Writing storylines for games.

[Federator]

I' currently writing some storylines for a few simple rpg's, does anyone have any advice and tips for doing this sort of writing? I'm a newbie to this area, so any links to good guides or just some quick advice would be helpfull. I will say again these are simple Rpgs, not a million dollar game. Thanks

[C. R. Reaves]

It might be useful to know more about what you're wanting to know.

I don't see as how writing the overall background for a game and its characters is much different from writing any story. You can look into any of these threads (or, really, any game reviews period) and see what people like for the type of gamer you're trying to appeal to.

You say you're looking to write for "simple rpgs" which to me suggests either you or whoever you're working with on the project aren't very good with coding and possibly you don't play many games of that sort in the first place. If you're familiar with games, which game or games is it most going to be like? What in the text of that game/those games worked for you and what didn't? What did you see in other games that you'd like to incorporate into yours?

It's difficult for me to give you advice if I don't know where you're going with it or the mechanics of the game you're using. Something like old school Final Fantasy has a different style from something like Fire Emblem or FF Tactics.

But as for general advice - if you're new, don't get in over your head and try to do more than you can follow through with. I have a half-dozen or so Visual Novels with scripts and concepts written out - most of which I'm not yet familiar enough with the coding to feel confident about finishing as I want the story/game play to work. Start simple. Get your first game finished. Figure out what you've learned and what you can do better. It's still not much different from writing in general. What you can do with the coding will largely determine what you can do with the script.

[John Petersen]

You'll have to work pretty closely with the developer. Things change so often while developing games.

Alot of games are based on books, stories and comics; Maybe try writing a story you feel would be a good game.

Right now I'm working on a story that would make a cool casual MMO or flash game but the likelihood of it getting picked up by a developer is almost nil unless it becomes a hit.

If I could do it myself I would.

I wish ya luck, I really do.

[MoLoLu]

About a month ago I wrote a 'simulator' for an RPG storywriting adventure I'll probably get pulled into in the near future. The idea is to program the story as a click-through with options as they would broadly appear ingame, primarily to get a rough idea how multiple story threads might play out without actually needing all the content to work ingame.

I never got beyond the intro and chapter one, scene one, but I found the tool (I wouldn't reccomend mine as it's buggy as hell but there might be other more professional alternatives) to be extremely useful and a lot simpler than writing out all the options in word. Then again, I'll probably end up playing programmer too so I don't mind mixing logic and storytelling together.

Edit: To elaborate

I built the system based on Chapters, Scenes and Events

Basically, I started writing chapter overviews, which I then broke down into scenes, again individually describe, and added events (which are the part that gets simulated). The idea was, well, is that you can read chapter overviews to get a good sense of how the overall story flows, look at scenes to determine how the scenes play out (scenes weren't necessarily intended to be viewed in a defined order beyond that they belong to a chapter and have a start and end scene). Finally, events describe what you would actually see ingame and which values would get set (i.e. Completed Quest 5 or AvoidedFightWithTroll).

Maybe this will give you some ideas.

[Camilla Delvalle]

Visual novels are super cool.

Another idea could be a diaglogue-based game. I made a game where you can walk around in a city and meet people (some are on a schedule and some are random). If you click on someone, they say something and you get 0-3 possible things to say. You choose one of them and that person says something more, and so on. The dialogue is built like a tree, and there are also conditions that must fulfilled to reach some parts of it. E.g. you have to be in the disco after a certain time to be able to ask someone to dance with you, and also you may need to have reached a certain level in your relationship.

[jmare]

The thing about writing for games is that it's a completely different style of writing. While you can write the overall back story and overarching plot traditionally, writing dialogue or text for the game itself is best done in a spreadsheet program since all of those things are contextual.

[Ballistic_Dragon]

If you dont mind me asking, are you doing this for yourself or are you attached to a company? I'm just interested.

Anyway, after you have a storyline, the writing does not end there. If it is to be turned into a actual game, then it needs to be written in al almost like a script, from what a character would say to what he would have to do (in detail) before something would happen.

For example, you could have written :
As Becca scanned the desk, she spotted an old book and decided to read it. To her suprise, it contained the very recipe that she was looking for. She now need to search for the ingredients to brew the potion.

However, to the programmers and the people who would actually make the game, all they are interested is something like this :
Character = Becca stands at entrance to room.
Player moves cursor over desk, item = 'book' is highlighted.
Player clicks on book. Sound of page turning. View changes. Camera view is over book.
Words "blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" appear
Top right corner = Words "Objective Found" appear.

And so on, you get the idea.

Therefore, you have to write this twice. One for the reader and one for the programmer.

hope that helps.

[John Ayliff]

A lot depends on the sort of game you're writing. RPGs can have some of the richest stories but they're also varied in how the story is told.

Things to think about:

How interactive is the story? Some games have stories that are the same every time you play through: the player just needs to go through the correct motions (solve puzzles, beat monsters, sometimes even just walk from A to B) and that triggers the next bit of story. Other games (especially RPGs) have stories that change depending on choices the player makes. Neither type of story is better--both can be done well and both can be done badly--but they require different approaches to writing so you should decide up-front how interactive you want the story to be.

A related thing is whether (and to what extent) the player gets to customise their character. Most western RPGs let you pick your character's name, character class, sometimes race, etc.. Other games give you a character, e.g. in Batman: Arkham Asylum you don't get to choose who you play as--you play as Batman! Letting the player customise their character can be awkward for you as a writer since you're writing a story without knowing who the main character is. Again, neither approach is better, but you need to decide how much you're letting the player customise their character and bear that in mind while writing.

Remember to make the player feel like they're the hero, and let them accomplish all the important things. In films, books etc. you can have groups of characters in different parts of the world doing different things and switch between them, but in the game you've got to stay focused on the player character.

But, make sure the player always knows what to do next. It can be tricky to do this while making them feel like a hero rather than an errand-runner. The ideal is to make the player *feel* like they're in control of the story while actually you're leading them by the nose.

In games as in every other kind of writing, interesting characters are absolutely essential. Make sure the allies, villains, bystanders, etc. have interesting personalities and motivations. If you're writing a typical RPG, the characters you'll want to pay most attention to are the main character's 'party', and the main villain.

Keep your text concise. The player is there to *play*; if they wanted to read a book or watch a movie they'd be doing that instead. Let the story unfold through the player character doing things, rather than through people telling you things. When you're writing the text, write your first draft and then mercilessly look for ways to cut it down.

For the game as a whole and for each bit of the game, decide what the mood is. Funny or serious? Resist the urge to put in jokes and funny pop culture references if the scene ought to be dramatic.

There is no standard format for games writing like there is for screenplays. The exact way in which you write the dialogue will depend on the type of game you're writing, the way in which you're working with the rest of the team (are you *just* writing or are you doing other stuff too?), the software you're using, and your personal preference. If you're writing a basically linear game story then writing it like a screenplay might be best, though I personally don't find it helpful. If you have non-linear conversations or lines triggered by player action then writing into a spreadsheet might be best. If you're writing and also developing then you might end up writing your dialogue straight into the code.