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Writing for video games can include everything
from coming up with an original story to figuring out twenty
different versions of "I've been shot!" It's a demanding
task, combining elements of roleplaying writing, scriptwriting,
and imitating the Voynich Manuscript. I've been lucky enough
to work on titles ranging from Rainbow Six 3
to Far Cry, and each time the experience is
different – different games demand different approaches,
content, and levels of input. The only constant is that you're
trying to make your writing one part of a cohesive game experience
for the player – part of making sure the player has fun.
Please bear in mind that I can't tell you everything
that I'm working on, or even what I'm doing sometimes on projects that have
been announced. I will, however, provide updates as soon as I can on projects
that are newly released from under their veil of secrecy. And yes, that means there
are things I'm working on - lots of things I'm working on - that either I can't officially claim
a credit on, or which can't be talked about...yet.
Video Game Credits (Announced Games):
Writing About Game Writing
As part of the initiatives for the IGDA
Game Writers' Special Interest Group, I'm one of the co-authors
of a book on video game writing published by Charles River
Media. The book, entitled Game
Writing: Narrative Skills for Video Games, features
authors including James
Swallow, Andrew S. Walsh (X3: Reunion),
Ernest
Adams, Rhianna Pratchett (Heavenly Sword),
Ed Kuehnel (Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude) and
more.
We're now working on a followup to that book - two, actually
- with the talented Wendy Despain as editor. I've turned in
my chapter for the first one, and am currently plugging away
on the second.
GDC Austin (formerly the Game Writers' Conference)
I'm a member of the Advisory Board of
the GDC
Austin game writing track for the second year running. Working with Susan O'Connor, Dana Fos,
Lev Chapelsky and Mark Terrano, we're currently at work trying to put together this year's track to follow
up on last year's extremely successful show. There will be more details when more things get hammered down concretely.
E3
I spoke at E3 2006
as part of a panel on "Perfecting the mix of story, character
development, and interactivity" with such notables as
David Jaffe (God of War), Marc Laidlaw (Half-Life
and Half-Life 2) and David Cage (Indigo Prophecy).
You can read Gamasutra's take on the talk here.
GDC
I participated in two sessions (OK,
four if you count the fact that they had me run the round
table 3 times) at GDC
2007. First off, I spoke as part of the Interactive
Story Boot Camp, organized by scriptwriter David Freeman
and featuring such luminaries as Hal Barwood. It was one of
the all-day tutorials at the start of the conference, and
my topic was techniques for building choice into games. The
slides from the presentation will be made available for download
shortly. I also moderated a roundtable
discussion on techniques for game writers, one of those practical
things that's near and dear to my heart. The three sessions
attracted well over a hundred people, with great discussion
of the practical, professional, and technical issues facing
game writers today. [Update - the roundtable
has also been accepted for GDC 2008!]
In 2004, I gave a talk at the annual
Game Developers' Conference on creating believable stories
for realistic video games. The powerpoint presentation from
that talk is available here.
The talk, entitled Island Thunder and Raven Shield:
Creating Believable Stories for Realistic Games, was
a product of my realization (via video game reviews that said
"this could never happen!" to stuff I'd pretty much
taken right out of the newspapers) that what is realistic
isn't always believable in a game, and that the audience has
been trained to expect certain things that you dare not contradict.
The presentation was a blueprint for navigating this tightrope,
and for giving the writer tools for producing solid storylines
for realistic games that wouldn't break the audience's suspension
of disbelief.
IGDA
For several years, I had the honor of
serving as one of the executives of the IGDA's Game Writers
Special Interest Group. The group functions to serve as a
resource for video game writers, and to promote the craft
of game writing. You can find more, including the group's
white paper on the basics of game writing, on the SIG's
website and the well-received and Frontline-nominated
Game
Writing: Narrative Skills for Video Games. While
I'm no longer one of the executives, I continue to support
and participate in the group as it moves forward.
Project Horseshoe
In 2006, I was one of the attendees
of the initial Project
Horseshoe, a small conference on game design hosted
by the legendary Fat
Man deepinthehearta Texas. (Scorpions, no. Drunk
squirrels, yes. It was Texas.) I spent the conference working
as part of a small team tackling issues of the legitimacy
of games as media form, and deeply enjoyed the experience.
Being in a room with that many big brains, many of whom were
responsible for games I've known, loved, and spent countless
hours on over the years, was one of the highlights of my career
in games thus far.
And to prove I was there, here's
a picture of me playing "Hey, That's My Fish!"
Needless to say, I went back
in 2007, though the incriminating photos have yet
to surface. I think.
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