http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog A blog about script writing in and for the games industry en-us Copyright 2009 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog Mon, 25 May 2009 15:27:19 +0100 pure_0.2g_geshi games@jamesparkerwriting.com games@jamesparkerwriting.com 60 James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=28 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=28 28 Mon, 25 May 2009 14:42:55 +0100 Today marks the one-year and one-week anniversary (the only real anniversary worth celebrating) of me turning freelance as a full-time games writer, I thought I’d share some of the lessons I’d learned that fall outside the “What tools should I use to author my script?”, “Why don’t people love ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ more?”, and “How do I portray my creative vision of a world wracked in conflict through a game that is ostensibly about dropping bricks into a tube?” questions that come along. Reading back, the thoughts have very little to do with writing for games and more about doing any sort of creative freelancing, but I suppose that leads neatly onto point one: [b]Being a professional games writer is not about being a writer, or anything to do with games. [/b]Sure, once you get down to doing a piece of work that’s what it’s about, but the majority of time, certainly at the start, the focus is going to be on sales, pure and simple. If you can’t do sales, you can’t do the job and that’s a very bitter pill to swallow for a “creative” person. Without clients, you could be the Dickens of games writing and it isn’t going to pay the bills and it isn’t going to make you a star. Actual selling is not necessarily hard, and there’s plenty of books on doing it well, but getting used to the rejection, picking yourself up, and trying again is a tricky emotional thing to deal with, particularly if you’re not used to doing that sort of thing. [b]It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know. [/b]Following on from the last point, you can’t make it in this industry (or probably any other industry) without a good network. The bulk of the work that I have got, I’ve got through people I knew before turning freelance. And if you haven’t got a great network, you have to make one, and fast. Even if you think you have a good network, it’s never good enough. Even if it seems like a tremendous outlay of money, and if you’re willing to put in the work, you have to get out to the conferences and make quality contacts. No matter how many LinkedIn connections you’ve got, if you can’t say “Hey dude” to someone you know in a bar and find out what projects they’ve got on, it’s not going to work. [b]A bird in the hand… blah blah blah. [/b]A lesson that I’ve learned so many times in the past, and still continued to learn from (i.e. fail at!). I turned down work, pretty good work, because there was something better around the corner. The corner came and went, and nothing happened. By then the other work had gone and I had nothing. Stupid error, don’t do this. If you find yourself with two bits of work at the same time, find ways around it and thank your lucky stars! [b]Try not to start your business in a year where there’s a massive global economic crisis. [/b]For all its recession resisting properties, you only need to look at the number of studios that have closed and the number of jobs that have been lost in the games industry to see that there are knock on effects of “the downturn”. The main effect for me has been the significantly increased attitude to risk, and that means fewer companies doing bigger products with a writing component, and fewer companies willing to look outside their usual sphere of interest when it comes to finding a writer. For established writers, this isn’t as much of a problem, but for a new writer without a name in the industry, you’re just another risk they don’t need right now. [b]Luck is a bitch. [/b]By giving yourself contingency you can roll with the punches, but sometimes things happen out of your control that you can simply put down to shit just happening. I lost two great potential contracts which were at the negotiation stage when the projects were pulled in their entirety. I was turned down for an interesting piece of work because I was “too professional”, so you never quite know how people are going to react, and sometime you just have to write it off as bad juju. [b]Have people around. [/b]If you’re working on your own, it’s easy to underestimate the importance of having real people to talk to. Not necessarily for work purposes, but just friends or family who you can vent to, or someone to big you up when you’re down. All of the things on this list get amplified because it’s all on you, and if you can’t find a way to deal with the rollercoaster of it all, especially in the early days, then it all gets suddenly harder. [b]Remember why you’re doing it. [/b]There’s a point at which “the dream” get subsumed into the practicalities of keeping going, so you need to sit back every now and again and check that you’re still enjoying it, because at the end of the day there are easier ways of making money than this, and if you stop enjoying it, you’re flogging yourself for no reason. And that’s crazy-town. Despite the bad times (of which there have been several), and whatever happens in the future I can look back on the year and say “I've been a professional writer for games”. For me - totally worth it. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=26 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=26 26 Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:50:57 +0100 Whilst at GDC last week, I enjoyed several days of networking with all facets of the global games industry, one of the things I wanted to do whilst I was there was get in touch with a number of Mobile Games companies that had a presence at the show. A good number of companies showed a keen interest and an understanding that as their roles were expanding to take into account the next, more powerful, generation of phones (not least the iPhone) that their games might benefit from writing input. Unfortunately, there was still a vanguard of mobile developers who were completely incredulous that their games would ever need professional writing. And I'm not talking about people with a perfectly reasonably assertion that their current games wouldn't benefit... but people who considered that there was no way that ANY mobile game would ever need a writer. The arguments fell into two broad categories: a writer wouldn't be any use because the volume of text is small, and that the budgets are too small to take on an external contractor. Surely if the volume of text is small, then it's even more important that you get a good writer, if every word counts that much more, you want someone who can craft those words even more tightly? One of the benefits in getting a specialised writer who understands the nature of games, is that they can work within the technical restrictions imposed on them in a way or a more generalised writer might not. The second argument seems to be predicated on a belief that a writer is going to turn up after eight weeks with a 600 page manuscript and say, "Stick this in your game, that'll be a million pounds, please." If the volume of text is really going to be small, as the first argument suggests, then a freelancer is only going to need to be employed for a short period of time, as a proportion of the budget it shouldn't be out of whack with any other aspect of development. I'd be just has happy spending a day producing a well-written but minimal piece of work as I would spendings months on a well-written epic. The mobile games industry is arguably growing up a lot faster the console industry has, and is going through the same discussions and quandaries as its elder sibling. But just as there's a constant debate in the regular games industry about the value of writers, it is only right that the mobile games industry follows suit. I can only hope that it draws it's own conclusions, and understands that writing isn't a pointless inconvenience that has to be crow-barred into the mobile experience but instead another potential facet of a game that, when done right, can make a tangible difference in player enjoyment. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=25 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=25 25 Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:34:56 +0000 ...not in a traditional liberal European US-bashing way of course. What I mean is the voting American public's selection last week in the second American Idol semi-final was deeply unsatisfactory. Why would they pick Kris Allen over Megan Joy Corkrey? She's got an interesting and unique voice and looks great; he is as bland and cookie-cutter as you're ever going to see - plus she designs fonts for a living... what's more American and worthy of Idolisation than that?! Stay with me, I am going somewhere with this... I am addicted to American Idol, I have watched every season (except season seven as I couldn't stand the potato-faced David Cook), I have watched many episodes from the early seasons countless times. Initially it was out of obligation, research for my involvement with the [b]Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol[/b] games, now I just can't stop myself. People will say that it's unwise to be bigging up my involvement with such a "casual" game, when the majority of game scripts are of the "burly-men shouting" variety, but in terms of technical achievements I'm very proud of my work on American Idol as it gave me a wealth of experience that I might not have got elsehow. If you're unfamiliar with the game (which as a European you would be as it was never released, and as someone who reads gaming blogs, you probably have negative interest in both the i.p. and the game genre), I shall quickly summarise: As an American Idol contestant, you sing various songs in front of the show's famous judges, and at the end they provide relevant advice and criticism on your performance, reacting to song choice, outfit, performance, progress through the competition, etc. exactly as they would in real life. I'm not going to claim it's revolutionary, but for a game geared towards the mainstream end of the market, it's a lot nicer to be giving players feedback in a natural way rather than simply flashing up a score. Of course the judges are an integral part of the American Idol experience for contestants and wannabe contestants, so they had to be in there, but it was really important for us to flesh them out and make then actually provide a constructive and/or entertaining part of the game. The exact same process is essential to any game with context-sensitive in-game speech, but it's a step that's often missed and in-game speech suffers all the time from poor implementation (resulting in repetition, inappropriateness, or lack of interest). The script had to allow for judges to disagree with one another, to have enjoyed parts of a song more than others and to seamlessly move between the facets of the judgement. The actual implementation behind the scenes from both a code and a design point of view was significant and not only that, the system relied on a huge number of lines, ultimately for recording with the real-life judges so they had to work from a technical perspective, but also be appropriate lines for people saying them. Now if anyone ever says "You can't write to 'a voice'", I can point them at a game where I wrote for three very different (and well-known) voices, and the lines performed by those very people with a negligible number of lines that they thought weren't "them". And more than anything it gives me the ability, through the avatar of Simon Cowell, to insult hapless players throughout North America on a semi-automated basis. If they go back to playing the game after voting for Kris instead of Megan and Simon Cowell describes them as "utterly useless", then my job will have been done. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=24 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=24 24 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:45:53 +0000 You can’t go anywhere on the internet where they are talking about game stories without some enthusiastic comment poster presenting their incredible and unique vision of the future where games provide a truly interactive storytelling experience. “Not just branching plotlines”, they continue, “but genuine non-linear storytelling!” and the world is rocked to its very core! But I would argue that there already exists a genre that presents exactly the kind of non-linear storytelling that their visionary eye can predict, and not only that, but that it has done so for a number of years, although it isn’t necessarily the first place you’d look – it’s not some experimental indie-darling, it’s not a text-based adventure from a veteran of the industry… it’s EA’s most successful franchise. After several iterations, the commentary in FIFA 09 is amongst the best examples of a system that provides an impeccable voiceover to the whole gameplay experience. It is the perfect distillation of the ability for the game to generate, in real-time, an accurate vocal narrative on the events that are taking place within it. I’m not talking about player-driven storytelling in a “let the player make their own story”, games-as-art, hippie bullshit way. I’m talking about the game accurately recognising the events of the game as they play out and responding accordingly. The first part (the recognising) is a highly technical challenge and requires significant interaction between code and design, the second (the responding) is where having a highly proficient games writer comes in. Not only does the writer have to understand how and in what context every piece of speech is going to be used, they have to ensure that it flows when used in combination, that the speech is balanced such that more common elements have more opportunities for variation, and above that still have to continue to write appropriate, realistic, and interesting lines. I would go as far to suggest that the design and writing of a FIFA script is much more ambitious in its scope and execution and more deserved of praise, than any of your Mass Effects, or Bioshocks, or any of the other games of last year that were lauded for their amazing storytelling direction. It’s not perfect, and I’m sure today’s attempts will be just as laughable in ten years time as the first iteration of voice over commentary did ten years ago, but what’s important is that it is happening. The techniques used aren’t limited to sports games, and in-game speech systems that the majority of games employ work on the same principles, but are simply executed to a more limited degree. There’s always going to be the need for storytellers for games that have distinct stories, but we already have the talent and the technology to create more compelling in-game speech for games where the story is the play. There are plenty of games that need storytellers, I would argue that there are many, many more that simply need writers. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=23 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=23 23 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:18:21 +0000 Last night I headed down to fancy London for the second week of The Sitcom Trials, a sitcom development project aimed at finding the next great British Sitcom and showcasing scripts, actors, and directors to important industry figures. Why it was particularly important to me, was that my sitcom, [b]Boarders[/b], was one of the entries last night, and it was the first opportunity I'd had to see it in the flesh. Luckily the director, Charles Armstrong, and the two main actors, Robin Sebastian and Lucy Sullivan, brought the script to life in ways that I hadn't imagined, and the resulting piece was a pleasure to watch. And it is as much a testament to the performances and the direction as it is to my incredible writing skills that Boarders was judged second on the night by the panel of experts (first was the excellent "Trainspotting" by Graeme Knowles). Second place is good enough though, as it means that it goes through to the next round in April, and that means, hopefully, even more of the important TV and Radio folk will get a chance to see it. Sooner or later I'll start blogging about games stuff, then all of the Twitter followers who are there specifically to enjoy my vast gaming wisdom might feel like they're getting their money's worth. For now though I'll just bask in the glory of my limited success. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=22 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=22 22 Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:13:46 +0000 I feel sure I've already written about [b]Midnight Club: Los Angeles[/b] already but I seemingly haven't, so here goes: I really love this game. Of all the games that I played at the tail end of last year, this was the one that compelled me the most, the simple fact is that it makes you feel like a proper bad-ass street racer when in reality you're a fairly neutral-ass Ford Fiesta driver. Quite apart from the game mechanics that reward true seat-of-of-pants type driving, and the incredible sense of speed, the style and the presentation of the game is impreccable, and it draws you into the world absolutely. The dialogue really helps along the way - with [b]Dan Houser[/b] nominally leading the eight-strong writing team. It isn't po-faced and meat-headed as you might anticipate the macho posturings of street-racing to be, and those characters who are presented like that are done so deliberately and they are regularly mocked for it by other in-game characters. The script is peppered with jokes and the banter makes you feel for otherwise quite conventional characters. It's not a game that needs, or indeed has, a story, but the writing provides another aspect of the flawless presentation. Importantly, and like many other facets of the game, it feels like I want it to feel rather than praying at the altar of realism. I know the driving model isn't accurate, but the game is better because it isn't; I imagine the dialogue is not particularly authentic of the people who participate in this sort of hi-jink, but it's representative of how I imagine it to be, and for me, that's much more worthwhile. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=21 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=21 21 Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:30:12 +0000 Next up: [b]Uncharted: Drake's Fortune[/b] As a somewhat late arriver at the PS3 party, I only had a chance to check out Uncharted this Christmas, and I'm pleased to say that it lives up to the hype. The whole experience is wonderfully slick, with near perfect controls and camera, nice little puzzles, and really compelling movie-like presentation working in cahoots to provide a really great latest-gen experience. It's another nice example of script and story being given sufficient attention in and throughout the game development process - with the script written, I believe, primarily by Game Director, [b]Amy Hennig[/b]. The script is real Boy's Own Adventure stuff. An adventurer in search of treasures finds himself racing against a variety of foes to find El Dorado thanks to a notebook and map purloined from Sir Francis Drake (one of his own ancestors). Anyone who has seen an Indiana Jones film or played a Tomb Raider game knows what to expect, exotic locales, multi-ethnic bad guys, sassy love interests - but it doesn't matter that it's derivative because the game exactly achieves what it sets out to do. The main character, Nathan Drake, is presented as a genuinely likeable Everyman, it works because he's not a perfectly heroic character and he doesn't have all the answers, but he gives it a bloody good try. His faults and failures are what rounds him off, and it helps that the whole thing doesn't take itself too seriously, so there's a healthy quantity of quips and one-liners peppering the script. The voice performances are good as well, with actual acting on display! And there's a wide range of barks and incidental dialogue, which add texture and support the story very well. All in all, Drake's Fortune is one of those games where everything just seems to work so effortlessly; in a way the game hides it's many quality facets through being effective in almost every one of them, and the terrific script is a perfect example of that. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=20 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=20 20 Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:46:35 +0000 Like many people, I've been deluged with games over the holiday period, a number of which I've really enjoyed, and a number of which have notable writing. Over the next couple of weeks I'll run down some that I've been playing, starting with... [b]Spiderman - Web of Shadows[/b] - I love the Spiderman games so I may be giving this a bit of a free ride (I will gladly play ninety identical missions where I beat up some street-level thugs who pose no threat to me, just because swinging about is endlessly enjoyable), but you have to admire Web of Shadows if nothing else because of the volume of dialogue. There is a significant number of character interactions, in a "press A to continue" RPG style, all given proper voice over, and with optional dialogue for background information or just to relay a Spidey wisecrack or two. It's just a shame that the Spiderman voice actor is the weakest, and arguably the most annoying within the game. A lot of care has gone into fleshing out the expanses of script - possibly too much. Adding depth to the lines and telling a more coherent story may have been more worthwhile than exploring the breadth of Spiderman lore. The script reads in a comic-book way and there's always a problem going between lines that would work well on the page, and those that sound right when voiced-over. I quite enjoyed the script, and leading man issues aside, though it worked quite well, but I can imagine if the style wasn't your thing, then the punchy comic book lines would begin to grate very quickly. The pairing of long-time Marvel scribe [b]Brian Reed[/b], and a member of the development team, [b]Mark Walters[/b], at least seems to have resulted in a script that's low on repetition and broadly speaking well-integrated with the game . I get the slight impression that the voiceovers were recorded before design was finally locked down, leading to some disparity between spoken mission briefings and actual content, which is a shame. The overall story is interesting, and the intro sequence is really bold, and for me, highly effective in setting up the game and providing an interesting opening tone as well. The game stutters a little with the repeated Good/Bad binary choices (especially considering there is a mechanism in place to determine alignment as you progress through the game), but it moves at a fair old lick and watching the city fall into chaos is dramatic, without falling into the "look at us, aren't we clever" trap. The only think I would say is that the game has the old-fashioned too-many-endings problem, and that the climax is perhaps not as enjoyable as some of the earlier boss fights. It's rare for a game to have the same scope and ambition as Spiderman: Web of Shadows, but it's one that has divided critics. Almost every aspect of the game falls into the love it or hate it category - the writing, the combat, the missions, the story - luckily I loved it. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=19 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=19 19 Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:17:59 +0000 Beside having actual work to do, I've been trying to keep up with some of the recent deluge of quality releases. Games I want to play are coming out at such a rate, that it's possible that I'll actually have things to play in the inevitable ten-month dry-spell that kicks off in the new year. I've not had a huge number of hours between work and crucial England rugby defeats, but those I have spent I have enjoyed, especially from a writing point of view, for a whole range of reasons; and here's a quick summary. It was going to be quite hard to go wrong with [b]Little Big Planet[/b], especially with Steven Fry doing the tutorial voiceover, but it's nice that they've managed to maintain the utter-charm of the look and feel of the game that has been apparent from day one. The writing is tight, the performance is spot on (as far as I know, the man can do no wrong), and it's a wonderful introduction to the game. I've played all the way through [b]Mirror's Edge [/b](a short game even by my standards), and I really enjoyed it. The core mechanics are wonderful and it's one of those games that when you're playing it right, you feel incredible. The story is a quite straightforward one, but its streamlined nature fits in well with the pace and style of the game. [b]Rhianna Pratchett's[/b] script manages to be dramatic but at the same time down-to-earth, the realism helping to bring the characters to life. Some of the performances of the minor-characters don't necessarily do justice to the script, but overall the presentation of the script and story do a lot to add meaning to the game. I don't necessarily agree with the decision to do cartoon-style cinematics, considering how great the rest of the game looks, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume they were rushed to get the game out in the crucial Christmas window. The game I've enjoyed most is the demo for [b]Crash Time 2[/b], which features some truly wonderful dialogue (I've pinched some for the subject of this post), not knowing the the original source material - the German TV cop show [URL=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alarm_f%C3%BCr_Cobra_11_%E2%80%93_Die_Autobahnpolizei]Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei[/URL], but I can only assume from the dialogue in the game that it's an astonishingly realised spoof of eighties TV cop shows. Every line is a real gem, and the stilted banter of the two main characters and their dispatcher is (unintentionally?) hilarious. If the full-game is similarly appointed, then it's very much on the must-buy list. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=18 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=18 18 Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:18:41 +0000 Saints Row 2 is a really schizophrenic game, even more so than the first. The "diversions" are full of the same wacky humour that forms the basis for the marketing of the game, but the story itself is remarkably po-faced in its approach. Aside from a few jokes in the early missions of the game about your character's updated appearance, the cutscenes are a relentless mix of plot exposition and gangster posturing. I remember the first game quite fondly, that there was a depth to the story and some of the main characters that made it much more than a by-the-numbers gangster game, but the sequel seems to be missing that. The sheer volume of speech is impressive (and kudos for providing multiple voices for the main character for the whole game), but I can't help but think this must have contributed to the lack of panache shown. One of the things that I found hardest to deal with in the game was that the player character is an unrelenting asshole, both in his relationships with his "friends", and with his casual attitude to incredibly brutal torture. This isn't explored, it's just a thing he does, and as such is really off-putting. Especially when a character that I have spent time crafting, if not in my own image, at least in some way reflecting the choices I have made for them, ends up participating in some genuinely shocking acts (which in themselves have no really emotional impact anyway). Sure, when I'm in control, my character is a murdering psychopath... but when I'm in cutscenes he develops into a really nasty, cold-blooded, hate-filled, torturing psychopath. A criticism that's often levelled at characters in the GTA games in that they are portrayed too sympathetically in cutscenes, considering that you can leave a cutscene and immediately beat a pensioner to death, but as far as I'm concerned that's a much a better compromise than this, where whatever moral limits I choose to impose on my character, are immediately countermanded when control is taken away from me. ...and there's some unforgivable apostrophe use in the subtitles! James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=17 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=17 17 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:54:41 +0100 So as I alluded the other day, I'm through to the final of the Sitcom Trials, a competition geared towards finding a new marketable sitcom through a live knock-out competition in fancy London in front of various important "industry" people. Last weekend I got to meet the other writers in a very cordial social event which rather punctured the potential rivalry thing, but then at this early stage the daggers are probably not yet sharpened. It was good to be hanging around with like-minded folk, and seeing how different people approached being "a writer". Lots of people were happily entering all the writing competitions they were aware of; hoping, presumably, for the break that would turn them professional. Others were working in related fields like copywriting. Others were theatrical tripple-threats - actor/writer/directors. What people really shared was a passion for Sitcom in and of itself, which was heartening - for some reason, a lot of people think comedy is easy - the number of bad theatrical sketch shows that I saw in Edinburgh was disheartening large, and actors giving stand-up a go just for stage time are, by-and-large, crushingly awful. The short list of finalists goes to prove that the understanding of the medium is crucially important to the final product, and the same thing is true of games - just because someone can write doesn't mean they can automatically write for games. I'm sure hearts will be broken, and no one will be pleased with the eventual winner, but it's probably the closest I'm ever going to get to being in an X-Factor style competition so I'm just going to enjoy the journey. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=16 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=16 16 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:18:11 +0100 I picked up "The Force Unleashed" last week, because despite feeling underwhelmed by the demo, former colleague and [URL=http://mainlyaboutgames.blogspot.com]leading games expert[/URL], Tony Gowland, said that it made you feel like an ultimate badass, and I've been missing that in my life! There are a great many things wrong with the Force Unleashed in gameplay terms, but as ever in Star Wars games, you make obscene allowances for gameplay just because they've got the lightsaber noise exactly right. Where the game is interesting is in story terms, as it bridges Episodes III and IV and promises extra insight into the character of Darth Vader and the birth of the Rebellion. The story really doesn't disappoint, the plot twists and turns like a T-16 in Beggars Canyon (Oh yes, I went there), with plenty of double-crossing, lots of interesting secondary characters, and a few familiar faces. There are a couple of down points - an underdeveloped B-Plot, some ludicrous characterisation that is crowbarred in for equally ludicrous gameplay reasons, and a few dead-end plot threads - but taken as a whole the story does its job, and it does it very well. Most importantly it is sufficiently compelling to keep you playing when otherwise you might just be throwing the controller about in rage. What is done very well is the fact the team has made use of the constraints of the Star Wars licence, but have also been able to add to it in really effective ways. Writing-wise it's much more of a mixed bag - the first couple of cutscenes are excellent and I was genuinely impressed by the use of well-placed silence (supported by impeccable motion capture performance) within the script. Games scripts tend to rely too heavily on dialogue as traditionally the nuance of performance would be lost, and the game really does an terrific job of making the transition into a much more natural piece of writing. Unfortunately, as the game wears on, this subtlety is lost and it goes back in nasty, forced-exposition land, and the game becomes a lot more conventional. To be fair, it does redeem itself for some of the later cutscenes, but it's a shame the high quality of the early stuff could not be carried through the whole game. I'm not sure if it's a factor of having a four-strong writing team (there's no indication who, if anyone was "head" writer) or maybe it was the heavy-hand of Lucas himself getting involved, but there is a real gulf between the best bits of writing and the worst. Overall is it worth it? Yes, I think it is, I'd rather have a game with an average script with flashes of brilliance than the majority of highly-underdeveloped games scripts, and when it's wrapped up in a nice Star-Warsy package, it's very hard to say no. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=15 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=15 15 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:00:37 +0100 Hay look, [URL=http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=239050]"God of War III to get 120-page script"[/URL] I'm not quite sure when volume of dialogue became an important metric in game scripts, but Rob Yescome did it when Haze was coming along, and now God Of War III's writer - [B]Marianne Krawczyk[/B] - is at it too. I suppose for the man on the Internet, commitment to producing a script of that size indicates a commitment to a level of story and writing on a game that exceeds the norm - which should be praised - but to someone who writes for games, the figure is somewhat disingenuous. Is it 120 pages of screenplay formatted cutscene text? I sure hope not, because I don't think even MGS4 features two hours of cutscenes. Is it a script that captures both interactive and non interactive sequences? In which case, how much of that is action, and how much is actual written dialogue? A recent discussion of the IGDA Writers SIG mailing list talked about the difficulty of quantifying this stuff with line count being the best indicator, but even that is prone to problems (i.e. is a line a sentence, or a single piece of spoken dialogue, or a line on the script?). The best way to do it in my mind would be to find out exactly how much in terms of hours of speech was recorded for a title and use that... although of course by the time that information was available you wouldn't be able to use that in the pre-marketing of your game! James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=14 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=14 14 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:00:10 +0100 I've recently played and completed both [B]Portal[/B] (Late to the party, again, I realise) and [B]Braid[/B]. Two games that have marked similarities, not only in terms of brain-melting gameplay based on relatively simple mechanics, but also in terms of critical reception. And they have also both been lauded over for their stories. Before I'd played Portal and whilst the story content came to me only as a series of slightly tiresome internet memes, I was worried that I was actually going to end up being slightly annoyed by it, but luckily all the "the cake is a lie" stuff forms part of a much greater whole. The linear, puzzle-based nature of the game means that the interaction between you as a player and the GLaDOS voice is direct and responsive to your behaviour, the use of humour is particularly well pitched considering the highly analytical nature of the gameplay. The writing providing, more than amply, the texture that the game potentially would have lacked due to it's deliberately sparse use of characters and content. The story itself isn't what's particularly important, but the story-telling is impeccable. A lot of people have praised Braid for its story, including - in a genuinely nauseating wank-marathon of sycophancy - Jason Roher, who said Braid was: [I]"...One of the greatest artistic statements ever made with any medium"[/I] If there was a special international contest for bullshit hyperbole, I can only imagine Jason Roher would be considered the world's greatest ever Paralympian with comments like that. I realise that the story is up to interpretation, but unfortunately my interpretation of the story was something along the lines of: [I]"Waaaaa, no one understands me. Waaaaa, I'm a beautiful unique snowflake. Waaaaa, my girlfriend left me. Waaaaa, humanity is destined to destroy itself... but wait, look! Aren't I so very clever and intellectual?"[/I] I loved playing Braid, it was a wonderful puzzle game - unique, compelling, and beautifully designed. It did new and innovative things, and for an indie game to receive those levels of success and plaudits is wonderful, but I had to shut my eyes every time I walked past one of those "books of exposition" because it was close to making me stop playing if I'd read any more. I suppose in a way, the whole of Braid contained so much "texture" that it was in danger of eclipsing the very real achievements that the game pulled off in gameplay terms. Ultimately, Portal ends up being much more intriguing and impactful through its use of humour and subtlety than Braid could ever hope to be with its deliberately obtuse faux-intellectualism and its po-faced novella about love, loss, and... I don't know... some other emo-shit. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=13 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=13 13 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:59:33 +0100 Since I last posted my life has been a whirlwind of activity - I've been in Edinburgh scouting for the IF.comedy award, I've attended the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, my sitcom has got into the final of the Sitcom Trials competition, and I've had some time off in Cornwall. Comedy first - congratulations to [B]David O' Doherty [/B]and [B]Sarah Millican[/B], and extra congratulations to [B]Mike Wozniak [/B]for his nomination for newcomer (which was the most exciting show I saw this year. Things to watch in future - [B]Kiosk of Champions[/B] was a really well pitched double-act/sketch and hopefully Goldsmith and Sandling will stick together to do some more. A more long-term thing to watch out for might be [B]Bishop and Douch[/B] - it wasn't a perfect show this year, but there's a lot of promise there - with a bit more time and experience I can see them doing some great stuff in future. I'm not sure if I can talk about my sitcom thing at the moment, so I'll hold off until a later blog. It was the first time that I'd visited the EIF - and it was a nice little conference (festival is perhaps a strong word, but you can't move for festivals in Edinburgh in August), the programme was quite diverse and because it wasn't stranded, meant there were a lot of sessions that you wouldn't necessarily normally hear, so it meant that I got to hear more about the burgeoning world of Alternative Reality Games (essentially sophisticated online treasure hunts), some amazing facts about EVE online's economic and social structures, and was introduced to a great mobile (or browser-based) game called [URL=http://resetgeneration-site.arena.n-gage.com/]reset-generation[/URL], which pokes loads of fun at games and is (hushed tones) actually a really good game, on a mobile phone, and everything! What's especially nice is that it's got a big script, and signals that mobile games are maturing just as much as (if not more than) their console-based counterparts when it comes to getting writers on board. Cornwall was nice, and I swam in the sea. Lastly the comments seem to be being spammed and although it's admittedly nice to have some traffic, I've set them so I have to approve them first, so apologies if you have to wait before your pithy response is posted (and special apologies to you [I]Guadalupe Hodges[/I] - because your name is so awesome I felt really bad deleting your post) James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=12 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=12 12 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:58:59 +0100 And I'm an industry veteran, according to GamesIndustry.biz: [URL=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/gamesaid-poker-night-raises-3000]GamesAid poker night raises 3000 pounds[/URL] So it's a fact. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=11 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=11 11 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:58:33 +0100 I've just returned from the Develop conference in Brighton where the great and good of the British Game Industry got together to solve the world's problems, eat ice cream, and get sloshed near David Braben. A lot of the Design Track discussions touched on writing and storytelling in games and there were as many opinions as there were people: [B]Ken Levine [/B](surely the games industry's foremost Steve Carrell lookalike) said that having the story integrated with all elements of the game was paramount. Purveyor of Lego and one of the conference's most tidy beards, [B]Jonathon Smith[/B], expressed his disdain for stories (and scripts) in games. Head Ninja theorist, [B]Tameem Antoniades [/B]expressed the importance of a cinematic experience in games, and [B]Merek Walton [/B]from the Mustard Corporation told everyone how emotion in games was really important and what we should learn from films. As a counter-point, in a brilliant talk, [B]Matt Southern [/B](off of Evolutions Studios) told us how films are not our friends and if we learn too much from them then we are doomed to repeat their mistakes. Does this signify a schism within the community, that writers are treading a fine line being acceptance and extinction? Does it mean one speaker was right and the other wrong? Almost certainly not, it just goes to show that we can cherish our adversity, that there is a place for different types of games and different ways of telling stories. I hope and imagine that the same debate was happening in other tracks. That the business folk couldn't decide whether the market was expanding or contracting, that artists seeking realism were at loggerheads with those taking their 3D brushes to more stylised game worlds, that coders were unable to decide what algorithm would best automate the process of telling designers "No, it can't be done" Whilst the conference sessions were not my primary reason for attending the conference (networking being a necessary part of the freelance lot) I was heartened to see that there's a good deal of healthy debate kicking around. Which is great, right? James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=10 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=10 10 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:57:56 +0100 Writer and academic [B]Lee Sheldon [/B]has written an [URL=http://www.gamecareerguide.com/features/580/features/580/oped_writing_off_game_.php]article[/URL] about writing in games, how it isn't recognised as highly as it should be within the industry. Whilst I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments, the writer does fall into the trap that I have seen people both inside and outside the industry fall into with dramatic regularly, which asserts that [I]writing = storytelling[/I] - that the role of a writer is to provide emotional depth, be a "vision carrier", and transform the game from simple entertainment to ART. It's certainly true that a writer can do this for a project, but it isn't the be-all and end-all of game writing. There are still plenty of games that would benefit hugely from having a talented writer on board that aren't setting out to appeal to the always vocal "games as art" crowd. The commentary for EA's Euro 2008 is excellent - it's a great piece of writing, and more than that, it's a tremendous piece of design, but what it clearly isn't is a piece of story telling. More games needs writers just to make their characters less one-dimensional, to add humour where there is currently po-facedness, to flesh out experiences for the player and to add realism in how the game communicates with the player. There is a place for writers to lead a project, to create a world and a story and change the way people look at games (Hell, I'd love to do that), but at the moment there are so many more opportunities to be had in just getting writing in games up to level that people can appreciate and be proud of, that they shouldn't be overlooked in the rush to bring "emotion" to games, and "tell great stories". James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=9 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=9 9 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:57:11 +0100 In my previous life as a games designer I came up with a neat little puzzle game called [B]Droplitz[/B], which has just been [URL=http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/objects/142/14265712.html]officially announced[/URL] by my good former employers at Blitz. [IMG]images/droplitz.JPG[/IMG] Demonstrating regret and a fair lack of foresight, it's a game that has no story component and requires no dialogue whatsoever! James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=8 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=8 8 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:56:47 +0100 I've just started playing Assassin's Creed. I know! You can blame my stockpile of other games, my red ring of death, or maybe just my initial apathy to the game - and am enjoying it a surprising amount, (considering that afformentioned apathy). I haven't played the game to completion yet, but at the moment, I'm having trouble understanding why the creators felt the need to have the futuristic memory investigation plotline surrounding what is an otherwise a neat little Middle-Eastern romp. To me it slightly smacks of a focus test gone bad - that someone panicked that people would play a game that was set in "the olden days". The alternative is that they considered it necessary to justify having a map and a HUD and a lock-on and all the trappings required for a modern game of that scope and thus create a sense of immersion. For me, being told that everything that you are experiencing within the game, is not real, is more immersion breaking than a few on-screen icons. I'd prefer not to be ripped from the game I was enjoying in order to play a slow paced adventure in a small medical facility, but maybe I'm being too quick to judge. The script (by [B]Corey May[/B]) is suitably dramatic, and the characters display admirable depth. Where the game suffers is in it's treatment of minor characters. Simply put there is too much repetition Repetition is one of the biggest problems that faces a games writer - the nature of most games genres means that there's no way you can avoid it completely - you simply cannot account for every occurance of every ad-hoc conversation that takes place within a game, what you can however do is mitigate it. By understanding where lines are going to be used and how often, you can write multiple variations of lines, you can make lines subtle enough to withstand repeated listens, and you can write code that takes account of the fact there is a limited number of lines and cycle them sensibly. Assassin's creed doesn't seem to do this (or at least it's worst offending lines are so obvious that it tarnishes the rest of the game). Sometimes there isn't enough time in a recording session to get all the variations of a line, and whilst it breaks the heart of the poor writer, it comes down to money and time (two of the biggest enemies of any venture), but what makes it strange in the case of Assassin's Creed, is that you get identical lines read by mutiple actors, which means that there clearly was enough recording time, but there were no variations of the lines written - just because another actor says it, when you're dealing with a distictive line it's still obvious as repetition. The cost of hiring actors, studio time and the like is substantially more than the cost of a writer whipping up even a couple of hundred extra lines, and the unfortunate result is that the audio ends up being severely compromised. It just goes to show that for a really great script, you cannot underestimate the need for a designer on the team who understands how dialogue is going to work within it, or you need to get a writer on board the project early on who can recognise the needs of the game and write accordingly. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=7 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=7 7 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:55:47 +0100 I've just seen a trailer for The Condemned. It stars "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Vinnie Jones and as far as I can tell, it's an unofficial sequel to Citizen Kane... Not really of course, it's about ten death-row prisoners who are sent to an island to fight to the death, all for the vicarious entertainment of a TV audience. It's a classic plot - from Battle Royale, to "Ice-T and mambo" uber-movie, Mean Guns - the idea of a group of people doing a last man standing job in a confined space is always an action favorite. It's a perfect videogame plot, or should I say perfect "videogame" plot. Because there's been a trend recently in the mainstream media, in particular when reviewing films, to use "videogame" as a kind of shorthand for "insignificant and largely without merit". Whilst it's nice to obtain some mainstream recognition, it's a shame that it's in quite a derogatory manner - I guess as least we as an industry have a high enough profile now to take the place of comic books in these comparisons. There may be an element of snobbery about it, but it does sum up well what videogames do, they are high on action, light on plot. The difference between films with videogame plots and videogames with videogame plots, is that the films have a script, and they have actors who rehearse lines, and they have directors who tell them when it's going well and when it isn't - games with videogame plots tend not to even bother with any of that. It's all well and good pointing to excellent examples in game writing and saying "this is what we can achieve", but when your worst examples make The Condemned look like Annie Hall, then it's clear there's still some way to go James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=6 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=6 6 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:54:55 +0100 Apart from when Bon Jovi is playing a gig and havok with traffic in the local area, I quite like where I now live, because occasionally you see thigs like this: [IMG]images/tinker.JPG[/IMG] I'm going to go out on a limb and say that a Lovejoy game, featuring a pre-sweary cowboy Ian McShane would be one thousand percent awesome, and anyone who disagrees is a chump (Obviously I'll write the script). James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=5 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=5 5 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:54:21 +0100 (*Games with Under Rated Writing) In this first of an occasional series, I shall be taking a look at a game that I think has noteworthy writing but has largely been ignored, because for all the words that are written about Bioshock or Mass Effect or Portal, there are plenty of other games out there which are great in their own right but are marginalised for all sorts of reasons. In this case, I'm covering [I]Stuntman: Ignition[/I]. The second Stuntman game actually scored fairly highly in reviews (perhaps a reaction to the surprise that the game was quite good compared to the highly flawed original) but it failed to catch the public imagination, despite a reasonable advertising campaign. In it, you play a stuntman charged with pulling off a series of driving stunts for increasingly eccentric film directors - if you miss too many stunts, the shoot is ruined and you are summarily dismissed. The gameplay gets a little bit samey, and if you're an easily frustrated gamer, I imagine the repetitive nature of some of the tasks would probably grate somewhat, but in the most part, I found myself being pulled along for a very entertaining ride. What stands out writing-wise is the care that has been put into putting character into the film directors, from the washed-up action star turned director to a high-brow, high-budget spy-film auteur and a spot-on spoof of Quentin Tarantino. It's witty and well-paced, and helps frame the action so whilst you might be performing very similar stunts, having the multiple scenarios fleshed-out so well means it's always worth playing on to see what's around the corner. The script writer, [B]Jared Hedges[/B] also targets the writing well, he restricts the funnies to the original mission briefings, leaving the in-game speech straightforward enough that it stands up to repeated listening. It's nice to see effort being put into a game in an area where it isn't absolutely needed from a gameplay perspective but, as a result of going the extra mile, the end-result is greatly elevated. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=4 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=4 4 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:53:27 +0100 When Haze was released a few weeks ago, the games sites got themselves in quite a tizzy about the game. Because of the huge amount of hype that, deliberately or not, was heaped apon the game during it's development, because it was a high profile PS3 exclusive, and because of the heritage of Free Radical Design, the reviewers didn't really know what to do with themselves come the end result (the game is currently sporting a [URL=http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/haze]metacritic score of 55[/URL]). Whilst the game as a whole has divided opinion, the story in particular has had some incredibly varied write-ups. [B]Rob Yescombe[/B], the game's writer, spoke during development at length about how integral the script and the story were to the game, so it's no suprise that it was picked up again come review time. I thought initially that the people who had enjoyed the game least in general also considered the story lacking, but looking at it in more depth, there was a much broader range of opinions. There were reviewers who thought the game was okay but maligned the story, and there were equally people who disliked the game but thought the story was one of the better elements. Where people were in favour of it, the opinions tended to be that whilst the story was fairly original, the telling of it was what let it down with overly long cutscenes (albeit interactive ones), and cliched and repetitive in-game dialogue being mentioned. It strikes me that where reviewers didn't care for the story, it was possibly the writing that they objected to rather than the story itself. That the actual presentation of the story was what put them off. Contrast this to a title like Army Of Two, which covers similar ground, but lacks the lofty ambition of Haze, story-wise - but is pulled off with certain amount of charm in its writing - hey, it's hard to dislike a game where a boss character calls you "Fucko"! Both elements need to work in conjunction for a really great game, but I would say that I would take better writing over a better story any day. Call of Duty 4 is a perfect example of a game which takes fairly standard war/action fare, but executes it perfectly - and it makes the single-player game one of the most compelling experiences of recent years. The diversity of responses to Haze's narrative is probably testament to the fact that it does do some interesting things and at least attempts to cover new ground and develop fresh ideas. However, no matter how long the script, how much it makes subtle political statements or challenges peoples views of videogames and videogame violence, players are never going to stick with a game if it isn't any good. As a writer that's a fairly bitter pill to swallow, that no matter how good your script or your story, if it's part of a game that people don't enjoy, then it counts for nothing... as a gamer, I wouldn't have it any other way. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=3 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=3 3 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:53:02 +0100 Back in 2000, Bruno Bonnell, then head of Atari, told the crowd at the Emerging Technologies conference in Sheffield (clearly a popular and long running conference!), that games should be shorter. He later expanded on this in interviews and in person, saying that he wanted everybody to be able to finish every game, should they want to. For a games designer at the time this was a difficult thing to comprehend, how do make the game accessible across the board without compromising enjoyment for the better players? If the game is too easy people will be disappointed, but dynamic difficulty is only appropriate for certain games and can give the impression the game is cheating. It seemed like an idea that was excellent in theory but found lacking in practice. Just eight short years later and his spiritual successor (in terms of hair style, at least) at Atari, Phil Harrison, is saying that games are changing and that [i]Alone in the Dark[/i] will likely be one of the last big story-driven single-player gaming experiences and furthermore that the game would allow a player to enjoy the game in chapters, skipping ahead if they get stuck, or playing the game in any order. It's an elegant solution that seems perfectly natural to modern sensibilities – these days episodic TV shows have bigger fan bases than big budget Hollywood films, digital downloads mean that people are able to grab the next instalment of a show at virtually the moment the last has finished rather than waiting a week for the next. Whether Bruno was being prescient, or just lucky (in the same speech he also said there wasn't likely to be another big revolution in games console design – *cough* Wii), doesn't matter. I don't agree that we'll see the death of the large-scale single player experience, the [i]Metal Gear Solid[/i]s and [i]Bioshock[/i]s of this world will no doubt continue to thrive, but the shift towards more bite size gaming experiences is a welcome one. For a writer, it presents brand new opportunities, Eden Studios' episodic design means that you can create much tighter episode-length story lines that can be woven into larger arcs, it means you could have multiple writers working on different episodes (as they do in TV as a matter of course), you can concentrate on different characters in different ways across the episodes. I hope the gamble pays off, and I hope that [i]Alone is the Dark[/i] turns out to be as good as it currently looks, and is a big hit, because this structure is one that I'd gladly see other companies rip off in future – I can think of plenty of games which I would have enjoyed if I could have skipped levels so readily, plus I would relish the challenge of writing a developing story told across multiple chunks rather than as part of one all-encompassing epic. James http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=2 http://www.jamesparkerwriting.com/blog/index.php?post=2 2 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:51:54 +0100 Hello, this is the customary first update explaining just what the point is in having a blog. In the Freelance world, it's important for me to maintain a web presence so I have a way for people to find out about me as an individual, to see what sort of services I can provide, and offer a means of getting in contact, however it seems silly to have a web-site and not provide a little more dynamic content. And that's where the blog comes in. The blog will allow me to write more informally about my work, do little reviews of games that I think have merit writing-wise, comment on news stories, and all the other things that don't fit in on the "corporate" side. With commenting enabled, it also means that there’s the opportunity for dialogue in a "Web 2.0" kind of way (and for the record this is the only post in which I will use the phrase "Web 2.0" or even the word "blog", although in a minute I will use the phrase "RSS feed" so luddites look away now). It's got an RSS feed too, so you should be able to get updates without any of that "having to browse the internet" nonsense. Next update: Something about games writing! Cheers J