WRITING FOR GAMES Speaker: Jenny Gibbons PART 1: HARMONIZING STORY THEME WITH GAMEPLAY

How does the narrative enforce the gameplay, and vice versa? NARRATIVE SIGNIFICANCE

• How important is the story to the overall experience of the game, and why? There can be many levels of narrative significance in a game. For instance: 1. Narrative is crucial to gameplay experience • “The Wolf Among Us” or “The Walking Dead” by Telltale Games • “Heavy Rain” by Quantic Dream • Visual novels such as “999” or The Wolf Among Us “Danganronpa” NARRATIVE SIGNIFICANCE

2. Story experience regularly interwoven with gameplay • “” by • “Metal Gear Solid” games by Konami • RPGs such as “” 3. Story only serves as a device to launch the game • “Super Mario Bros.” by Nintendo (rescue Princess Peach) THEMATIC HARMONY

• No matter what the narrative’s tier of significance, the theme and tone of the story needs to match/reinforce the mood of gameplay • Good example: • “” by Santa Monica Studio (’s story of revenge and violence goes hand in hand with the player’s violent gameplay) • Bad example: • “Grand Theft Auto 4” by Rockstar Games (Niko’s search for redemption is in direct opposition to the player’s desire to wreak havoc) • Games that create a functioning paradox: • “Shadow of the Colossus” by • “Nier” by BRANCHING STYLES

• Limited branching: has a set amount of basic decisions and a set number of outcomes/endings. Might diamond back to a set path • Funneling Narrative (Chokepoints) – There might be an open-world, but there will always be chokepoints where a player must go to advance the main story • Critical Paths: there is one success path; the player might deviate occasionally but the game will guide her back to the predetermined path • Open-ended: Complex decisions that continue to branch. This is obviously tempting from a conceptual standpoint, but can quickly get out-of-hand (Rimworld) • Nodal storytelling: another good style for open-ended worlds, the story is scattered throughout the game world in self-contained pieces, which can be explored at the player’s leisure (kind of like episodic tv) PART 2: CORE ELEMENTS OF A COMPELLING STORY

Theme, goals, constant conflict, and all that other good stuff CONFLICT

• In typical literature, there tend to be 4 main categories of conflict: • Man vs. Man • Man vs. Society • Man vs. Self • Man vs. Nature • When considering the primary conflict of a game, consider how the story conflict matches the challenges of gameplay

Super Metroid THEME

• Theme is the glue that holds all elements of the story together. I like to define a theme using the question and answer method • Your story poses a question to the player • Metal Gear Solid: Is mankind caught in an endless cycle of destruction and warfare necessary to its own evolution? • Assassin’s Creed: Can an assassin ever truly act with honor, or is he just another criminal seeking to justify murder? • Reinforce the theme with repeated symbols and motifs • A motif in Assassin’s Creed is that whenever your assassin kills someone, he exchanges some final words with the victim and usually finds a reason to sympathize with the person you just killed • Behind the scenes, the story’s conclusion should suggest an answer CHARACTER GOALS

• Your main character should have both a plot goal and a theme goal • The plot goal is the external objective the main character (and player) strives to achieve • Journey: reach the giant mountain in the distance • The Last of Us (Joel): safely escort Ellie to the Fireflies • The theme goal is the internal, emotional need driving the character (Control, Independence, Belonging, Security, Self-Acceptance, Connection) • Journey: Belonging. The journey to the mountain is really about figuring out where you belong in the world • The Last of Us (Joel): Connection. Joel’s drive to protect Ellie is about him finding someone to fill the void in his heart losing his daughter left behind • Balance strengths and weaknesses: why might he succeed, and why might he fail? CHARACTER FOILS

• Foils: characters who might share the same plot goal as the main character, but for different reasons/different theme goals • : and both want to defeat Sin. But Tidus is merely looking for personal security, whereas Yuna wants to protect mankind. This leads to conflict between them

Yuna and Tidus – Final Fantasy X CHARACTER ANTAGONIST Seymour – Final Fantasy X

• Antagonist: a character or entity that seeks a plot goal opposite of the main character, and thus provides constant conflict • Final Fantasy X: Maester Seymour wishes to save/become Sin and destroy the world. Therefore, his goal directly opposes Tidus’s and Yuna’s PLOT: BEGINNING

• Point of Attack: what in the main character’s life or personality is lacking when the story begins? Why must she go on this adventure at all? • Heavy Rain: Ethan failed to save one of his sons, Jason, from a fatal car accident. As a result his life is in shambles; he is lonely, unmotivated, and disconnected from his remaining son • Do not rely on back-story. The player lives in the now, not the past. If you must relay something critical about the character’s origins, begin the game with that sequence • Heavy Rain: in the opening, you experience Ethan’s loss of his son Jason • Inciting Incident: what happens to necessitate the plot goal? • Heavy Rain: Ethan’s only remaining son, Shaun, disappears PLOT: MIDDLE

• Break the plot goal into a list of steps to be achieved by the player • Heavy Rain: complete the trials on the five origami figures • Constantly beg the question: what happens next? Scenes should not end on a happy note until the story is over! • Use every side quest or mini-goal to reinforce the theme of the story and/or the theme goal of the main character • Heavy Rain theme: How far must a father go to prove his love for his son? Heavy Rain PLOT: POINT OF NO RETURN

• Point of no return: an event that forces the main character to commit to his cause. This can be used to commit the player to a certain branch of the narrative • Tends to occur about halfway through the overall plot • Witcher 2: The player must choose to side with Iorveth of the Scoia'tael or Vernon Roche of the human Blue Stripes • Point of no hope (near climax)

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings PLOT: ENDING

• Plot Climax: will the character achieve her plot goal? Has the player obtained the necessary skills? • Has the character changed since the beginning of the story--i.e., come closer to achieving her theme goal? • It’s okay if the character doesn’t change, so long as you make a firm decision on the matter (his inability to change is a core aspect of his identity) • Dénoument: goals are obtained or lost, tensions fade, conflicts resolve. But is the world better off as a result? • Final Fantasy X: Tidus defeats Sin and gets to go home, but that means he has to leave everyone else behind PART 3: WRITING IN SCREENPLAY FORMAT

Choose your words carefully!

PRACTICAL RULES

• Use screenwriting software for formatting (Celtx is free) • Always write in present tense • Make sure to list all the characters in the scene near the beginning • If there are important objects in the scene that are vital to its function, make note of them in an action block • Use as few words as possible to convey a mood or setting • Don’t over-direct. Imply your vision wherever you can, then leave the rest to the talents of the actors, artists, and directors DO’S AND DON’TS

• Avoid exposition. Let facts be implied by the details of the world and dialogue rather than explicitly stated • If something MUST be explained blatantly to the audience, create a scenario in which this would happen naturally, then add conflict • Write only what you can see. Show, don’t tell. • DON’T: “Carrie wonders whether she’s beautiful.” • DO: “Carrie looks at a magazine cover featuring a beautiful model. Then she frowns at herself in the mirror.” • Then take it another step further: PLAY, don’t just show. • “Carrie looks at a magazine cover featuring a beautiful model in a STRIPED DRESS. Then she frowns at herself in the mirror. / PLAYER CONTROL: Carrie can explore the bedroom. In her closet, there are three dresses to choose from: PINK, GREEN, and STRIPED. ” YOUR BEST FRIENDS

• Conflict, conflict, conflict! • Does the story feel slow? Add more conflict (qualitative or quantitative) • Do you need a vehicle for exposition? Use conflict • While building suspense, conflict also gives new opportunities for gameplay • Correlatives: physical items that carry emotional or symbolic significance • Arno’s pocket watch in Assassin’s Creed: Unity • Angela’s knife in Silent Hill 2

• And then… Assassin’s Creed: Unity WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?