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COMING UP WITH A STORY AS YOU GO
Posts
RPGCreator
10
RPGCreator
View playlists
CloseHave you ever created a story for your game as you you went along editing it in the maker and how did that go for you? Is it possible to create a game without a story you already have thought up and is on paper in beforehand?
This is merely a curious thought I have about the importance of a well thought out story and if there are cases (even though I guess they are pretty rare) that a spontane story actually works for a player. To some people, the obvious answer is that a story needs to be there in some sort of form before you begin.
I am working on my project now with a story I thought out first before you ask, so it´s not a question of me being lazy and hoping for a chance to get a better story as I go along. Just want to hear people´s opinions. Is it possible to enjoy a spontaneous story?
This is merely a curious thought I have about the importance of a well thought out story and if there are cases (even though I guess they are pretty rare) that a spontane story actually works for a player. To some people, the obvious answer is that a story needs to be there in some sort of form before you begin.
I am working on my project now with a story I thought out first before you ask, so it´s not a question of me being lazy and hoping for a chance to get a better story as I go along. Just want to hear people´s opinions. Is it possible to enjoy a spontaneous story?
Dyhalto
7536
I think we all did that at some point. Usually at the beginning of our RMing careers.
I think a better question would be "Did you finish it and upload it to a site for anybody to play?".
I think a better question would be "Did you finish it and upload it to a site for anybody to play?".
RPGCreator
10
author=Dyhalto
I think we all did that at some point. Usually at the beginning of our RMing careers.
I think a better question would be "Did you finish it and upload it to a site for anybody to play?".
Good continuation of the subject and even add: "what was the response of that game?".
But yeah. I have to admit that looking at my early attempts of game making, they were pretty horrid. It was mostly about killing the demon lord and the world´s problem will be solved. Nothing bad about those plots if they´re good, but mine was so simple and so much without any thought whatsoever. Interesting to see though.
Zeuzio
3787
For me, a "make it up as you go" philosophy to story-writing wouldn't work at all. Without a plan for the plot, I would likely resort to creating deus ex machina situations constantly to get the characters out of the situations they find themselves in. Which, of course, is horrible story-telling. Dialogue is a different story(hurr) though.
With dialogue, it'd be pointless to plan it all out because I know that I would revise it greatly when writing it for the actual game. Conversations aren't scripted in real life, so I'd try to translate that to my character's dialogue. That's not really what this topic is about, though. :P
I'm sure a "Write the story as you go" method isn't impossible to pull off, but I know I couldn't do it.
With dialogue, it'd be pointless to plan it all out because I know that I would revise it greatly when writing it for the actual game. Conversations aren't scripted in real life, so I'd try to translate that to my character's dialogue. That's not really what this topic is about, though. :P
I'm sure a "Write the story as you go" method isn't impossible to pull off, but I know I couldn't do it.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
With my first game I did exactly that. When I was 60% of the way done with the game I had not even decided who the final boss would be, or whether or not I would add any more main characters later. I did finish the game and upload it, but you won't find that game on RMN (but the story is far from the worst thing about the game).
With my second game I knew ahead of time what the opening, the main themes of the story, the personality of the main characters, the climax, the biggest plot twists, and the ending would be. I kind of let most of the middle stuff flow naturally. I think that as long as you have that much you can probably wing the middle 80% of the game. I didn't decide ahead of time when different characters would join and leave the team or why, or that I would have the hero fight the villain (and lose) at these three particular times, or anything like that. I kind of got more stuff planned in my head as I got going. The problem is that cool stuff I came up with later contradicted stuff I'd already made, or I realized I'd written myself into a corner and needed to fix some plot holes, and as a result there are parts of the game that feel really discordant.
I'm doing more planning this time because I want the game to be better. I do think that the more planning you do, the better the game will be. But you also have to balance that against the amount of time that the planning takes and the likelihood that you'll ever really be satisfied with the plans. I mean, at some point you have to start working on the game. You're gonna change stuff in the end anyway. I'd say do as much planning as you can stomach, but don't feel like you absolutely have to decide all the major stuff ahead of time.
With my second game I knew ahead of time what the opening, the main themes of the story, the personality of the main characters, the climax, the biggest plot twists, and the ending would be. I kind of let most of the middle stuff flow naturally. I think that as long as you have that much you can probably wing the middle 80% of the game. I didn't decide ahead of time when different characters would join and leave the team or why, or that I would have the hero fight the villain (and lose) at these three particular times, or anything like that. I kind of got more stuff planned in my head as I got going. The problem is that cool stuff I came up with later contradicted stuff I'd already made, or I realized I'd written myself into a corner and needed to fix some plot holes, and as a result there are parts of the game that feel really discordant.
I'm doing more planning this time because I want the game to be better. I do think that the more planning you do, the better the game will be. But you also have to balance that against the amount of time that the planning takes and the likelihood that you'll ever really be satisfied with the plans. I mean, at some point you have to start working on the game. You're gonna change stuff in the end anyway. I'd say do as much planning as you can stomach, but don't feel like you absolutely have to decide all the major stuff ahead of time.
RPGCreator
10
author=Zeuzio
For me, a "make it up as you go" philosophy to story-writing wouldn't work at all. Without a plan for the plot, I would likely resort to creating deus ex machina situations constantly to get the characters out of the situations they find themselves in. Which, of course, is horrible story-telling. Dialogue is a different story(hurr) though.
With dialogue, it'd be pointless to plan it all out because I know that I would revise it greatly when writing it for the actual game. Conversations aren't scripted in real life, so I'd try to translate that to my character's dialogue. That's not really what this topic is about, though. :P
I'm sure a "Write the story as you go" method isn't impossible to pull off, but I know I couldn't do it.
It´s pretty interesting about the dialouge writing as well. I believe I do agree with you on the case that it gives off a better flow when you write that spontaneous and then it´s easy to just edit small parts of it for the sake of characterization. I see it part of the relativeness of this thread actually.
author=LockeZ
With my first game I did exactly that. When I was 60% of the way done with the game I had not even decided who the final boss would be, or whether or not I would add any more main characters later. I did finish the game and upload it, but you won't find that game on RMN (but the story is far from the worst thing about the game).
With my second game I knew ahead of time what the opening, the main themes of the story, the personality of the main characters, the climax, the biggest plot twists, and the ending would be. I kind of let most of the middle stuff flow naturally. I think that as long as you have that much you can probably wing the middle 80% of the game. I didn't decide ahead of time when different characters would join and leave the team or why, or that I would have the hero fight the villain (and lose) at these three particular times, or anything like that. I kind of got more stuff planned in my head as I got going. The problem is that cool stuff I came up with later contradicted stuff I'd already made, or I realized I'd written myself into a corner and needed to fix some plot holes, and as a result there are parts of the game that feel really discordant.
I'm doing more planning this time because I want the game to be better. I do think that the more planning you do, the better the game will be. But you also have to balance that against the amount of time that the planning takes and the likelihood that you'll ever really be satisfied with the plans. I mean, at some point you have to start working on the game. You're gonna change stuff in the end anyway. I'd say do as much planning as you can stomach, but don't feel like you absolutely have to decide all the major stuff ahead of time.
I wasn´t sure of quoting the whole thing, but I agree with you. I had a same problem where I made up the story as I edited the game and then came to a crossing of what my next area would be and what enemies it would include. I had vague ideas at the earlier part of the game, but I realised that I can´t keep on working without some definitive points/marks to follow.
EDIT: Even this is relative to the story of the game since your areas most of the time need to have some point of importance for the story and my areas I had created boiled down to areas I thought would look cool in a game without thinking about how they served the story.
Essenceblade
19
Well to be honest, I doubt heavily someone could plan a game directly through to the end by just having it in a word document. As said, Dialogue plays its own role.
As in response to that, I have to say I prefer Dialogue over Storyline. Sometimes it gets to the point where even if you have planned out a story, you get kind of "stuck" and, you may want to change it or back track. This is common in terms of a story, and RPGs in general.
I personally have done a bit of "slap on a bit of last minute thought to the story" here and there. Not to a massive amount, but just to fill out those "gaps" which you may not have noticed when you planned out until you did it practically. Now I'm not saying that those gaps NEED to be filled, they may be left there intentionally.
So to me, I think coming up with a story as it goes along is fine, As long as you have a base to it. By base, I mean the whole PLOT of the story, the PURPOSE, and the CONCLUSION. Plot, Purpose and Conclusion. Those three words I always remember when I'm starting up a story. It's worked for me many times. Really, you could even just simplify it down to three parts. Start, Middle and End. Simply mark dots in between those words and add significant events which eventually go toward the ahead.
Start___*___*___*___*___*___* Middle * ___*___*___*___*___*___*___*___* End * ___*___*
Orange, being the significant events
Black being just casual story (I.E traveling through zones ect.)
Green, being things like optionality or a bigger choice of freedom in the game(things like airships and better travel along with side quests of a greater quantity.
Purple, being the conclusion and end (or even new game plus, or a branch to a new plot or sequel. Even a fake ending?
Of course, that just being a mediocre plot diagram chain, but I'm sure you get what I mean.
What I'm saying is, stories that are planned along as they go can be a nice touch, provided they aren't in great a quantity. They are commonly shown in twists, too.
As in response to that, I have to say I prefer Dialogue over Storyline. Sometimes it gets to the point where even if you have planned out a story, you get kind of "stuck" and, you may want to change it or back track. This is common in terms of a story, and RPGs in general.
I personally have done a bit of "slap on a bit of last minute thought to the story" here and there. Not to a massive amount, but just to fill out those "gaps" which you may not have noticed when you planned out until you did it practically. Now I'm not saying that those gaps NEED to be filled, they may be left there intentionally.
So to me, I think coming up with a story as it goes along is fine, As long as you have a base to it. By base, I mean the whole PLOT of the story, the PURPOSE, and the CONCLUSION. Plot, Purpose and Conclusion. Those three words I always remember when I'm starting up a story. It's worked for me many times. Really, you could even just simplify it down to three parts. Start, Middle and End. Simply mark dots in between those words and add significant events which eventually go toward the ahead.
Start___*___*___*___*___*___* Middle * ___*___*___*___*___*___*___*___* End * ___*___*
Orange, being the significant events
Black being just casual story (I.E traveling through zones ect.)
Green, being things like optionality or a bigger choice of freedom in the game(things like airships and better travel along with side quests of a greater quantity.
Purple, being the conclusion and end (or even new game plus, or a branch to a new plot or sequel. Even a fake ending?
Of course, that just being a mediocre plot diagram chain, but I'm sure you get what I mean.
What I'm saying is, stories that are planned along as they go can be a nice touch, provided they aren't in great a quantity. They are commonly shown in twists, too.
Verincia
366
I also tended to plan the story in advance, but there are times when the "story tends to write itself." As I was putting together the world and the characters, different little twists began to manifest themselves as I was building the game. They fit the overall story line, but changed the internal dynamics in the story.
I usually plan the basics of the story beforehand, and its details and engrossing elements as I go. But it's a terrible idea, and it never works. Final product is often very schizophrenic.
I use to go along making the story as I go. But then I took some haters to the heart. What I'm saying here: I use to make spontaneous stories, but those would never get uploaded because the computer would crash before the game was finished, or the game had such a crazy story that I wouldn't want to upload it, and instead, would end up discarding it. Well, now what I do, is I'll make a prologue storyline, that way I can at least base my story off that, and it won't go insane. In my eyes, games with spontaneous stories are better than ones where it can't go out of place. It becomes more interesting, there's more to see about the way there world is(even if it wasn't the way you felt like at first :3) and how beings there think, and as well, you never know what happens next, which makes it even MORE interesting.
Super_Llama
66
I recently tried plugging in the very first part of my game idea into VX, and even though I had a script written for that entire part, I ended up ad-libbing a good chunk of the dialogue so that it would flow better. Though the only time I ever ad-libbed a story entirely was when I was just screwing around and trying to get a feel for XP (something about a party getting trapped in a ghost town that was the extension of a demon lord's body and he was using it to trap anyone who wandered in and sap their life force so he could get more strength and expand the border of the town and trap more people.)
AABattery
732
I winged my first RPG Maker and came up with a game where characters joined the party for no reason... It was a 1 hour job, and it sucked...
Nowadays, I like to plot my ideas in a format which I believe would work for any game with a story...
EDIT: Why doesn't the Show button work in the preview?
Nowadays, I like to plot my ideas in a format which I believe would work for any game with a story...
The Story of Bob
This is just an example of how I plot my ideas, but since the bare bones of the story goes here, I'll just make one up. The Kingdom of Kington was peaceful until one of the royal mages found an evil rock that turned him evil. With his new evil powers, the mage terrorizes Kington and captures its princess. Bob, the prince of Kington, must make his way to the evil mage's lair and save his sister.
Characters
Bob: Prince of Kington (wields Swords)
King: The King of Kington
Ashely: Princess of Kington and Steve's sister
Steve: A royal guard and Steve's best friend (wields Spears)
John: The royal mage that was tainted by the evil stone (wields Staffs)
Maria: A royal mage and John's wife (wields Staffs)
Dick: A royal healer (wields Pots... of water!)
The Protector of the Sword: Protects the Sword of Awesomeness
Key Items
Evil Stone x2 (when I add "x2", that means that the item gets updated to a new version)
Sword of Awesomeness
Evil Shards
GAME START
- Bob wakes up. Maid tells him to go tell to King in the throne room.
- Go to Throne Room
** The king is instructing John, Dick, and other mages to go and find the rock that fell from the sky.
** The mages leave.
** Talk to King: He tells Bob of the importance of his studies and that he would be king one day. He then tells him to eat breakfast in the dining room.
- Go to Dining Room
** Bob eats breakfast.
** Steve comes in. He tells Bob that Ashely is looking for him in the garden. (STEVE JOINS PARTY)
- Go to Garden
** Ashely is playing with butterflies
** Her and Bob talk about sappy bro and sis stuff
- 3 MONTHS LATER
- Throne Room
** King is talking to Bob and Ashely. Steve is standing on the side.
** A soldier enters. He tells the king that the party he sent returned, but only one came back.
** Dick enters and tells everyone that John is possessed by the evil stone. He also says that John is making his way towards the castle.
** King readies all his soldiers for battle.
- Go to Castle's Front Entrance
** John breaks his way through the defenses
** Bob and Steve fight John, and lose.
** Ashely enters and is captured by John. They leave the castle.
- Throne Room
** King is depressed that Ashely was captured. Bob, Steve, and Dick are standing around. Maria is secretly watching.
** Bob and Steve tell the king that they will rescue Ashely.
** Dick tells about a sacred shrine and the Sword of Awesomeness. He says that it might be able to destroy the evil stone. (DICK JOINS PARTY)
** Maria comes out and says she wants to save her husband. (MARIA JOINS PARTY)
** The party heads out
- Go to several towns (I'm too lazy)
** Clear up the infestation of monsters or thugs and kill the big baddie
** Learn a little something about the backstory of one of the characters
** Move to the next location
- Go to Sacred Shrine
** The party encounters the Protector of the Sword, and he won't let them pass.
** They fight the protector and defeat him. (GAIN SWORD OF AWESOMENESS)
** Dick asks the protector about the evil stone. The protector doesn't know a thing, because it is "not of this world"
- Go to Evil Lair
** The party make their way to John.
** They fight John and win!
** Bob stabs John with the Sword of Awesomeness. John becomes unconscious and drops the evil stone.
** Dick tells Bob to take the stone to the shrine and destroy it. (GAIN EVIL STONE) (DICK AND MARIA LEAVE PARTY)
- Go to Sacred Shrine
** Bob and Steve take the stone to the shrine and destroys it. (LOSE EVIL STONE)
** The stone shatters. Its pieces scatter in different directions. The protector doesn't like what happened and said he would look into it.
- Go to Evil Lair
** John is conscious and tells Bob that he shouldn't have destroyed the stone.
** He tells him that the stone has possessed Ashely and she won't wake up without the stone's power.
** The protector comes in and tells the party that the pieces have been scattered throughout the land and if they collect the pieces, they can restore the stone to normal power.
** The party sets out to find the shards (DICK AND JOHN JOIN PARTY)
- Go to several dungeons
** Fight off monsters and defeat the one possessed by the evil shard (GAIN AN EVIL SHARD) (JOHN LEARNS SOME DARK MAGIC)
** Learn a little more about the characters
** Head to the next location
- Go to Evil Lair
** The protector uses his power to restore the evil shards to the stone. (LOSE EVIL SHARDS) (GAIN EVIL STONE)
** John tries to use the stone to bring back Ashely. She turns into a monster.
** The party fight the monster and win. Ashley reverts to her normal self.
- Sacred Shrine
** Bob returns the Sword of Awesomeness
** The protector disappears
- Throne Room
** Everyone celebrate the return of the princess
** They all live happily ever after.
GAME END
This is just an example of how I plot my ideas, but since the bare bones of the story goes here, I'll just make one up. The Kingdom of Kington was peaceful until one of the royal mages found an evil rock that turned him evil. With his new evil powers, the mage terrorizes Kington and captures its princess. Bob, the prince of Kington, must make his way to the evil mage's lair and save his sister.
Characters
Bob: Prince of Kington (wields Swords)
King: The King of Kington
Ashely: Princess of Kington and Steve's sister
Steve: A royal guard and Steve's best friend (wields Spears)
John: The royal mage that was tainted by the evil stone (wields Staffs)
Maria: A royal mage and John's wife (wields Staffs)
Dick: A royal healer (wields Pots... of water!)
The Protector of the Sword: Protects the Sword of Awesomeness
Key Items
Evil Stone x2 (when I add "x2", that means that the item gets updated to a new version)
Sword of Awesomeness
Evil Shards
GAME START
- Bob wakes up. Maid tells him to go tell to King in the throne room.
- Go to Throne Room
** The king is instructing John, Dick, and other mages to go and find the rock that fell from the sky.
** The mages leave.
** Talk to King: He tells Bob of the importance of his studies and that he would be king one day. He then tells him to eat breakfast in the dining room.
- Go to Dining Room
** Bob eats breakfast.
** Steve comes in. He tells Bob that Ashely is looking for him in the garden. (STEVE JOINS PARTY)
- Go to Garden
** Ashely is playing with butterflies
** Her and Bob talk about sappy bro and sis stuff
- 3 MONTHS LATER
- Throne Room
** King is talking to Bob and Ashely. Steve is standing on the side.
** A soldier enters. He tells the king that the party he sent returned, but only one came back.
** Dick enters and tells everyone that John is possessed by the evil stone. He also says that John is making his way towards the castle.
** King readies all his soldiers for battle.
- Go to Castle's Front Entrance
** John breaks his way through the defenses
** Bob and Steve fight John, and lose.
** Ashely enters and is captured by John. They leave the castle.
- Throne Room
** King is depressed that Ashely was captured. Bob, Steve, and Dick are standing around. Maria is secretly watching.
** Bob and Steve tell the king that they will rescue Ashely.
** Dick tells about a sacred shrine and the Sword of Awesomeness. He says that it might be able to destroy the evil stone. (DICK JOINS PARTY)
** Maria comes out and says she wants to save her husband. (MARIA JOINS PARTY)
** The party heads out
- Go to several towns (I'm too lazy)
** Clear up the infestation of monsters or thugs and kill the big baddie
** Learn a little something about the backstory of one of the characters
** Move to the next location
- Go to Sacred Shrine
** The party encounters the Protector of the Sword, and he won't let them pass.
** They fight the protector and defeat him. (GAIN SWORD OF AWESOMENESS)
** Dick asks the protector about the evil stone. The protector doesn't know a thing, because it is "not of this world"
- Go to Evil Lair
** The party make their way to John.
** They fight John and win!
** Bob stabs John with the Sword of Awesomeness. John becomes unconscious and drops the evil stone.
** Dick tells Bob to take the stone to the shrine and destroy it. (GAIN EVIL STONE) (DICK AND MARIA LEAVE PARTY)
- Go to Sacred Shrine
** Bob and Steve take the stone to the shrine and destroys it. (LOSE EVIL STONE)
** The stone shatters. Its pieces scatter in different directions. The protector doesn't like what happened and said he would look into it.
- Go to Evil Lair
** John is conscious and tells Bob that he shouldn't have destroyed the stone.
** He tells him that the stone has possessed Ashely and she won't wake up without the stone's power.
** The protector comes in and tells the party that the pieces have been scattered throughout the land and if they collect the pieces, they can restore the stone to normal power.
** The party sets out to find the shards (DICK AND JOHN JOIN PARTY)
- Go to several dungeons
** Fight off monsters and defeat the one possessed by the evil shard (GAIN AN EVIL SHARD) (JOHN LEARNS SOME DARK MAGIC)
** Learn a little more about the characters
** Head to the next location
- Go to Evil Lair
** The protector uses his power to restore the evil shards to the stone. (LOSE EVIL SHARDS) (GAIN EVIL STONE)
** John tries to use the stone to bring back Ashely. She turns into a monster.
** The party fight the monster and win. Ashley reverts to her normal self.
- Sacred Shrine
** Bob returns the Sword of Awesomeness
** The protector disappears
- Throne Room
** Everyone celebrate the return of the princess
** They all live happily ever after.
GAME END
EDIT: Why doesn't the Show button work in the preview?
I'm probably one of the worst people to say this but: writing-as-one-goes isn't necessarily a bad thing. The only time I think it's really bad is when they don't even have a "goal." When writing without a script, I feel one must have a specific goal or task they are trying to achieve. Pointless meandering usually winds up to an overall bad and confusing story, from where I see it. I've done it before, completed two games with it. Looking back now: those games were crap.
Shortened; Without some sort of task in mind, it becomes incredibly difficult to write without a master plan. The story may constantly deviate and end up making no sense. (In my point of view, at least.)
Shortened; Without some sort of task in mind, it becomes incredibly difficult to write without a master plan. The story may constantly deviate and end up making no sense. (In my point of view, at least.)
RPGCreator
10
Hmm. I´m actually going with an experiment here from this point on. Even though I have a serious and thought out project going on, I think I´m also gonna work on a smaller Zelda fangame where I just make the story up as I go. It could be interesting, but I suppose it´s no idea to get the hopes up high. Gonna try hard though.
It´s a little cheating, I know, since we know at least something about the Zelda-games and the story world can´t be 100% original. Gonna try just for fun though.
It´s a little cheating, I know, since we know at least something about the Zelda-games and the story world can´t be 100% original. Gonna try just for fun though.
I did this with Princess Princess. I had a very vague idea of what the story would be like. All I did was look at the setting/maps I had, make a story about it in my head and just let the cast write themselves. I have basic motivations for them in mind when I did this tho, for example, this guy likes writing letters to his sister because of x. He leads a party because he has to. Then I let him write himself and as if I'm talking to him like I'm one of the cast.
That and I had an end point. This is the ending I want, let's see if that's gonna change on the way. (it didn't)
Deathnote was made in a similar fashion btw, they wanted to see how long the story would last and stuff with the characters writing themselves and the plot development.
That and I had an end point. This is the ending I want, let's see if that's gonna change on the way. (it didn't)
Deathnote was made in a similar fashion btw, they wanted to see how long the story would last and stuff with the characters writing themselves and the plot development.
I start with a premise. Then I fill in the gaps as I go.
It's really not that bad at all in RM, because of how easy it is to retroactively change your story.
I mean you're bound to come up with new ideas as you go. No point in limiting yourself. I recently created a new country just to make one (already completed) scene cooler.
Though, honestly, I don't think this is what you're talking about.
I'll put it this way, writing is a skill. Obviously. Some writers are much better at spontaneous writing than others. Others need to plan it out in advance.
A similar example could be music. Somebody could sit down at the piano and play an impromptu masterpiece. Others might need some sheet music or some practice.
Yeah, most of us can't keep a story straight if we write it on the spur of moment, but hey, some people might be damn good writers. So, yes, it's certainly possible to enjoy a spontaneous story.
I find that spontaneous stories, although very fun, run into plot holes a lot more. I think less story planning goes into AAA games which is why they have the same issue, too.
Cosplay Crisis was written very spontaneously. I had a vague idea of what I wanted, but it was only in the last year and a half that I actually sat down and blocked it out a bit. Every scene was written impromptu except for some later areas where I got stuck. I found it quite hard to fill in plot holes because of this fact.
These days I tend to write a script out before hand so I have a basic idea of what's going on, but I'll nearly never use the exact scene from the script. The script's there to tell me what I need to say- I use the game to do what I want to say.
You'll find with spontaneous stories that the game itself is fairly spontaneous too. Nothing is generally planned or committed to until very late, if it ever reaches that point in production. You get a lot of conflicting ideas in these games, sometimes feature bloat among other things. No matter what direction the story is going to take I think it's best to have a basic idea of not only the story but how the gameplay and enviroments tie into the story, plot, and characters before the maker should even really be used.
Cosplay Crisis was written very spontaneously. I had a vague idea of what I wanted, but it was only in the last year and a half that I actually sat down and blocked it out a bit. Every scene was written impromptu except for some later areas where I got stuck. I found it quite hard to fill in plot holes because of this fact.
These days I tend to write a script out before hand so I have a basic idea of what's going on, but I'll nearly never use the exact scene from the script. The script's there to tell me what I need to say- I use the game to do what I want to say.
You'll find with spontaneous stories that the game itself is fairly spontaneous too. Nothing is generally planned or committed to until very late, if it ever reaches that point in production. You get a lot of conflicting ideas in these games, sometimes feature bloat among other things. No matter what direction the story is going to take I think it's best to have a basic idea of not only the story but how the gameplay and enviroments tie into the story, plot, and characters before the maker should even really be used.
