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."

She forgot the basics

[Token_Internet_Girl]

• Step 1: Find dark basement, preferrably at mom's house
• Step 2: Buy lots of Doritos, Ding Dongs and Hamburger Helper
• Step 3: Purchase extra large spandex pants
• Step 4: Have stock of tube socks standing by

Ultra mega hit video game incoming! o.0

The video game industry is great...

[Anonymous Coward]

...if you like working 50-60 weeks standard (70-80 at crunch time), not being able to take your vacation during the middle of a project (meaning, going 2 years with no vacation and then taking several months off), working while sick (and with sick coworkers), being paid significantly less than programmers in other fields, and finding yourself out of a job every few years too.

But you DO get to write some cool code.

Re:

[CDMA_Demo]

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.

Women in the game industry are mostly art(maya lw3d) oriented, probably doing a little bit of MEL scripting here and there. Hardcore c/c++/library/tool development is still being done by men.

But you DO get to write some cool code.

Unless you work at 2k or EA where they have their own compilers/languages derived from c that [i]render[/i] your experience utterly useless in the real world

Re:

[Opportunist]

Hmm... so it's like AV analysis/development, but you get to write cool code?

Re:

[VeNoM0619]

...if you like working 50-60 weeks standard (70-80 at crunch time),

I'm pretty good at working 52 weeks standard. Sometimes I will take a week off though. Don't think its possible to get more than 52 in though...

Re:

[elysiuan]

Do all your projects fall within a single year then? Some take longer than 52 weeks til completion.

Re:She forgot the basics

[moxley]

WHat does that say about this crowd that you don't even HAVE to explain the tube sock comment!

aybabtu

[Anonymous Coward]

The writers of Zero Wing could have used this...

Re:

[CDMA_Demo]

all your cliche's are belong to us.

You are on the way to eastmost peninsula

[tepples]

The writers of Zero Wing could have used this...

As I understand it, the writers of Toaplan's Zero Wing wrote perfectly understandable Japanese. Blame the localization team for the half-assed job. Nintendo was no better at the time: "Eastmost peninsula is the secret" anyone?

Vs. the traditional way

[192939495969798999]

Or, you could throw unpaid overtime at the game and set unrealistic deadlines, that seems to work for somE compAnies.

Re:Vs. the traditional way

[Bytenik]

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.

Re:

[Rycross]

Out of curiosity are you still in game development?

Re:

[geekoid]

"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've been there, this is why I demand code reviews.
Yeah, other developers hate it, but only the first couple, afterwards they begin t see increased productivity, and fewer delays do you functional misunderstandings.

Re:

[morgan_greywolf]

Or, you could throw unpaid overtime at the game and set unrealistic deadlines, that seems to work for somE compAnies.

Get back to work and quit posting to Slashdot!

Thanks,
Your Boss at thE compAny.

Adding it to my wishlist...

[hansamurai]

Okay, I'm almost going to definitely buy this. I've been writing a video game script now for almost three years and my biggest hurdle is simply how to format it so that the story is rigid enough to be followed by other people but yet allow for enough interactivity that it is still a video game. This challenge has basically "frozen" my script for the last two years because I'm afraid of writing so much and having to go back later to figure it out.

Re:Adding it to my wishlist...

[Form-o-Stuff]

You could always use the tried-and-true "choose your own adventure" format. If you disagree with this post, turn to page 57 for an untimely death.

Re:Adding it to my wishlist...

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Some tips gathered from experience.

Cut scenes are there for gamers to take a break. They are best placed directly after a boss fight or some other challenging piece of the game, and are best off done in the in game graphics and being no more than 3-5 minutes in length, with exceptions for perhaps one mid game and one ending sequence. The opening sequence should run between 15 and 90 seconds in length, and the player should be in complete control by that point, for at least the next 10 minutes. This is IMPORTANT. Tutorials are fine, but making me sit through 10-15 minutes of exposition is just lazy writing on your part. Start in media rens.

Cut scenes are to be used solely for character and plot development that is otherwise completely impossible to put anywhere else. They are not some kind of "reward", nor were they ever, except in some developers heads. Tell me where I'm going and why I need to go there, maybe get a bit of acting going on. Basically, I'm taking this opportunity to engross myself in a little and refill my drink, and generally relieve the tension from whatever it is I just completed. This does not mean I'm not paying attention. Frequently, I will be focused like a laser and if you've left any plot holes, they are going to stand out like gaping chasms. Your plot needs to be rock solid. Oh and less "deus ex machina" please. It physically hurts when you do that. Any plot affecting mechanics needs to have been introduced at least twice before you use it at a critical moment.

If the player is at any time not in control of the proceedings in some way, then you've basically taken the controller out of their hands for x number of minutes. If you feel too restricted by this, then learn to love in game voice overs/ radio calls and monologues, the kind where control is not taken away from the player. Think of the phone calls in GTA4. I personally can't get enough of these, so feel free to write in liberal dose. I wouldn't advocate a completely Half-life style of storytelling here, but it's not entirely a bad idea.

Please, do not feel obligated to include a love interest in the story. In fact, you're best off leaving it out. Chances are most people won't go for the girl/guy and if she or he is in fact the damsel/messer in distress, then player respect for this person will drop to zero pretty quickly, and your love interest line will become comical, irritating or probably both. Remember when Sheik turned into Princess Zelda? The exception to this would be if the interests was a "party member" e.g. Aeris/Tifa in FFVII. It works then... sometimes, but you are best off making it interactive a la Star Ocean 2.

Main characters... should always be a little dark. Players love to grief the NPCs from time to time. Being an Anti-Hero can be huge fun and very engaging if done right, e.g. Blood Omen. Main characters are also often best made silent observers, as in Zelda games, so that the player can best fill in their personality through their own actions, rather than having their actions in conflict with your prescripted ideals for the hero. If a character does have a striking personality, then you are best off making that a part of the gameplay itself, e.g. Devil May Cry 3.

Don't be afraid to make gameplay elements, and even technical aspects of the game engine, a part of your story, as in Medievil. "Realism" in games was a fad that ended some time ago, so feel free to make your own world as eccentric as you please. Not too eccentric (MGS2), but just eccentric enough (MGS3). Be aware that good gameplay can make up for a bad story, but no manner of story will ever make up for poor gameplay(Primal). Feel free to take inspiration from what may seem unfashionable sources (God of War), or even from some contemporary issues (Army of Two). Just don't get too ludacrious (Blacksite: Area 51).

Lastly, never, ever, EVER end a game with a "To Be Continued" screen or the equivilent (Digger T. Rock, Soul Reaver 2). Leaving the possibility of a sequel is fine, even encouraged. Bu

Re:

[hansamurai]

That was epic and seriously great advice. Since I started writing, I've also started examining the ways plot and gameplay is introduced in a game, specifically within the game's first hour (see sig). It has really made me think hard about what works and doesn't and how developing your game quickly and efficiently is the key to success.

Honestly, thanks for the write up, it was awesome.

Re:

[kklein]

Okay, I have been wondering this for a long time... How does one get into writing for games? I have scriptwriting experience (a bad experience--ultimately uncompensated, and then uncredited!!!--but good, not-working-on-something-that-will-never-see-the-light-of-day experience nonetheless) but I have never seen job listings for game narrative/dialogue writers, and so many times when I'm playing a game, I'm like, "My god I wish I could have written for this--I could have made this exchange so much better--a

Re:

[_Sharp'r_]

I'm pretty sure they're encouraging you to buy the book to find out this and other related answers...

Re:

[hansamurai]

I have no idea either, I'm just writing because I like video games and thought I had a good idea. :)

Re:

[Archimagus]

Firs off, the job posting you are looking for is "Game Designer". Depending on the company and the actual job the Game Designers duties will vary though. Sometimes it could be just story writing, other times they could be looking for level designers, game ballance, event scripters. Frequently the designer will be doing all of those things and more. Rarely is there a posting specificaly for story writer. Although, here [gamasutra.com] are some exceptions.
Secondly, to get into the field you really just need to (come clo

Closing out the book...

[furrydave]

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...").

Re:

[CastrTroy]

I got a Harry Potter game for my wife, because she likes the books so much, and she likes some video games. It wasn't a bad game. It was way better than I expected for a game based off a movie. I think they could make a really good Harry Potter game for the Wii. Use the Wiimote as the wand to cast different spells. Motion sensing for controlling the broom when you are flying. Lots of possibilities there.

Re:

[SuiteSisterMary]

They did. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, wiimote for wand.

It suffers from the 'my way or the highway' design school; at one point, for example, you need to get a book from a shelf. What they want you to do is levitate a table beside the bookshelf, and climb up.

You can't grab the book magically, you can't knock it off by flinging something at it, you can't levitate a person up to grab it, nothing other than the way the Developers intended. That annoys me.

I stopped playing Black and White

Re:

[Broken scope]

Witcher wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible.
Writing has little to do with camera angles.
Earth and Beyond had a passable story(Its a defunct MMO)
Overlord had interesting gameplay.
Heavenly Sword was a firm MEH at the end of the day.(The sequel got canned and the dev is having a bit of fallout with sony)
heard the HP game was okay.

Re:

[Thiez]

I quit the witcher half-way through. I didn't like the controls, and the loading times combined with the dumb quests (Speak with person A. Go to Person B 2 loads away. Speak with person B. Go back to speak with A. Go back to speak with B. Go back to speak with A. Go back to sleep with B. Go back to speak with A. Go back to B and kill or sleep with the vampires. Fight some guys. Talk with B. Congrats you finished a quest! Only 3000 more to go) made playing the game feel like work.

Overlord was pretty awesome,

Re:

[Opportunist]

Earth & Beyond was a MMORPG. It sure had a good story, so if that guy is only responsible for the storyline, listen to him.

If he had anything to do with balance, listen to him and do the opposite. It was what made the game go splat.

Re:

[afabbro]

The Witcher is pretty well known - you can find it at most mass-market retailers (I got my copy at Fred Meyer's here in PDX, which is analagous to Wal-Mart, a couple weeks ago). It was done by a Polish studio using the Neverwinter Nights (aka Aurora) engine. Lots of customization and new mechanics - in fact, I think they pushed that engine so hard it looks like a really different game than NWN. Much more adult in context, too - your main character can get laid, though the US edition removed the graphic p

guys playing girl writers?

[Dan667]

Come on, really. Are the girls listed as Authors really girls or are they like on MMO's where they are guys pretending to be girls to get dummies to give them stuff? Eh, are there really 7 women writing about games? My brain hurts ...

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, they definetely are women. I think I've met them all on various occasions. They really deserve credit and they all have made wonderful games.

Here's to the long overdue equaling of the sexes in video games.

v

Re:guys playing girl writers?

[hampton]

GIRL = Guy In Real Life!

Your Key To A Fabulous Career as a Game Writer

[jalefkowit]

Repeat after me: "space marines".

even better...

[MRe_nl]

"Space Marine Librarian".

Warhammer 40000 K anyone ?

Re:

[CogDissident]

I didn't know Warhammer 40 million was out.

You do realize that the "40k" in Warhammer means it stands for 40,000 right? As in, if you're going to write out 40,000 then you can leave off the "k".

Re:

[MRe_nl]

No no no, 40 K is the amount of organic material inside the average Space Marine's armor.

Okay, typo, won't happen again ;)

Do not forget about simplicity

[jaguth]

Some of the best classic games have the simplest story line:

1: Giant evil turtle kidnaps princess.
2: Defeat giant evil turtle in castle.
3: I'm sorry, your princess is in another castle.
4: Repeat.

The game play makes up for the short story, which works really well.

Re:

[ajlitt]

You forgot:

1: Blocks fall
2: Line disappears
3: Repeat

Riveting!

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorta like watching bowling. Whats he gonna do next bob? I think he's gonna throw that ball there and try to knock down those pins. Back to you jim.

Re:

[Rick Genter]

My favorite:

1) Eat the pills.
2) Oh no, a ghost!
3) Aha! The ghost is blue: EAT THE GHOST!

Re:

[omnipresentbob]

Ah, but you forgot: You find the princess and rescue her. Then she goes and gets stolen again.

Re:

[witherstaff]

And then people wonder why geeks have problems getting into a relationship. We look at a woman and go 'man, once she's kidnapped do I really want to put in that much effort to get her back, since she's just going to get taken AGAIN!'

Re:

[jonaskoelker]

Some of the best classic games have the simplest story line:
1: Giant evil turtle kidnaps princess.

But Ganondorf isn't a turtle!

I hope this book is good...

[Spatial]

...because most recent games I've played, while amazing in appearance, had diabolical storytelling. It's something that really needs to be improved, especially in action games.

The sound and visual quality of games has become incredible, but the stories and the way they're told have not improved much; the contrast in quality is a little striking. If you've played Crysis, Quake 4 or Rainbow Six Vegas and so on, you'll know what I mean. There are counter-examples of course, such as the Half-Life series and

Re:

[Opportunist]

It's a matter of cutting cost and selling. You can see the same development in movies.

How do you sell a movie? The same way you sell games: By showing snippets. You show a few screenshots, a few moments of gameplay, maybe let the player download a demo that shows off how cool your game is.

A story is what makes a game entertaining for longer than the 15 minutes necessary to sell the game. Since that's not necessary to sell it, it's cut from the budget.

More books

[geek_2020]

What we're missing is more books.

My experience

[PIPBoy3000]

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 [adamandjamie.com] and Neverwinter Nights 2 [adamandjamie.com], 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 [youtube.com], 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".

So true!

[Fantastic Lad]

True, true! "Do what you love and you'll love what you do." "If you are true to your inner light, then things just naturally seem to fall into place."

--And every Campbellian variation thereof.

But it's always worth repeating! Glad to hear you're finding success in life on the happy track. It's inspiring for everybody, since everybody can and should be following their own paths in similar ways. Thanks!

-FL

Re:

[geekoid]

And if what you love to do is illegal or immoral(by society standards, natch)?

Round and round.

[Fantastic Lad]

And if what you love to do is illegal or immoral(by society standards, natch)?

There are three elements at play. . .

The first element here consists of the confusion with what 'follow your bliss' means. 'Bliss' is a clumsy word which can be interpreted in a couple of ways. One way is the crack-cocaine style bliss, the other is not. I would estimate that generally people know internally which is which, and that the rest is semantics for the argumentative or those who haven't explored their inner workings de

Re:

[Tablizer]

I can make games the way I want, even if they may be non-traditional of vaguely "inappropriate".

I always wanted to see a game with breasts that shoot. (Watch this, somebody will post a link to one that already exists.)

     

Re:

[myopic_bingemaster]

Liesure Suite Larry 4 (I think). Final scene, as the woman protagonist, you strap on an armed bra and save the president (I think)....

NO

[deathtopaulw]

Contrived, over-written, dialogue-heavy video game plots should be absolutely banned from existence. You are not saying anything deep or profound with your horrible symbolism or references (read: copy paste) to standard intellectual reading material.

Not only should we not have books teaching you how to write plots, we should make a law that says "if your plot is deeper than 'go!' you're restricted to 15 lines of dialogue total."

Re:

[Darkness404]

Ummmm... It is rather hard to have an RPG in 15 lines or less.... Really impossible if you want it to sell, and is just about impossible to make it past "quality inspection" and release it on any home console platform. If you don't want plots, go back to playing your Atari 2600.

Re:

[omnipresentbob]

One would guess that the parent's favorite game is solitaire, as any other game has too much story and dialogue.

Re:

[Darkness404]

Well, other then RPGs and FPS games.... There aren't much games left for you to play. Well there are the crappy mini-game collections that 8 year old kids beg parents to buy.... But platformers are mostly dead, fighters are almost dead, and adventure games surely have more then 15 lines of dialog, take away that and what is left? Not much that is any good anyways.

Re:

[deathtopaulw]

I'm alluding to team ico's games, good job not picking up on it
A game should either be pure adrenaline fun, or intensely intellectual. This bullshit middle ground is killing true intelligence.

Re:

[elysiuan]

Enjoy your two games.

Re:

[torchdragon]

Ok, then by that same broad stick. We should ban books of the same caliber. I've read just as many terribly written and knock off books as I've played video games. At least the video games have the advantage of differing game styles and input methods.

Re:

[deathtopaulw]

yes I considered saying "movies and books" or something, but it's a topic about videogames
that shit pisses me off everywhere

Re:

[Hatta]

I happen to enjoy RPGs. Yeah they're fluff, but it's a game. Still fun. If you don't like it, tough.

how to make games

[suck_burners_rice]

1. Download libsdl [libsdl.org] (Simple DirectMedia Layer, works on many OSes and platforms)

2. ???

3. Profit!

How about losing some of the cliches?

[elrous0]

How about some more game plots that don't start with "Protagonist wakes up with amnesia or in prison cell (or both). He doesn't know it yet, but he is going to end up becoming the savior of the realm/planet/universe!"

Re:

[kenp2002]

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

Re:

[Eli Gottlieb]

3) Apply the EVIL OVERLORD LIST to the villian, thus removing idiotic mistakes that no person would make.

[snip]

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.

Or combine these two to comedic effect as the player wonders through time and space, fucking history to hell, but when they reach the end of the story (their personal timeline), The Doctor shows up, aborts the player as a baby, and thereby fixes everything.

Re:

[fastest fascist]

I could live with that start if the games didn't invariably involve:
-Nausea-inducingly pompous dialogue (Oblivion)
-NPCs you mainly want to kill because they keep annoying the living shit out of you, even though without them all that's left in the game is hideously repetitive action (Half-life 2)
-Absurdly generic design coupled with bottom-of-the-B-movie-barrel writing and characters whose main feature is their total lack of intelligence whatsoever (Mass Effect)

I want to like playing games. I really do. T

Re:

[geekoid]

I just want games to be fun.

I don't care how old the tropes are. This could be becasue I've seen them all, so I don't expect anything completly new.

Re:How about losing some of the cliches?

[querist]

I am all for avoiding cliches, but the "wakes up with amnesia" or variants thereupon (for example, the original Myst where you start out finding a book and having no clue beyond that) are handy to avoid (1) needing a read a long introduction, (2) having a long video introduction, or (3) needing to be somewhat familiar with the game world before even playing the game.

That particular cliche gives the writer the ability to allow the player to have little understanding of what is going on and make it fit into the story. The player learns things as the character learns or remembers them in the game.

Like anything else, it can be over done and done poorly, but I still think that specific plot device can be used well.

And as far as "saviour of the realm/planet/universe", well... I'll go along with that but again, some games are clearly fantasy. Why not "dream big"? Why not let the player save the whole planet? It's only a game!

Re:

[jaminJay]

Why not let the player save the whole planet?

One of my favourite P&C Adventures, "Muscarine" [aminet.net], had the brilliant idea of the mission being to destroy the universe in order to restore the balance from other games requiring you to save it.

Re:

[osu-neko]

say yoho

That storyline worked when they wrote stories. . .

[systemeng]

But the old ultimas 1-9 did this storyline well. They were awesome until the botch on 9 but even then, there were aspects like the user interface for your backpack that were much better than neverwinter nights. It's unfortunate that neverwinter nights 2 wasn't as good as the original.

Writing a game is easy

[AttilaSz]

Just borrow some artwork from already successful titles as witnessed in this post: http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/18/1938223 [slashdot.org]

What could possibly go wrong?

Either that or...

[c.r.o.c.o]

Do what those guys did:

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/18/1938223 [slashdot.org]

I mean who's going to notice?

Thanks for the analogy

[YourExperiment]

if the first book was a Google Map, this one would be the Street View.

So the first book was extremely useful and hugely comprehensive, while the second book is just a fun gimmick?