I had the opportunity to slip into the Writing for Games panel being held at this year’s Penny Arcade Expo. On the panel were Will McDermott (Wizards of the Coast editor, fantasy novelist, AreaNet writer), Maria O’Brien (Harmonix, Medal of Honor writer, standard-keeper and planner), Chuck Jordan (Telltale Games writer and designer), and Ron Gilbert (Hothead Games writer), all moderated by Penny Arcade’s Jeff Kalles
They briefly discussed their professional experiences, then opened themselves up to a Q&A session. They were asked first about the tools of their trade, and the methods used to research for their projects. Maria O’Brien confessed to using Wikipedia as a launchpad for deeper research, and shared that during the course of writing for Rock Band, the writing team ultimately read over thirty books covering the history of rock and roll.
Unlike the nonfiction, fiction, and poetry industries which have publication houses with relatively standardized submission and formatting procedures laid out for would-be writers, the video game industry has not yet agreed on a standard format for script submission. Each individual company has its own standards, and these are also in flux as each house adopts new tools and directors.
But the really interesting answers involved discussion of recent developments in game stories (read: the fact that there are stories, and that they are narrative masterpieces which find a receptive audience). It used to be that cut-scenes told almost the entire story, with the player’s actions in-game having very little effect on the outcome. But recently there was a shift away from cut-scenes as the stories producers wanted to tell became too complex to tell succinctly; cut-scenes were getting longer and longer, and taking away from the playing experience.
It’s no longer acceptable to simply present a narrative chopped up by insignificant character action. A writer must devise ways to wrap the player up in the narrative thoroughly, and at the very least give the illusion that their moral and physical decisions have an impact on side stories and of course the ultimate outcome of the game.
During the Q&A session, one PAXer asked a question I’m sure a lot of prospective game writers have on their minds: How appealing is an English major to the hiring force? Ron Gilbert said it’s not appealing or unappealing at all – he simply looks for current writing samples which prove a writer can offer tight prose. Ultimately, functionality and skill count more than qualifications, though some design houses will have a bar set. (BioWare, for example, likes to see authors published in one of a few ways.)
Maria O’Brien shared another useful insight, and that is that it’s nearly impossible to be JUST a game writer. It pays to know other aspects of design and development. This becomes important in that ‘enveloping’ narrative, where level design and mission objectives must be included clearly in the script.
The panel was realistic, but optimistic about the direction of game writing and the possibilities for prospective game writers. They reiterated advice: read, and write, and learn to read like a writer so you can write well. Write tightly, and pay attention to what works and what doesn’t work in games. And as Ron Gilbert stated, remember “stories at their core are just a depiction of human experience.”
