird shadowy land, waking up on the shore of a pitch black ocean
    • black and white
    • basic exploration based platforming, signs and
  • layer 3: dreaming
    • normal platforming gameplay
    • gravity will change, platforms will change, requires intense sections of memorization
    • patrols are more aggressive, gain the ability to morph into objects
    • need to blend into the environment, if you stick out you will be sent to the shadow realm
    • final boss
      • your subconscious
      • maybe your family doesnt want you to wake up
      • insecurities about living

• # patrols

• npcs
  • are actually just objects that you dont know you can interact with before learning more about the environment