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On the Arrogance of Storytellers
Writing for Games
Your picture has reminded me--I forgot to mention that Parte Ocho's quote is "As my artist's statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance." -Bill Waterson.
Yeah, kentona, that's a perfectly reasonable way to approach things if you're going to focus on gameplay. Not everyone does, though, and this guide is more designed to help people who choose to focus on story.
That said, be sure that the player isn't challenged to question why he's doing what he's doing. It's all well and good to be doing something because that's what the gameplay calls for, but unless you're embracing a comedic, fourth-wall-breaking style, you probably can't get away with telling the player "We have to do this because that's what the next quest is."
Yeah, kentona, that's a perfectly reasonable way to approach things if you're going to focus on gameplay. Not everyone does, though, and this guide is more designed to help people who choose to focus on story.
That said, be sure that the player isn't challenged to question why he's doing what he's doing. It's all well and good to be doing something because that's what the gameplay calls for, but unless you're embracing a comedic, fourth-wall-breaking style, you probably can't get away with telling the player "We have to do this because that's what the next quest is."
Writing for Games
Some of these blocks at the top are supposed to be quotes, but that particular BBCode quote didn't quite work out. So I'll cite them here.
Parte Uno's quote: "I mean, I know it's just joke after joke, but I like that. At least it dosen't get all preachy and up its own ass with messages, you know?" -Random Trucker, South Park
Parte Dos's quote: "Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding.
Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unneccessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader's ability to fulfil their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done.
Above all, worldbuilding is not technically neccessary. It is the great clomping foot of nerdism. It is the attempt to exhaustively survey a place that isn't there. A good writer would never try to do that, even with a place that is there. It isn't possible, & if it was the results wouldn't be readable: they would constitute not a book but the biggest library ever built, a hallowed place of dedication & lifelong study. This gives us a clue to the psychological type of the worldbuilder & the worldbuilder's victim, & makes us very afraid." -M Jon Harriosn
Parte Cinco's quote: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal." -Pablo Picasso
Parte Ultimo's quote: "Games CAN'T have the kind of storylines that movies and books have, or they wouldn't be playable. You are correct to skip the tedious, badly written "scenes" that are usually a pathetic job of trying to paste story on top of a game. What makes a game work is the opposite of what makes a story work. In a story, you are seeking to find out what really happened - why people do what they do, what the results of their choices are. You identify with the character(s) but you do not control them. Instead, the author has the ultimate authority. When a movie is made from a book and the script changes key events, the readers are usually furious. Why? Since the original events weren't real, why not change them? The answer is simple: Even in fiction, what the author put down on paper is "the truth" and anyone who fiddles with it is "lying" or "wrecking it."
In a game, the opposite illusion must be created. Even though most games absolutely force you to follow preset paths, the gamewrights try to give you the illusion that you are making free choices (even though you are actually, in almost all games, still being channeled through certain puzzles with fixed solutions).
There is no question about character motivation. The lead character is you, and your motivation is to beat the enemy and win." -Orson Scott Card
"You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes, and you can go any direction you choose." -Theodor Geisel
Parte Uno's quote: "I mean, I know it's just joke after joke, but I like that. At least it dosen't get all preachy and up its own ass with messages, you know?" -Random Trucker, South Park
Parte Dos's quote: "Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding.
Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unneccessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader's ability to fulfil their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done.
Above all, worldbuilding is not technically neccessary. It is the great clomping foot of nerdism. It is the attempt to exhaustively survey a place that isn't there. A good writer would never try to do that, even with a place that is there. It isn't possible, & if it was the results wouldn't be readable: they would constitute not a book but the biggest library ever built, a hallowed place of dedication & lifelong study. This gives us a clue to the psychological type of the worldbuilder & the worldbuilder's victim, & makes us very afraid." -M Jon Harriosn
Parte Cinco's quote: "Good artists copy. Great artists steal." -Pablo Picasso
Parte Ultimo's quote: "Games CAN'T have the kind of storylines that movies and books have, or they wouldn't be playable. You are correct to skip the tedious, badly written "scenes" that are usually a pathetic job of trying to paste story on top of a game. What makes a game work is the opposite of what makes a story work. In a story, you are seeking to find out what really happened - why people do what they do, what the results of their choices are. You identify with the character(s) but you do not control them. Instead, the author has the ultimate authority. When a movie is made from a book and the script changes key events, the readers are usually furious. Why? Since the original events weren't real, why not change them? The answer is simple: Even in fiction, what the author put down on paper is "the truth" and anyone who fiddles with it is "lying" or "wrecking it."
In a game, the opposite illusion must be created. Even though most games absolutely force you to follow preset paths, the gamewrights try to give you the illusion that you are making free choices (even though you are actually, in almost all games, still being channeled through certain puzzles with fixed solutions).
There is no question about character motivation. The lead character is you, and your motivation is to beat the enemy and win." -Orson Scott Card
"You have brains in your head and feet in your shoes, and you can go any direction you choose." -Theodor Geisel
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