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How to write a video game story

I took a game writing course. Here’s what I learned

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My first attempt at writing a video game script begins with the socialist journalist and activist Marina Ginestà, a remarkable woman who died five years ago, at the age of 94.

Although she lived an eventful life, she’s most famous for a photograph taken of her when she was 17 years old, standing on the rooftop of a Barcelona hotel, a rifle slung over her shoulder. It’s one of the most arresting images of the Spanish Civil War, in which young, idealistic Europeans like Ginestà fought for democracy, against a coalition of fascists and aristocrats.

I’m going to use that photograph as the first building block of my game. You see, I’ve signed onto an online course called Story for Video Games , a six-session investigation of interactive narrative. By the end of the course, I hope to have created a fully fleshed story for a game. There’s no coding or art. I only have to write.

photo of Marina Ginesta standing on rooftop of hotel in Barcelona with a rifle slung over her shoulder

The course is run by John Yorke, the author of Into the Woods , a book on how stories work. He also runs courses on writing novels, plays, movie scripts, and TV dramas. He’s spent most of his career in British television, holding senior roles on the BBC’s most popular production, the rollicking soap opera EastEnders .

Yorke tells me that games pose a particular challenge because of their interactivity, and their reliance on spectacular visual effects.

“In games, the writing often takes second place to design and technology,” he says. “If developers invest more in the writing, in the very best screenwriters, that’s going to take them to the next level.”

Yorke says he plays “AAA, blockbuster games, when I can find the time.” He is assisted by experts in gaming, including Caroline Marchal, CEO of studio Interior Night, which is currently working on a narrative game for Sega. She formerly worked at Quantic Dream, where she was lead game designer for Beyond: Two Souls . Quantic Dream is arguably the world’s most ambitious studio when it comes to interactive narratives and character-driven gaming, seen in its most recent title, 2018’s Detroit: Become Human , which has sold 2 million copies.

“The big difference between movies or novels and video games is that, because they’re interactive, the audience is actually part of the experience in a way other media doesn’t offer,” she says. “So the journey they’re going through is the same as that of the protagonist. That creates challenges as well as opportunities.”

The session’s first exercise is to create a protagonist. Yorke asks that I mention the game’s genre in my written presentation, but he’s much more interested in the character at the center of my game than in the way the game plays. He says games are beginning to escape a long history of character cliches and stereotypes, and he’s looking for his students’ work to reflect that progress.

“I’ve seen a lot of really basic, James Bond-level characterizations in games,” he says. “It’s done out of a desire for safety. The games companies think that’s the easiest person for players to empathize with. But I think they’re wrong. That’s not how empathy really works. Empathy is about finding something inside a character that’s flawed and damaged; that you understand.”

Yorke and Marchal’s introduction to the course states their belief that today’s games should focus as much on stories as on activities. They point toward the recent success of narrative games in which protagonists (and antagonists) have displayed more depth and human resonance than in years gone by. Their gallery of examples includes The Last of Us , Her Story , Overwatch , and Reigns .

I want to find out if they’re right. Is character really as important in a game as it is in a novel or a play? So I’m going to write my story.

illustration of assassin under bridge with Notre Dame de Paris in the background

Creating stories

There’s one snag. I’ve been writing about games for decades. I’m deeply interested in how they work and how they affect me. But I have never in my life felt the least inclination to actually make one.

It’s not that I’m averse to telling stories. I’ve written two novels , so theoretically, I ought to at least be curious about writing a story-based game. But in the realms of fiction, I’ve always cared more about why people do the things that they do, than on what they actually do. My novels include few action sequences. The stories focus mainly on dialogue and relationships. This is how novels work. But it’s not how games work.

Most narrative-heavy games, like Telltale’s story adventures, are constantly introducing action elements that draw focus away from emotional problems and toward practical and physical puzzles. But we’re beginning to see exceptions, such as Florence and My Child Lebensborn — both of which were ranked in Polygon’s top 50 games of last year — which focus almost entirely on story and resonance.

Yorke’s course is attractive to me because it’s dedicated to the curious idea that novels and games are the same, at least insofar as how they allow us to inhabit other people.

”All stories are forged from the same template,” he says. “What that template is and why we need to follow it is the subject of this course.”

Traditionally, games have mostly been dedicated to inhabiting the physicality of their characters. Mario jumps. Solid Snake sneaks. Lara climbs. Their personalities and backstories are sideshows, or thin marketing exercises. The characters lack substance. Their motivations are arcane.

Marchal points toward woeful completion rates for many single-player campaigns. “If you look at the statistics for single-player games, the majority of players do not finish them. That’s a storytelling problem,” she says. Raptr estimated that only one in 10 players completed the final mission in the original Red Dead Redemption (which has, admittedly, a very long campaign).

She argues that, in many big-budget action-adventures, players lose interest in the mechanics, but a good story would pull them forward. Players want to care about the game’s characters and about the most important element of any story: What happens next?

“There’s a lot we can learn from the ways stories have been crafted for centuries, which can then be crafted to work with just about any kind of game, even if it doesn’t seem to fit any kind of traditional linear model,” she says.

To fix this problem, Marchal argues that game designers must rise to the challenge of increasing narrative complexity. Technology today — animation, artificial intelligence, dynamic narrative systems — allows for deeper characters than in the past. We can all agree that Lara Croft is a more complicated and interesting person than she was 25 years ago. Tomb Raider’s recent three-game reboot was built around the story of Croft’s growth as a character.

As players become more demanding and diverse, they desire more believable, flawed, identifiable characters. In his introduction to the course, Yorke points out that game stories and linear stories fit the same patterns, but that they are not the same thing. They require specific approaches. “Writing for a linear medium is difficult,” he says. “Writing for games is even harder. There are very specific challenges and pitfalls to overcome. The task gets even more complex when you consider that narrative needs vary greatly from one game genre to another.”

I’m interested in writing about people and emotions. So it feels like I ought to be able to explore my ideas through the medium of games. At least, I want to find out if it’s possible. I know my game is never going to get made. I just want to see how far I am able to run with Yorke’s ideas.

And so, my game character comes to life.

Murderous communist

Olivia Espinoza is a woman in her early 20s. She dresses in factory-issue clothing or in dark, bohemian garb. She lives in Paris, in 1942, under Nazi occupation. She is a communist, a political idealist who works for the French Resistance. She is also a cold-eyed assassin.

I am required to supply some sort of visual aid to my character. Although Olivia is older than Marina Ginestà is in her photograph, the image sums her up nicely.

My game could be a shooter, or action-adventure. I’m interested in a human adventure, like A Case of Distrust , a noirish game I admire greatly, in which dialogue trees and visual puzzles lead the player toward the resolution of a mystery.

I want to see Olivia move through wartime Paris, engaging in awesome conversations with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, with collaborators and resistance fighters. I want to see her cope with encountering Jewish parents, hiding from the round-ups.

My desire to model Olivia’s story on a niche game turns out to be a mistake. When I present Olivia, my tutors say nice, encouraging things to me. But they’re confused about what she’ll actually be doing in the game, and they want to hear more about her motivations.

They’re not familiar with A Case of Distrust, so I take the easy option and add $100 million to my imaginary development budget. It’s going to be a AAA extravaganza, more like The Last of Us .

But it’s important to me that this isn’t another game about killing people. I want to place severe restrictions on Olivia, so she can’t just run around Paris shooting Nazis. In my game, it’s going to be just as difficult to kill Nazis as it would have been in wartime Paris.

Of course, the game is all in my head, so I have unlimited access to the best coders, animators, and financial backers in the universe. But I also have tutors, and they warn me that my game must be created within the realms of the practically possible and the commercially viable.

They are kind enough to leave me with just enough wiggle room to ignore their guidance. I figure, if I’ve been given this opportunity to write my game, I’m not going to fret about what some bean counter at EA or Activision might think about it.

I understand, of course, that in the real world, my idea would have zero chance of attracting funding. It’s fine. I’m here to find out how interactive stories work. I already know how the game industry works.

illustration of orphan on Paris street at night

Narrative arcs

Story in games can sometimes create an inherent friction between the writer’s ambitions, the designer’s goals, and the player’s desires.

Doom co-creator John Carmack once said , “Story in a game is like story in a porn movie: it’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important.” Back in 1993 , Doom relied on its superb game design and graphical innovations to capture the imaginations of players.

But the world has moved on. Years later, the Doom of 2016 comes with a big narrative element that falls broadly into the same three-act pattern of a classic movie or play.

The unnamed playable character is faced with the challenge of closing a portal to hell. He resolves a series of crises, generally manifesting as hordes of monsters. He overcomes an antagonist and resolves the initial challenge. It’s true that he displays little in the way of personality — certainly, he’s no Hamlet — but he interacts with people who have motivations and flaws in a way that we do not see in the original game.

Overwatch is one of the most successful shooting games in the world, a modern successor of sorts to Doom . It is filled with characters like Tracer, D.Va, and Hanzo, whose backstories and personalities add significantly to the game’s appeal.

Like many creative writing tutors, Yorke argues that all great characters come with three things. They have to want something. They have to need something. And they have to demonstrate a flaw that the story addresses.

So I set to work on Olivia’s wants, needs, and flaws.

She is tasked by her resistance bosses with assassinating the Nazi chief of police in his fortified lair. What she wants is to complete her mission.

But she’s unhappy. She’s spent her life killing people, and yet finds no satisfaction, or reward, in her work. She needs to break free from her life of violence, while still staying true to her desire to defeat the Nazis and create a better world.

Olivia’s flaw is that she’s a dogmatic person who’s unable to understand her own despair. From a young age, she’s gained immense skills as a warrior, but in achieving excellence as an assassin, she’s denied herself basic humanity.

Inciting incidents

The course follows a pattern of investigation, followed by creativity, and then analysis. Each week, the students — there are about a dozen of us — watch YouTube clips, play games, and read story synopses from a variety of games. We offer perspectives on what we believe works well, and what doesn’t.

We look at motivations, antagonists, and inciting incidents, studying games as varied as Candy Crush , Ico , Evolve , The Crew , and Red Dead Redemption .

One element of game design that fascinates Yorke is the relationship between the player and the main character.

“There’s a contradiction between the agency a player has, and how that conflicts and contrasts with the desires of the game’s writer,” he says. “How you marry those two things together is difficult, but also an incredible opportunity, if you get it right.”

Some games, like multiplayer worlds, present “blank slate” characters that are built by the player, who fills in the blanks. But these stories cleave to narrative models based on heroes, villains, an inciting incident, crisis, and resolution. Resolution can come in the form of completing a mission or leveling up or acquiring a sword. These games are cast as “open-world” or as “sandboxes,” but they are essentially amalgamations of fairy tales, tied together with an overarching story.

I work my way through these examples, offering notes when required. My homework is evaluated by Yorke, Marchal, various tutors, and other students. Feedback is always delivered in a way that’s constructive and useful.

We move on to studying the classic three-act structure of stories, and how such a notion fits with games. I immerse myself in the detailed story arcs of Inside and Life is Strange .

The course addresses arguments about whether or not games, by being interactive, are fundamentally separate from linear forms. We look at mainstream literature and entertainment, from Macbeth to Jaws , drawing comparisons with games. We learn how linear structures work in the context of games, emphasizing how games bend and morph these structures in ways that are still being investigated by writers.

illustration of orphan on cobblestone street in Paris at night

Redemption and rejection

I return to my project and try to apply what I’ve learned.

Yorke says it’s useful to be able to state a story’s theme in one word. My story about Olivia focuses on redemption. It’s about her relationship with deadly violence. The warrior-to-pacifist transformation has been told many times before, but rarely in the context of a video game.

Emerging pacifism throws up interesting challenges in the context of a game. I find myself struggling to find things for the player to do, while Olivia works through her journey. Again and again, my tutors try to correct my habit of longish dialogue tree sessions. I keep at it, honing my scenes to give the player as much agency and illusion of choice as possible.

Long story short, Olivia’s mission to take out the evil cop goes awry, and she accidentally kills the cop’s mistress. During her escape from the police station, Olivia kills two guards who get in her way. They are guarding a West African nun, who is being interrogated about the location of missing Jewish orphans. This is the inciting incident.

The nun knows an opportunity when she sees one. She wants Olivia to arrange for the escape of these orphans. The plan provides a short-term refuge for Olivia, so she agrees. But the nun has one stipulation. She asks that Olivia kill no more people during this mission. The nun sternly assures Olivia that while she is grateful to be free, the deaths of the soldiers are a stain on her own religious beliefs and eternal conscience.

This causes a friction between the two women, and within Olivia. Resolving this friction — the justification of violence as a means to an end — is where we encounter Olivia’s need. It also creates a challenge for the player throughout the game. Killing people will solve immediate problems, but will endanger the children. Stealth — which I have always loved playing — will be a core activity in my game.

As the game progresses, Olivia and the nun travel across Paris, evading patrols. They survive a series of dangerous encounters that allow us to explore cool Parisian locations, often converted for quasi-military purposes due to the war.

Missions often create practical problems that illustrate the pros and cons of the women’s competing ideologies. Pacifism is hard. It can also be dangerous and, in this setting, possibly self-defeating.

The gameplay structure is a little like that of A Way Out , which makes use of a variety of devices to tell a story about a prison break, and to explore the relationship between two very different convicts.

My dialogue tasks are heavily influenced by Mike Bithell’s superb work in Subsurface Circular , in which characters are revealed through conversations that also progress the plot. Olivia and the nun argue with one another while the story moves forward. In turn, the player is presented with provocative arguments, and a little levity, as the two women buddy up.

Olivia is forged by violence. The nun is heavily influenced by origin Christianity, and by the ancient traditions of her upbringing. In time, they will both be forced to confront their own inconsistencies because (of course) nothing is as simple as it seems, most especially to ideologues.

When he reviews my story, Yorke suggests that I find a way to physically manifest this exchange of ideas. So I have the nun present Olivia with a necklace: an enamel tortoise charm. In her home country, the tortoise represents peace.

This reminds me of a lesson about writing, one that I’ve always struggled with. Physically, writing is the act of stringing words together. The production is text. But weaving words is barely the point. Writers must think in terms of images, because that’s what the reader “sees” when they’re reading.

I’m a person who thinks in the language of words. It’s difficult for me to construct images and then write about them. I do it the other way around. This is a problem.

But if I want to write a game, even this leap, from words to images, is not enough. Game writers have to go farther.

Stories and history

A few weeks into the course and it’s impossible for me to play games without thinking about story. I play Red Dead Redemption 2 and Tetris Effect . The first is chock-full of characters and stories. The second has almost no story at all, but incorporates imagery that suggests narrative forms, such as discovery and redemption.

The dichotomy of story and not-story is at the center of gaming history. In the early days of games, those beeping, menacing Space Invaders arrived without any apparent motivation, inner conflict, or backup plan. We just shot them, and they shot us, and everyone was happy. The action game was born.

At the same time, text adventures appeared — Zork , The Hobbit , A Mind Forever Voyaging — that were wholly stories, with characters, motivation, flaws, and plot twists. They were smart, provocative, and commercially marginal.

Over the next three decades, these entirely different forms came together, and action games began to include narrative elements. Role-playing adventures, the descendants of those text adventures, became action-oriented exercises, interspersing killing and fighting with cutscenes or walking conversations between characters.

Commercial considerations and marketing drove the embrace of narrative and character. Sonic the Hedgehog was born from Sega’s desire to show off the Genesis’ ability to render fast-moving action. The company wanted a mascot who could compete and contrast with Nintendo’s Mario. Sonic’s main attributes were speed and a cocky, anti-establishment attitude.

This naked branding fed into comics and cartoons, as the character’s popularity exploded. But Sonic has always been trapped inside the mundane ambitions of his creators, and has never evolved into anything more than a funny mascot. (I accept that not everyone will agree with this view.)

Throughout the ’90s, stories became a creative consideration. Like all human beings, game developers had been brought up enjoying stories, and wanted to add gravitas and drama to their work.

But game developers were often better at coding than they were at telling stories. They made their games, and then they grafted on some hackneyed version of Lord of the Rings or Star Trek. A few games managed to stand out because of their devotion to story and to mythology, such as the Final Fantasy series.

Game publishers took note. Companies hired writers, usually to package up gameplay and art assets. Spinoff novels pulled convoluted series like Halo and Assassin’s Creed into some semblance of narrative form. Missions were cast as mini-stories, adding up to a baffling whole in which a princess was saved, a bomb deactivated, a tyrant deposed.

Critics began to write about games as stories, lambasting certain games for their ludonarrative dissonance in which the player’s actions are at odds with the personality or the aspirations of the on-screen character.

Big-budget games began to appear with more believable and compelling stories. BioShock, Mass Effect and Dragon Age explored the meaning of interactive stories, layering their narratives with provocative ideas about agency and heroism. They helped to establish games as fully rounded narrative experiences. Games now compete directly with the rest of the entertainment business, and must present themselves as coherent tales, in the same way as blockbuster movies. Many of the most highly prized games are seen as writerly endeavors.

The Witcher series is literally based on fantasy novels. The big games of 2018, like Red Dead Redemption 2 , Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Shadow of the Tomb Raider , all began life as stories about characters, not as tech demos in search of drama.

These days, game producers are more likely to view writers as central to big game projects. In press interviews, development team leaders like The Last of Us’ Neil Druckmann and Red Dead Redemption’s Dan Houser speak about themselves primarily as writers, and secondarily as producers or directors. When Square Enix rebooted Tomb Raider, it sent out its writer Rhianna Pratchett as a prime spokesperson. In interviews, she talked about Lara as a person, not as an amalgamation of polygons designed to deliver kicks to the player.

Diverse bunch

My tutors press me to tighten my story. They send me notes asking for more clarity, more interactivity, more drama, and more fun. What they really want, I divine, is more action. They poke at each scene. I rewrite. My game improves.

My fellow students are facing the same process. We chat with one another via forums. They are a diverse bunch of men and women from various countries, a mixture of mainstream writers who want to learn about games and game developers who want to learn about writing. The course costs around $1,600, and takes up maybe half a day per week for seven weeks.

Most of us have full-time jobs. So the only mandatory exercise is the writing of the game story; all the others are optional. It’s easygoing and good fun.

I’m fascinated by the diversity of the other students’ games and stories. One action-RPG tells the tale of a soldier’s lost pet. Another is a racing game about a group of cartoon couriers. One game follows the romantic adventures of a woman who does not conform to standard beauty ideals. Another takes on the god game genre, and delves into the Almighty’s personal relationship with life creation.

These writers are looking at ways to polish up their resumes or even to launch their own indie projects.

In the last 10 years, we’ve seen a remarkable growth of indie games with powerful stories and memorable characters. Among them are some of my favorite games ever, including Tacoma , Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture , Rakuen , Blackwood Crossing , Orwell , and Virginia .

Action games are wonderful, but we all occasionally (or often) want something else. We want games to make us feel the way the best movies and books make us feel. And games are now providing that. It’s amazing that, only a decade ago, “ can games make you cry? ” was a genuinely interesting question. Now, who among us has not shed a tear at a game story?

illustration of nun, orphan, assassin, and soldier by river in Paris

Final exercise

For the final exercise, we must present our game stories, complete with descriptions of fully interactive elements. In my story, Olivia and the nun both make accommodations with one another’s beliefs, in order to save each other and to rescue the children. Olivia encounters the chief of police. The player decides if he lives or dies.

The nun falls into the hands of the Nazis. Olivia breaks into the Nazi compound, but when she finds the nun, Olivia discovers that she has been tortured beyond any possibility of escape. The nun begs to be spared further torture and her inevitable confession. She must die in order for the children to live. The nun sacrifices her own beliefs in the sanctity of life, while Olivia sacrifices her warrior self. The last person Olivia will ever kill is the nun (again, this is a player choice).

The tortoise “peace” necklace makes its reappearance in the final scene, offering Olivia a practical strategy for shepherding the children past Nazi guards, and onto a waiting boat bound for Britain.

In the final scene, we see her on a Normandy beach, gazing out across the English Channel. She will win the war, but she will kill no more. Her want, need, and flaw have been resolved.

Useful lessons

I’ve learned a ton of storytelling tips and techniques that shape the story, that add to its most intense beats, and that create an ending that feels satisfying and whole, at least to me. I feel the class has made me a better writer, and it’s made me understand game design more fully.

I’ve also learned to further appreciate how games are taking basic theories about story and subverting them in the name of fun and interactivity. When I play Reigns: Game of Thrones , I’m struck by how cleverly each character, each quest, and each decision follows a pattern of inciting incident, crisis, and resolution (though not always in that order).

Few games can (or should) blindly follow a three-act shape. But understanding form is how artists learn to subvert and surprise. This is the value of the course.

The biggest lesson is that writers of games aren’t merely storytellers; they are kinetic designers. Like all writers, they must create words by conjuring imagery. But they must also operate in the realm of action. The story is about the characters, of course. It’s also about what the player sees. But, most importantly, it’s about what the player does in the context of the narrative. Marrying character, action, and player together is the trick. This requires three-dimensional thinking that I now know for certain is a tough skill to master. My admiration for good game writers increases.

I still have no plans to make a game, but I’ll write up Olivia as a short story for my weekly fiction writers group. She exists in the world now. She and the nun have taught me something about what it means to be a person.

I hope my fellow students will find jobs, or project backers, and will bring their ideas into the world. That would make for the sort of narrative resolution Yorke would enjoy.

When You Write

Crafting Compelling Game Stories: A Guide to Video Game Writing

If you’re a budding writer wanting to get into the game industry and more specifically in the world of video game story writing, I’m here to tell you why this craft is so important for creating a truly captivating gaming experience.

Storytelling through games allows us to capture players’ imaginations and bring our stories to life like never before. Crafting compelling storylines can be tricky but with just a few key tips, anyone can become a masterful storyteller when it comes to designing their own video games.

In this article, we’ll explore what makes great storytelling in video games, how to create unique plots that will keep your players engaged from start to finish, as well as provide helpful advice on developing characters and dialogue that are sure to enthrall your audience.

We’ll also look at some innovative ways for incorporating interactive elements into your narrative so that each player’s experience feels personalized and one-of-a-kind.

What Is Gamers Writing?

If you’re wondering what gamers’ writing is and how it’s different from writing a novel, well, it’s all about creating compelling stories for games that keep players engaged and coming back for more (adding more playability to the game).

Game writing involves crafting narratives that are both interesting and interactive – giving the player a sense of control over their adventure. Game design can be thought of as another element in this process, where an idea is turned into something tangible.

A great story needs to have three key components: characters with motivations, plot twists or obstacles to overcome, and satisfying conclusions. It should also reflect the world around us – whether through dialogue or visuals – so that it resonates emotionally with the audience.

Players today want creative storylines that can go as deep as a movie storyline, that not only inspire them but challenge them too. Writing engaging content requires creativity, knowledge of gaming trends, and an understanding of how people interact with games; without these elements in place, even the most innovative ideas won’t make an impact on gamers.

To create successful game stories you need to think beyond just words on paper and develop believable worlds for your characters to inhabit.

What Makes A Good Game Story?

I believe that a good game story should have a well-developed plot, interesting and believable characters, and an immersive world. All three of these elements are essential for creating a captivating story that players can enjoy.

Plot development should involve twists and turns that keep players guessing, along with a satisfying resolution. Followed by character development, which should involve a mixture of personalities, backgrounds, and motivations that make them feel real.

Lastly, world building should be immersive and believable, with a range of settings that bring the story to life. With these elements in place, you can create a great game story that players will love.

Below I cover these in a bit more detail.

Plot Development

Creating an engaging story throughout the game is no easy task. At the heart of it, you need to craft a script that can bring the player into your world and make them feel like they’re part of the action.

To do this, you should be utilizing various narrative design techniques such as cutscenes and interactive elements to develop characters, create pacing, and further your story arcs. These are integral components in driving home points or conveying emotions through gameplay which helps players identify with their avatar as well as propel them onward in the game’s progression.

With all these tools at your disposal, crafting an immersive experience becomes much easier; however, regardless of how great the visuals are or how cool the mechanics are – nothing compares to a good plotline and strong characters to engage with. 

In other words, if you want your game to be successful then you’ll have to put your best foot forward when it comes to creating a compelling story!

Character Development

Within the game, character development is essential to creating a successful story. You need to give your characters depth and make them relatable so that players can identify with them in some way. To do this, use creative writing techniques such as dialogue and exposition to help build each character’s backstory and motivations.

Additionally, by utilizing role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons or World of Warcraft, you can create unique scenarios where the player has to think critically about how they approach different situations which ultimately helps add more dimensionality to their avatar and the world around them!

It’s also important to stay on top of the latest trends in game design when it comes to developing stories. Knowing what works best for certain genres allows crafting engaging scripts that are tailored specifically for your target audience. 

For instance, open-world RPGs have become increasingly popular over time due to their ability to provide players with an immense amount of freedom and exploration opportunities – something that’s essential for crafting compelling narratives.

So if you want your video game story to stand out amongst others, then understanding the importance of character development is vital. From giving life-like backstories and personalities through creative writing approaches, all the way down to taking advantage of modern gaming conventions – there’s plenty one needs to consider when trying to write a video game narrative worth exploring!

World Building

Once you have created your characters and their stories, the next important step when crafting a great game story is world building. When constructing an immersive game environment, it’s crucial to think about how this imaginary universe will be experienced by players.

From establishing a believable geography and history that sets up the quest to creating interesting objects and creatures for them to interact with – all of these elements need to come together in order for gamers to truly feel connected to your world!

With tools like inklewriter or Twine available now, developers can easily build out branching storylines that keep track of player decisions throughout the entire gaming experience.

This allows for a much more dynamic journey as each playthrough differs from the last, making exploration even more rewarding. Plus, if you add in secret lairs or hidden areas filled with unique treasures then you can spark interest among players who love uncovering mysteries within games!

So don’t forget about the importance of world building when designing a captivating video game story; it’s essential for creating an unforgettable adventure!

Elements Of A Video Game Narrative

Just as I’m passionate about story writing narratives, so should you be about video game narratives, and I believe that story arcs and character development are two of the most important elements, whether for a book, novel, short story, or in this case… a video game.

A good story arc should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, while character development should focus on creating believable and unique characters that players can relate to.

Crafting these elements well can make your video game stand out and leave a lasting impact on players. With the right approach, creating a compelling video game narrative can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience.

A story arc is one of the essential elements of a successful video game narrative.

As a long-time writer, I know it’s important to remember that you don’t have to be limited by conventions when creating your main story – in fact, I always encourage my clients to think outside the box and consider how they can create something new!

The development process starts with opening up a word processor and designing an overarching plot for your project.

This should include arcs for each character as well as general themes or ideas you want to explore.

You’ll also need to map out the beginning, middle, and end points of your story so that you know where everything fits into the grand scheme of things.

Ultimately, crafting a compelling story arc requires imagination and creativity – two ingredients every good game writer doesn’t lack!

With enough dedication and attention to detail, players will appreciate your efforts once they experience all the surprises along their journey through your virtual world.

Character development is an integral part of any successful video game narrative. You should ensure that each character in the story has their own unique arcs and motivations that contribute to the overall plot of the game.

Consider major story beats as well as subtle elements like dialogue, body language , and relationships between different NPCs or player characters.

This can be a challenging but ultimately rewarding experience – after all, when done right, players will have deeper connections with your virtual world’s inhabitants!

How To Become A Games Writer

If you become a game writer, you will have the privilege of creating something new and exciting. It’s not just about telling stories; it’s about using your imagination to create an interactive experience that will keep players engaged for hours on end.

While writing for video games is different from traditional story-telling methods, there are some key elements you should take into consideration in order to become successful at it.

First, understand how game mechanics work and what kind of effect they can have on your narrative. Depending on the type of game, these mechanics could be anything from puzzles or combat systems to level design and NPC interactions. You’ll also need to work with the game director and creative director to ensure all aspects of your storyline fit within their vision.

Second, develop major storylines but don’t forget about non-linear details that add depth and flavor to your world. This could include side quests, dialogue options between NPCs, collectible items scattered throughout levels – really any detail that helps build up the atmosphere and give players more incentives to explore their environment. Make sure each piece fits together like a puzzle without detracting from the main quest line.

Finally, when crafting stories for video games take care not to focus solely on linear narratives as this won’t leave much room for exploration or replayability value which are essential components of most modern gaming experiences. Instead, try experimenting with non-linear structures such as branching paths or divergent endings while still ensuring the core elements remain intact no matter which route players choose.

With practice, you can find ways to blend traditional storytelling techniques with engaging gameplay elements in order to create truly captivating experiences for gamers around the world! Moving forward we can now compare and contrast writing for games versus conventional story-telling methods…

Writing For Games Vs Conventional Story-Telling

When it comes to writing for video games, there is a wide range of possibilities. From twine stories and role-playing adventures to linear tales and game scripts, the art of storytelling in the gaming world has grown exponentially over recent years.

At its core, this type of creative writing offers more freedom than that which exists when working within traditional storytelling structures. Not only do video game writers have greater control over character development and plot lines, but they also have access to a plethora of innovative tools not available elsewhere. 

This increased level of autonomy makes it easier to create dynamic storylines with complex characters – something rarely seen in conventional narrative forms such as books or films.

The potential for creativity offered by the medium means developers can push boundaries while still remaining true to their vision; creating experiences that are both immersive and inspiring. With so much room for experimentation, it’s no wonder why many consider this genre of story writing to be truly revolutionary.

Taking risks with fresh ideas leads to bold new paths when crafting captivating worlds through interactive media – all without sacrificing quality or authenticity.

Creative Freedom For Games Writers

The creative freedom that is often associated with writing for games offers so many opportunities to explore narrative worlds and characters in ways that may be impossible through other forms of storytelling.

It’s exciting knowing that you can create something unique and special with your words, especially when creating stories within an interactive medium like gaming. This type of writing also allows you to work on elements such as dialogue, plot points, character arcs, and world building while following a particular structure.

With this kind of structural approach combined with active decision-making from the player’s perspective, there is no question why game writers are highly valued by developers looking for innovative content. 

Whether it’s crafting cutscenes or designing branching storylines, there is always room for creativity when working on any project related to gaming.

Writing for video games requires more than just a knowledge of story structure; it demands the ability to think outside the box and come up with interesting solutions in order to engage players. That’s why working as a game writer is both rewarding and challenging – but ultimately worth every minute!

Daily Tasks For A Games Writer

Obviously, a game writer’s tasks will be different compared to someone who is a game designer, so developing a productive workflow of story ideas is an important part of gamer writing.

Crafting the dialogue is often the most challenging part, so you need to make sure that you’re writing memorable conversations that fit the characters. Also add a bit of humor to the dialogue whenever possible, as it can help to engage players.

Overall, make sure that the story and dialogue work together to create an immersive and entertaining experience for gamers.

Developing Story Ideas

Crafting an engaging and innovative story usually starts by writing down the main idea of what you want your overarching story to be about – this is key in creating good storylines that draw players into the world of the game.

After that, it’s all about developing backstories for each character and connecting them together with the main plot. This can take some time as you’ll need to write a compelling narrative while also ensuring there are enough twists and turns throughout!

To make sure you stay on track, daily tasks include brainstorming sessions, researching source material, and playing through certain levels if possible – these activities help get inspired and create something truly unique.

But ultimately, it’s up to you to shape those ideas into a captivating script that will leave gamers wanting more!

Writing Dialogue

Writing dialogue is a huge part of writing for video games, and it’s something you need to keep in mind throughout the entire process.

You have to make sure what your characters are saying feels natural and true to life; that means creating realistic conversations that move the plot forward while also introducing interesting themes.

It can be tricky at times – after all, you don’t want your dialogue coming off as too stiff or unnatural! But with some practice and by keeping up with industry trends, you can craft convincing conversations that draw players into your story world.

In order to write great dialogue for a video game script, you should always stay informed about the latest innovations in the gaming industry so you know what kinds of things will actually work within your stories.

Additionally, reading other scripts written for video games helps get an idea of how successful dialogue should sound like on paper.

All these activities help hone the necessary skills as a writer and create compelling storylines!

Exploring The Benefits Of Studying Video Games Writing

Writing stories for video games has become a popular career choice in recent years, and with good reason. As an aspiring writer of video game scripts, I can tell you that there are many benefits to learning how to write for this medium.

From honing your storytelling skills to understanding the nuances of gameplay, writing for video games is an exciting way to put your talents to use:

  • You will learn how to write a main story arc for a game, which requires careful attention to continuity and pacing.
  • Crafting compelling dialogue and character arcs within the context of the game’s overall narrative structure helps create immersive experiences for players.
  • Working closely with developers and other writers on projects allows you to gain insight into all aspects of creating successful video games.
  • And most importantly, mastering the art of scriptwriting enables you to contribute something truly unique–a well-written game that people enjoy playing.

The key to success as a writer lies in being able to craft engaging scripts within the parameters set by developers and publishers. With practice and dedication, it is possible to unlock the secrets behind making great video games!

Onwards now then; let us explore crafting scripts in video games so we may understand their inner workings even better.

Crafting Scripts In Video Games

When it comes to crafting scripts for video games, the possibilities are endless. Writing for a video game is an entirely different experience than writing for film or tv – with interactive stories and non-player characters that must be considered.

Crafting a game script requires immense creativity, as well as knowledge of gaming trends in order to create something truly engaging. 

Take for example the popular open world RPG Skyrim: its main plot was written in such a way that players felt as though they were actually part of the story, making decisions that determined how events unfolded.

This immersive quality takes time and dedication to achieve; however, when done right, this level of interactivity can make all the difference between a successful game and one that buyers forget about shortly after release. 

The key to crafting really remarkable scripts is understanding what your audience wants from their gaming experience.

Players want an escape, but one full of challenges that require critical thinking and problem-solving skills. With creative ingenuity combined with research into current trends within the industry, you can create something truly spectacular!

Tips For Aspiring Game Writers

If you’re interested in becoming a game writer, the first thing you should do is research the genre you’re writing for. Understand the conventions, tropes, and character archetypes that are used in that type of game. That way, you can craft characters that will engage your players in a way that feels natural and familiar to them.

Once you have your characters established, you can start outlining the story. It’s important to create a story that is interesting, compelling, and that fits the world you’ve created. It’s also important to make sure that the story you create is feasible within the constraints of the game.

Researching The Genre

One of the first things that you should do is research the genre(s) and type of game you want to write for.

There are so many video games out there that it can be hard to decide which ones fit your needs—so take some time to explore different titles and find something that speaks to you. You can also look at other writers’ approaches for guidance on how to approach writing for various genres.

Doing this will help give you a better understanding of what works within each style and provide insight into creating unique stories. With just a bit of research, dedication, and creativity, you’ll have all the tools necessary to create engaging narratives for many video games!

Crafting Engaging Characters

Once you have your game’s story arc in place, the next step is to craft engaging characters. A great way to create compelling characters that players will want to follow on their journey is by using archetypes as a foundation.

For example, we all know Lara Croft—the Tomb Raider heroine who has become an iconic figure in gaming culture. She embodies many of the traits found in classic heroines: bravery, intelligence, and strength. 

By creating characters with similar qualities or building off existing ones from popular media, you can give your players someone they’ll identify with and root for throughout the game’s narrative arc.

It’s also important to keep the player at the center of every decision when constructing character arcs. It should feel like these characters exist solely for them—their choices are shaped by what makes sense for the protagonist and how it affects them specifically instead of just being window-dressing for the story moves along.

GDC talks often discuss this idea of making sure each character has purpose and meaning within a game world; if not, then why bother including them? At its core, crafting engaging characters comes down to understanding both your audience and yourself as a writer. What kind of stories do you like telling? And what types of stories would make players care about certain figures in-game?

Answering those questions honestly can help ensure that your cast member has depth and originality—traits necessary for creating memorable video game experiences!

Outlining The Story

Once you have your characters developed, the next step is to outline the story that they inhabit. Writing a game isn’t like writing a film or television show; there’s a lot more flexibility in terms of how players interact with the world and their environment.

You want to make sure that you are creating an engaging experience for them while still allowing for meaningful choices along the way. 

There are many tools available now such as branching story systems or node-based narrative structures that allow writers to map out potential storylines and plot points before starting the actual scripting process. 

By taking advantage of these tools, you can ensure that players will be able to explore all possible outcomes within your game’s universe without feeling limited by pre-determined actions.

At its core however, outlining should focus on what makes sense for both your protagonist and antagonist—what do they want? What stands in their way? Why does this matter to them specifically? These questions will help guide you through crafting an arc that feels unique and substantial instead of just another generic save-the-world scenario.

Additionally, it’ll give players something concrete to latch onto so they’re invested in progressing through each level until they reach the end goal! If you want to write games that capture attention and hold it long enough for people to complete them, then having a well thought out roadmap beforehand is crucial.

Don’t forget: even if everything else looks great on paper but your story lacks substance, no one wants to play it!

Crafting stories for games can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience. It’s not just about being creative or having fun; it’s also about creating something meaningful and powerful.

Whether you want to write scripts for existing franchises or create your own original worlds from scratch, the world of gaming has plenty of opportunities for aspiring writers.

With hard work and dedication, you too can become a successful video game scriptwriter! Perhaps your calling and future is gaming storytelling!

Recommended Reading...

How to write a murder mystery: figuring out whodunit, good story starters for your next bestseller, 100 fluff prompts that will inspire creativity, essential creative writing tips and techniques.

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Nailing Video Game Script Writing – What You Need To Know

Video Game Script Writing - How It’s Done

Most video games are full of words . But where do these words come from? They’re written by writers of course! Like any creative industry, writers are an essential part of video game design. However, video game script writing is distinct from that of films or stage productions for a number of key reasons…

This article gives you a rundown of what it means to write video games scripts, how you can build a career writing for games , and how to write a script that warps a player into the world you’ve created for them.

What is a video game script?

How to write a video game script, what makes the best video game script, examples of video game scripts.

  • Are voice acting scripts for games different?

How to become a video game scriptwriter

What is ‘scripting’ in video games.

Broadly speaking, a script encompasses all of the written text relating to an entertainment production – plays, films, radio broadcasts, video games, and so on.

As shown in the table above, there are quite a few differences between traditional scripts and video game scripts. Video game designer Ian Bogost explains it best :

“…games abandon the dream of becoming narrative media and pursue the one they are already so good at: taking the tidy, ordinary world apart and putting it back together again in surprising, ghastly new ways.”

While traditional narratives do have a place in video gaming, the majority of stories told through video games involve what Bogost calls ‘procedural rhetoric’ , a term he coined. This is the idea that a story can be told through the audience interacting with, and learning from, a new world of rules and processes.

Components of a video game script

Plot/narrative: Plumber saves mushroom princess from… a dinosaur? A dragon maybe? While Bogost firmly believes in a future where games present only the environment in which the player builds their own story, most games like to offer a bit more. (FYI Bowser is actually a ‘great demon king’).

Characters: Choose your fighter! Character descriptions and biographies occur in traditional scripts as well. A good character profile is helpful because it keeps all the information you have on a character in one place, creating a kind of handy reference sheet if you need to figure out how they might act in a situation or conversation. The MasterClass staff cover the basics of character profile creation .

Dialogue: “Hey, listen!” Game dialogue can be very different from a film, for example. This is because unless an actor is forgetting their lines or ad libbing, they are supposed to stick to the exact conversation outlined in the script. Even when actors are improvising, a conversation only ever happens once; with the exception of time travel. In video gaming however, decision trees, friendship meters, alignments, replayability, and more can turn one interaction into a multitude of possible routes. For more info, check out these game dialogue tips from the New York Film Academy.

Cutscenes: Skippable, if you’re lucky… Cutscenes are probably the closest you’ll get to traditional scripts during video game production. This makes sense, since cutscenes are usually short video sequences designed to provide exposition, as well as breaking up levels or sections within levels of a game. As writer/director Greg Buchanan explains in detail :

“It is therefore crucial… to be able to practice and excel at non-branching narrative.”

Other non-dialogue texts: Perhaps the archives are incomplete. As mentioned in the table above, there’s a wider range of texts in a game than in traditional media. While much of these texts are optional for the reader, they are important for fleshing out the world that’s being created and providing a richer experience for those interested few looking to immerse themselves deeper into your game. Examples include:

  • Flavour texts
  • In-game lore
  • Item/environment descriptions ( it’s bread )
  • Instructions/tutorials/options menus etc.

9 (or 10?) steps for writing a game script

  • Either a. Outline your plot b. Outline your game design
  • And then do the other one
  • Preproduction
  • Worldbuilding
  • Character design
  • Create your story flowchart
  • Write your narrative
  • Flesh out your script

Outline your plot ⇌ design: The chicken-script or the game-design-egg? Whether story or design come first in gaming is a tricky question. It can be the case that you have a concept for a game and you then create a story in which to embed your game mechanics. Or for more narrative-based interactive story games you may want to outline a plot first and then decide how your story will literally ‘play out’. Have no idea where to even begin?! – Let writers.com get you going .

Preproduction: Where to start before starting. The preproduction stage is an important place to cement the idea for your game before spending any money. Part of that process is a prototype script which will give the gist of the story you’re planning to tell, before you spend time and money telling it in full.

Worldbuilding: It began with the forging of the Great Rings… Even a 2D platformer has a backdrop ( Mario 3 was a play dontcha know?). When writing a game, you need a place for your game to take place, for the player to explore, and for your characters and events to exist and take place. MasterClass strikes again with their guide to starting worldbuilding .

Character design: Round 2, fight! As mentioned above in our ‘what is a video game script?’ section, character design and profiles help to envision and consolidate aspects of a character to help you decide how they would and should behave during your story. This includes heroes, villains, supporting characters etc.

Story flowchart: If ‘yes’, read on… Now you have the ‘where’ and the ‘who’, you need to figure out the ‘what’ and the ‘when’. This is going to be a meaty (or meat-substitute-y) task because you need to document what is going on at each stage of your story, across all possible story routes, and how the stages of your story flow into and out of one another.

The structure of each stage of a story flowchart will usually be:

  • The starting node of a stage
  • Nodes describing what is going on (visual environment, music/sound effects, characters, actions)
  • Choice/challenge nodes, where decision or dice rolls affect what comes next
  • Storylines splitting based on the outcome of nodes at step 3.
  • A repeat of steps 2. to 4. for each branching storyline
  • One or more ending nodes

At any step after 1., branching storylines can merge again. This happens very often during game scripts because otherwise you’d end up with an unmanageable number of unique storylines to write and create. See this handy guide from Game Developer.

Writing your narrative: Putting pen to paper code. Once the outline, design, world, characters, and structure are all in place, you’re free to enjoy writer’s block! Hopefully not, but it can be tough getting your full narrative written. ACMI have a great guide to the 4 main points of good video game narrative :

  • Point of view

Fleshing things out: The lawful-evil devil’s in the details. Even when your main narrative is written, there will likely be plenty left to work on. Side quests, alongside the other non-dialogue texts listen in our ‘what is a video game script?’ section above, require lots of additional writing. As long as they’re consistent with your tone and don’t contradict your main narrative then it’s just a matter of getting them done (and a chance to show a little flair and imagination).

Reviewing: It was the ‘blurst’ of times?! While this is last on our list, since it’s the last thing you’ll be doing, it doesn’t mean you’re meant to leave it all until now. Like most things in life, iterating (doing something over and over, improving it each time) when writing game scripts is best. So, you should be reviewing your script continuously as you go through the design and production processes. Also, reviewing doesn’t just include fixing smelling mistakes or errors between grammar (although these things are important!), it’s also about improving the overall quality of your script by ensuring it has the right tone, is fit for purpose, and all ties together properly.

Personal preference: Can’t please everyone… Some love a detailed story, some see it as getting in the way of gameplay. Some love epic, large-scale conflict, some love personal journeys. It’s impossible to write a script to please everyone – so pick a story you want to tell and do that well.

The player-character dynamic: Do as I do, not as I wouldn’t do. Coming back to the interactive vs linear debate, when a player is able to make their character behave as they would, it helps immersion. But, giving a player complete control over a game inhibits the designer’s ability to tell a story ( The Stanley Parable anyone?). Again there’s no perfect way to balance this dynamic, but it’s an important consideration as you write your script.

Helping the player explore the story: There’s no knowing where you might be swept off to. Regardless of how much control the player has over the story, it should still be presented in a way that allows them to engage with it and encourages them to explore at least ideas and emotions, if not also environments.

5 tips for writing a great video game script

  • Consider your audience – think about who you’re making the game for and adjust the complexity and tone accordingly.
  • Focus on believability – even in a world of fiction or fantasy, the story needs to be cohesive and plausible.
  • Set rules and stick to them – by deciding what does and doesn’t fit into your narrative, you can help maintain the themes and feel of your game.
  • Done is better than perfect – don’t let perfectionism stop your writing. You’ll have a chance to improve your work as you review and iterate.
  • Be passionate and creative – have fun writing and do what feels right for you. This will shine through your script and your audience will pick up on it.
  • Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead
  • What Remains of Edith Finch
  • The Last of Us
  • Silent Hill 2

Above are links to fan wikis (and IGN) that contain transcriptions of video games known for exceptional storytelling and impressive scripting. While they aren’t full scripts in the way you’d expect to write one for your own game (mostly just dialogue with description/stage direction), they can give you a sense of what a successful script includes. We’ve excluded games with literary source materials, since they won’t be relevant if you’re looking to write a novel script of your own.

BunnyStudio also have a great article with example excerpts from successful video game scripts, and explanations of why they work so well.

Here’s 6 steps for to building a career in video game writing:

  • Get educated – most jobs in game writing require you to have finished school at least. It’s likely a degree will help your prospects too, particularly one in Computer Science or English.
  • Immerse yourself in the gaming industry – sort of obvious really but being interested in gaming will help. But also, researching the industry and being interested in making games (not just playing them) will help.
  • Read and write really regularly – writing every day is good practice to hone your skills. Things like entering writing competitions, or keeping a diary or blog are great ideas. And it goes without saying that reading, particularly around video game scripts, will be beneficial.
  • Learn to code – while you won’t be coding the game yourself, a basic understanding is likely to be beneficial and get you a second glance over your CV from a potential recruiter.
  • Get experience and credentials – while we don’t think you should have to work for free, unfortunately volunteering can get you experience and publications to put on your C.V. Also, starting your own project might be the way to go, perhaps with a friend who can code extensively.
  • Set yourself up as a freelancer and apply – video game writers often work freelance since it allows for flexible project management and for you to work as needed across multiple projects. Make sure you know how to set up a portfolio, and how to write good applications and ace job interviews.

If you’ve made it down this far and you’re wondering how a masterfully crafted narrative helps people get headshots every time then you’ve probably realised video games script and scripting in video games aren’t particularly related.

Scripting means writing code that performs a function in a video game. More specifically, the term is used to refer to writing a script to help you perform better at a game (often meaning cheating at the game ). It’s generally frowned upon and will typically result in a ban if used in online competitive games.

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So You Want to Write for Video Games?

how to write stories for video games

Many screenwriters dream of writing the scripts for video games and reaping the profits of an industry that is far more profitable than the film and television industries that screenwriters are striving to break into today — but there's more than meets the eye when it comes to being a game writer.

Being a game writer seems like the ideal job for many screenwriters that are gamers in their spare time. In an age where gaming technology appears to be making amazing breakthroughs with every release and where a single video game's revenue outmatches the latest box office theatrical blockbuster by unbelievable amounts, it's only natural that screenwriters want to jump on that bandwagon.

According to a Global Games Market Report, in 2016, the worldwide video game industry generated a revenue of $99.6 billion. Hollywood only managed to rake in "just" $36 billion in that same year.

Grand Theft Auto V , the ultimate video game record breaker, made $815.7 million in its first day of release . That's not a typo — its first day of release. Some of the biggest summer blockbusters in movie theaters take three months or more to make that amount worldwide — if they're lucky.

"Okay, where do I sign up?!"

This is where it gets tricky — and a little depressing for some.

You Don't Write an Original Script for a Game and Sell It on Spec

Many screenwriters have the fantasy of writing a brilliant screenplay that is perfect for video game interpretation. They think they can take it to the big video game companies, make their pitch as they would with any Hollywood studio or production company, sell it, and then collaborate with game developers to make the next big hit.

That's just not how it works.

The game writer doesn't sell their concept and watch game designers bring their vision to life through beautiful visuals and interactive gameplay.  Project Directors are the ones that run the show. And they're often the ones with the concept who are in charge of building the conceptual designs and gameplay with their team of designers.

The Game Writer usually comes into play quite later in the process, generally speaking.

Video games aren't like movies. They don't start with a screenwriter and a screenplay. They begin with project directors and game designers, as well as a belly of other technical professionals.

And game scripts are nothing like the average screenplay. They are technical documents with hundreds of pages of visual description, flow charts, branching dialogue, cut scenes, etc.

So What Do Game Writers Actually Write?

If you're a screenwriter trying to break into the video game industry as a game writer, you need to understand that everything you know about screenwriting format, structure, and characterization is null and void — for the most part. Yes, you will utilize the ideals of story arcs, character arcs, and general story structure, but any game's story is secondary to the actual gameplay of the title being developed.

Gamers love some story and character depth in their games, but when push comes to shove, they want a game that has terrific interactive gameplay.

So what do game writers write?

Here's a general breakdown:

Flow Charts - Games these days are very complex — the RPGs (role-playing games) especially. The players will have to make many decisions throughout the game. Thus, the game is going to have to develop every possible option that allows the gamer to feel like they are really controlling a character organically within that world. A flow chart reads much like an extreme version of those old Choose Your Own Adventure books. It sounds interesting, but it's highly technical with barebones story and character development — just enough to keep it interesting for the gamer.

Side Quests - Many games have smaller missions and quests that the characters can embark on. These need to be written as well.

Character descriptions and biographies - Every character has to have a description and breakdown so that game designers can properly develop them together, as far as who these characters are, what they look like, and what they are capable of.

NPC (non-player characters) dialogue scenes - Gamers and the characters they control will interact with non-player characters throughout the flowchart of the game. The dialogue needs to be written for these many moments.

Cut Scenes - Cut scenes are cinematic scenes or sequences that are usually found before, during, and after the gameplay. Within the game, they are used to push the story forward after the gamer has achieved certain goals.

Final Storyboard Script - If there's anything that is similar to a feature film screenplay within the video game development process, it's the storyboard script. This is written after everything mentioned above has been completed. Consider this to be the master storyboard that documents the gameplay and story elements from beginning to end.

Here's a general example:

Location : A dark cathedral with stained glass windows. An NPC is kneeling before a stone casket in the center of the main room

Music : Background music of an organ playing introduces the scene but subsides

Characters : Main player, NPC named Thomas

Player Goal : Discover the location of the underground lair

Action : Player must initiate discussion with Thomas, upon first contact we activate cut scene (1) where Thomas morphs into a were-creature and summons his were-minions. Main character must battle the were-minions then re-initiate discussion with Thomas.

Flowchart : No decisions made at this point: If battle is completed Thomas reveals the entrance to the underground lair and player advances to that level. If player is defeated in battle revert to death cut scene (11) and move to try again screen.

Notes : Player is locked in the cathedral, and there is no exit. The only viable way out is to initiate contact with Thomas. Random were-creatures can be activated if player explores cathedral before talking with NPC.

Now, that seems like a lot of cool work for a game writer to do. Here's the rub. These elements are all primarily developed through a collaborative effort involving the project directors and game designers. The writer is there to flesh out the concepts being developed and perform the actual documentation in the form of everything listed above.

In short, the game writer isn't working as a screenwriter would, as far as creating these characters, worlds, and action. The game designers are working from what they are capable of building through their design with the budget and staff they have. Thus, the game writer can't say, "Hey, what if the players are sucked into a portal and dropped into this alternate dimension where everything is upside down and gravity is reversed, creating this Pandora-like world..."

Stop right there. The game designers have to create all of those elements. And those elements take time, money, and hours upon hours of design and rendering.

But Screenwriters Do Have a Place in the Video Game Industry, Right?

There are undoubtedly many variables. Technically, yes, a screenwriter could be hired to flesh out the work that the game design team does and offer some narrative and dialogue-driven flair.

But much of the time, narrative designers are utilized. Narrative designers are those primarily in charge of designing the gamer experience. Which is essentially a large part of the elements shared above. And they obviously have a technical background in game design, coding, and other equivalents.

So the actual game writer involved is, again, secondary to all of the game design and conceptualization.

Richard Dansky, Central Tom Clancy Writer for Ubisoft Red Storm, says , "A good game writer understands that the game isn’t about them, or their story, or their witty dialog. The rest of the team isn’t there to realize their vision, and the player isn’t there to admire their brilliance. The game writer I want to work with wants to collaborate with the team to create the best player experience possible. That means crafting a story that shows off the features that the game is built around."

He goes on to say, "Game writing really is something different from any other style in terms of what it demands of the writer — it’s the only place where the writer isn’t telling their story, or the protagonist’s story, but rather the player’s story. Yes, the player takes on the role of the protagonist, whether that’s an avatar they create themselves or an established, iconic character like Sam Fisher, but the fact remains that everything that goes into a game is just possibility until the moment the player interacts with it and thus creates their own story of what happened."

Dansky describes what type of game writer he wants to work with. "The writer I want to work with doesn’t want the player to sit back and enjoy what is handed to them. The game writer I want to work with creates things that the player can pick up and integrate into their own experience of the game so that everything that player does feels right and seamless and utterly appropriate to the story they create as they go along.

So How Do You Get a Job as a Game Writer?

David Gaider worked with BioWare as a narrative designer on such games as Baldur's Gate 2 , Knights of the Old Republic , Neverwinter Nights , and was lead writer on the Dragon Age series: Dragon Age: Origins , Dragon Age 2 , and 2014's Dragon Age: Inquisition . He later moved onto Beamdog Studios as their Creative Director. He wrote about the difficulty in getting the position that everyone wants through his article on Polygon .

Gaider comments, "I know games which really care about story will have actual writers there in early development. Others will have the writing being done by someone who’s also doing something else on the team, like a programmer, because they just have to. And most of everyone else? Their game doesn’t have much call for story, period, because they’re just not that kind of game."

But there are writing jobs available, right? "The chances of you getting any writing job in the game industry are not good."

He goes on to say, "Writing is a hard skill to show. You could be a genius at narrative design, but proving that you’re a genius? Really hard. More than that, the people who are hiring writers have a really difficult time in figuring out who’s capable. It’s not like a 3D model you can look at and objectively say whether whoever made it has the chops or not — we’re talking about an inexact science, and there are no degrees in, say, Interactive Branching Fiction. So you make do writing your brilliant submissions and trying to stand out from all the other submissions."

Despite the odds against most screenwriters trying to make the transition from feature and television writing to the gaming industry, Gaider does recommend steps that you can take if you're willing to challenge the odds stacked against you.

"You need to play games. All types of games, not just the ones you enjoy the most. You need to look at different stories and think about what they did narratively, good or bad. If it was good, consider how they managed it. If it was bad, consider why it might have been done that way and what could have been better about it. One of the most common questions we ask in an interview is what a writer thinks about the narrative in games they’ve played — and specifically what they didn’t like and why. Being able to critique is one of the skills you will absolutely need, not to mention showing that you’ve an interest in game stories that goes beyond enjoying a single game that developer made."

He also suggests that you practice.

"Yes, this is a skill you can actually improve and develop. A lot of people think writing is solely a talent, but that’s only part of it. I’ve told people they should try modding, but creating a mod involves a whole lot of other skills which many people just find too daunting to contemplate learning. Joining a mod team is easier said than done, so your best bet is to grab a program like Twine . It’s purely writing-based, it will allow you to wrap your head around the idea of branching and you’ll produce something that you can not only show later but which will also demonstrate you’ve taken the time to learn the simple scripting a program like Twine requires. 'I possess enough technical capability to learn how to use a conversation editor' is fantastic and will make you stand out."

Much like marketing your feature scripts on spec, Gaider recommends that you make submissions to companies. He suggests that you research a company and their games thoroughly — and make sure that your writing sample can be inserted into one of their published games. But don't make that submission too long. He states that if someone has to take thirty minutes out of their lives to read it, they're likely not going to.

With that said, he offers some recommendations. "My personal advice is to make sure you put your best work up front. If you’re writing a single dialogue, have something really clever in the first few lines. If you’re writing several, make sure the first showcases your skills the best. If you’re providing an outline for a quest, make sure the premise is what grabs me or that the first part of the quest is the most interesting. It’d be nice if we lived in a world where I gave your submission all the way until the end to be impressed, but we don’t. I’m impatient and tired, and my attention wanders pretty quickly. I doubt I’m the only one."

You need to remember again that game writers are secondary to the design and gameplay. This isn't about you, your stories, your characters, and your ideas.

"[When you make a submission] don't make it about your ideas — make it about your skill."

Video game writing is a unique position and skill. And the point of this post was first to debunk the fantasy that screenwriters often have when it comes to writing for video games — that they can conceptualize their own stories, characters, and concepts and sell them to the video game industry, much like they would try to sell spec scripts to movie studios.

And even beyond the spec myth, it's clear that being a game writer is an entirely different ball game with the full focus on game design and gameplay, rather than story and character narratives.

Yes, video games now have more depth in that respect, but, in the end, they aren't movies or television episodes. They're video games augmented by story and character.

So if you're interested in writing cinematic stories, stick to features. If you have a passion for character arcs and explorations, write for television.

But if you love video games and want to be part of that creative process, understand that it's a much different journey than that of a screenwriter. Do your research, find some excellent industry books on the subject (plenty are available HERE on Amazon), explore your networking maps to see if you know of anyone within the video game industry that you can connect with, and consider entering the industry through the different technical doorways of game design.

Being a game designer is one thing — being a game designer with a talent for writing? That could be your in.

Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison for Sony Studios and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.

He has many studio meetings under his belt as a produced screenwriter, meeting with the likes of Sony, Dreamworks, Universal, Disney, Warner Brothers, as well as many production and management companies. He has had a previous development deal with Lionsgate, as well as multiple writing assignments, including the produced miniseries  Blackout , starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haylie Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric La Salle, and Bruce Boxleitner. Follow Ken on Twitter  @KenMovies

For all the latest ScreenCraft news and updates, follow us on  Twitter,   Facebook , and  Instagram .

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how to write stories for video games

Writing for Video Games – Part 1: Balancing Story with Gameplay

A screen capture from F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch. Rayton speaks with Duke in his office with the script of "Du, you better not be playing tricks with me."

  • SIE Communications

Interesting worlds and characters serve as the foundation for nearly all of PlayStation’s exclusive experiences, new and old. From the classic adventures in Naughty Dog’s Jak and Daxter series, Insomniac Games’ Ratchet & Clank series, and Sucker Punch’s inFAMOUS all the way to recent hits like Ghost of Tsushima , The Last of Us Part 2 , and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales , PlayStation has always embraced incredible storytelling. However, writing for video games goes so much deeper than the trials and tribulations of our heroes and villains.

While some understand the process needed when conceptualizing a game or driving a story forward, there are avenues where writing is employed that players don’t expect. Many have heard the words “narrative design” and thought it was merely a fancier way to describe games writing when, in actuality, they’re two different skill sets that work in conjunction. In our two-part series, we speak to some of the minds behind Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales , F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch , and Maquette about what it means to write for video games, their respective career paths, and how aspiring writers can get into the industry.

First things first: What’s the difference between games writing and narrative design?

Games Writing vs Narrative Design

“The short answer is ‘it depends,’ says Mary Kenney, Advanced Writer with Insomniac Games. “The slightly longer and more helpful answer is it depends on the studio and project. Typically, a game writer focuses on story and characters, themes. We also plot out and create methods of delivering the story in the game, like cutscenes, gameplay VO, or text. Then we, you know, write all of that. Narrative designers layout levels, hook up voice-over, and match gameplay mechanics with story beats and pacing. The truth is, there’s a lot of overlap, and duties vary from project to project. In my time as a game writer, I’ve been called a writer, narrative designer, narrative writer, story designer . . . the list goes on. It just depends what your focus is on any given project.”

“Specifically for Maquette , the narrative design was the overall experience – the moods, the music, the visuals, the puzzles, etc, and the writing was just a subset of that,” says Hanford Lemoore, writer with Graceful Decay. “ Maquette is kind of unique because the main premise of the game is never addressed in the writing.  The writing never talks about the recursive world, the puzzles, why there’s a giant dome over everything. But the writing is very important because it’s the themes of the story that give the players all they need to connect those dots on their own.”

In the opinion of Isaac Zhang, Producer of F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch , “you will face obstacles in game writing, especially for the construction of the game world, because players are always expecting a unique fantasy and surreal world. However,  there are some games based on real-life as well. The narrative design is what the players will experience within a plot that has been separated into 50 paragraphs in 20 hours walkthrough time.”

Story vs Gameplay

When considering a video game writing career, it is key to expand your understanding of what “story” means. “Every element in your game is telling the story,” Kenney says. “Story doesn’t just mean writing or dialogue.”

“The furniture in a character’s bedroom; the score playing over an establishing shot; the weather during an action set-piece; the verbs available to the player, like run/climb/jump/swim,” she expounds. “As a writer, words are just one of many tools in your toolbox. Working closely with the people creating the other tools is critical to making a fantastic gameplay experience.”

how to write stories for video games

Lemoore and Zhang, on the other hand, offered up best-practices when it comes to how your story is told. “Early on, you need to look at your game and decide how story and gameplay will co-exist,” Lemoore says. “Be honest with yourself about how storytelling will make your game better – some games don’t need a lot of story to be fun, and we’ve all played games where too much of the wrong type of storytelling has detracted from the experience, like long, unskippable cutscenes, or giant walls of text.”

“For a game like ‘F.I.S.T.’, the story needs to adapt to the gameplay and the game rhythm,” says Zhang. “You will find players have put down the controller to eat chips if you give them 10 minutes of narrative at once. That’s why we have to cut the story into several parts to fill in the walkthrough. Level design will also inspire the story when the designers come to you with new ideas that must be incorporated into the narrative.”

How Do You Get Into Video Game Writing As A Career?

There’s no one definitive path into video game writing but one prevailing theme is to be flexible and multifaceted. Zhang even joked that he only ended up focusing on writing because that was all that was left when working with great programmers, artists, and designers on the team.

“There is no obvious boundary of roles when working with an indie game team,” Zhang says. “You need to do different kinds of work. Writing for ‘F.I.S.T.’ was just a coincidence but, fortunately, our team liked the story and I enjoyed writing it as well.”

Mary Kenney started in a very different writing field, working as a journalist and magazine editor before studying gaming design in her mid-20s at graduate school. “A year later, I was recruited by Telltale Games at first as an intern, and eventually a lead episode writer,” she explains. She has been writing video games for the last five years and hasn’t looked back since.

“I grew up playing video games and always loved writing and reading,” she adds. “For me, video games create the same experience as reading a really good book — total immersion in a self-guided experience. After I became a writer, it took me a little while to understand that fiction and interactivity were what really interested me, but I’m so glad I made the jump.”

Continuing the Conversation

Words are the glue that makes all of the gameplay systems, settings, and items players collect come together in a cohesive and believable way. All of these things working together are key to immersion and we hope you’ve enjoyed learning about the job from some of the best development teams in the world, but this is only the beginning.

In the next part of this series, Kenney, Zhang, and Lemoore share their insight on writing for different types of games, processes, and collaboration.

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How To Write A Compelling Game Story In Three Steps

Marston from Red Dead Redemption

More people are realizing just how powerful video games are as a storytelling tool. Movies are fine and books are great too, but there’s just something about jumping into an interactive world where you can choose who to talk to and explore wherever your heart desires— within the limits of the game, of course.

Whether you’re playing a two-decade old role-playing title like Chrono Trigger or an atmospheric 3D first-person shooter like Bioshock , a story can sometimes be the reason you fall in love with a game. The following are some of the main ingredients you want to think hard on when developing your own video game , especially if you’d like players to be impacted by its narrative.

The Characters

“It begins with a character, usually, and once he stands up on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does. ” ― William Faulkner

First, and arguably most important, is the characters; especially the one who your player will be taking the role of throughout the adventure. Characters that players can relate to are the ones that act human, even if they’re actually a robot, fantastical creature, or something else familiar. Unless they have a backstory, strengths, weaknesses, and genuine intentions, your characters will feel fake and uninteresting.

Scene from Uncharted 4

When building a character, start by settling on an idea of where they come from. Were they born to the king of a powerful kingdom or a humble father barely surviving by tilling the land? From there, come up with their personality, their skills, and what they look like. Even a life-changing event that occurred prior to the game’s story can help shape who your character/s are.

“ Focus on building worlds where you’d like to spend time, no matter who you are in the game. When franchises don’t succeed is because the focus is too narrow from the outset, too singular. I think Halo from the very beginning was an IP where you could tell any story you wanted. ” — Joseph Staten

Next up is deciding what the world of your game will be. The world is obviously very important to the story since it will determine what the player will encounter. Since this step can sometimes feel overwhelming, it’s a good idea to separate your world into different pieces and them put them together.

For example, after deciding on a time and setting, think about what cities/villages exist and who live there. Are there nations or kingdoms present? And if so, are they at war? Why? Thinking about what technologies exist can also help you come up with cool story events and even gameplay mechanics. Note that it might not be until you’re world-building that you really start fleshing out your characters.

The Main Conflict

“ The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. ”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Almost every good story,  whether it be from a book, film, or game , pushes an overarching conflict. Without it, the characters would have nothing to fight for or have no need to develop. This is especially important in video games since most of them have enemies you must defeat. But if the “enemy” or problem the character is facing isn’t interesting, you’ll have a hard time captivating players with your story.

Carmine from Gears of War 3

In JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, a book/film trilogy you’re probably familiar with, the main conflict is the struggle to destroy the Ring while making sure Sauron doesn’t obtain it. The characters face Black Riders, Saruman’s army, and even themselves (Boromir failed) to make sure they overcome the conflict. If you can write a main problem for your story that has players caring about the characters and world, you’re on the right path.

[su_note]Learn the skills you need to succeed as a game designer at the Game Design School at the New York Film Academy by clicking here .[/su_note]

how to write stories for video games

how to write stories for video games

Ten Incredible Tips to Guide You in Writing a Video Game Story

Write an engaging video game story with these 10 foolproof tips.

how to write stories for video games

Writing an engaging story for a video game is not as easy as it might seem. You may have a killer idea in your mind, but seeing it through to the end is a tough job. There are several tips that individuals should know as they aspire to write video game stories.

Tip One: A video game story is like any other story

how to write stories for video games

Like any writing, video game writing requires creativity, skill, and the ability to connect with the audience. As such, a video game writer should be eloquent and should communicate the motive of the story. The story should guide the player such that they meet all the objectives of the quest. The story should thus contain the traits of quality stories to engage the players and attract more individuals to play the video game.

Tip Two: Think about complexity

how to write stories for video games

The complexity of a video game story should vary depending on the audience. A writer should bear in mind the target audience when writing a story.

A video game story for young audiences should have features that attract them. For instance, young boys enjoy action, so a story targeted to them should be adventurous. Teenage boys enjoy games that give them an adrenaline rush when playing and upon completing the quest. You should thus think about the audience when writing the story.

Tip Three: Outline the storyline

The first step when writing a video game story is writing the script . The script should outline the storyline of the video game. A good script will guide you as you develop the video game since it will help you achieve the video game’s objective. Take time while outlining the story, as it is the foundation of the video game story. Outlining the storyline means that a writer should note the major events related to each character. This means that the script should contain all the characters in the video game despite their roles and decisions during the game.

There should also be at least three different ending possibilities to prevent the game from being obvious and boring to the players. Players should have the ability to play the game and arrive at a different ending depending on the decisions they make when playing the game. However, you can choose to write a simple story with only one end, but it will be limiting to you as a writer.

Tip Four: Decide on the game type

how to write stories for video games

You will know the game type once you write the script. The flow will help you determine whether the video game is better as a  puzzle,  action-adventure,  first-person shooter, or  role-playing game.

Deciding the game type at this stage will also prevent confusion as you develop the story. Knowing the type will help you focus and assist in writing a quality story.

Tip Five: Develop the world

how to write stories for video games

It is crucial to develop a video game world before creating the main characters. Focusing on the main characters before developing the world will limit the story. Such stories will have limited possibilities since they focused on the main characters as opposed to all the characters and the video game world. However, you can choose to focus on the main characters first if you have a strong vision for them. Consider the world, culture, and lore in addition to how much the characters can explore the video game world. Emphasis on the world before character creation will increase the possibilities of the game when the players indulge in it.

Tip Six: Character creation

how to write stories for video games

You can now create the main characters, villains, and companions. Character creation is similar to creating the characters of other stories. The difference is the possibilities of video game characters that change how they behave. The beauty of video game characters is their abilities as they move about the world. Ensure that the characters maximize their capabilities to make the video game engrossing and captivating.

Tip Seven: Create a flowchart of the main story

You should now create a flowchart for the story. A flowchart will give you a vision of the story flow and show the possibilities of deviations occurring in the story and the changes that may develop during the game. A flowchart will also help you determine the best time to introduce side quests. Additionally, the flowchart will help you tune the story to fit your initial thoughts during times when world development and character creation deviated from the objectives of the game.

Tip Eight: Write the major story!

how to write stories for video games

You have polished your writing skills, determined the complexity of the video game, identified the type, developed the world, and created the characters at this point. All that is left is writing the major story. How do you write the story? Simply focus on one version of the story first, then deviate once you have the core version. You can write a summary first and then delve into the details, or jump into writing the scenes of the story. This is your story, so choose the best way to write it for you. Maybe write the cut-scenes first if they help you write the story. If the side quests inspire your main story, then you can start with those. Either way, follow the path that will guide you towards writing the best video game story.

Tip Nine: Add fun details

how to write stories for video games

Here, the fun stuff means adding side quests that make the player feel fulfilled upon completing them. It also involves writing alternative versions that result in achieving different endings.

The small details also involve adding nonplayable characters for the players to interact with. The nonplayable characters can provide players with hints, express their opinions, and reveal new information about the world. What’s more, you can incorporate items such as armor, weapons, treasure, and jewels, depending on the game type.

Tip Ten: Proofread your video game story

how to write stories for video games

[Image Courtesy of grammarly.com ]

Writing requires adequate proofreading to ensure that you met the objectives and added all the details. Proofread your video game story to make certain that it suits your needs and those of the players.

These ten tips will help you in writing your own video game story. Make sure to use them as you write your own masterpiece. Good luck!

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How To Become A Video Game Writer

Meet darby mcdevitt, video game writer.

Darby McDevitt, Video Game Scriptwriter

Darby McDevitt is a scriptwriter for the hugely successful Assassin’s Creed series of games. But he doesn’t only write for games. He’s also released several prose fiction works, has been published in national literary journals and anthologies, and has released several music albums. He’s also written, produced, directed, or designed the audio for a number of successful films.

That should give you a hint about how Darby approaches his career: passionately. The best way to get good at something like writing for video games is to do it, and do it a lot.

Darby talks with us today about how his passion for learning new things and taking on more responsibility got him into the game industry – and continues to open new doors. It’s a lesson he hopes you’ll take to heart.

How would you describe what you do every day as a Video Game Writer?

My daily workload fluctuates wildly depending on what stage my project is in.

In the early, conception phase of a new game I spend most of my time reading, researching, taking notes, and discussing my findings with the game- and mission-designers . We use this time to figure out what sort of game we’re making, how much writing it needs (narrative and incidental) and how we are going to tell our story and communicate our ideas.

In the production phase of the project, I am writing furiously while working with mission designers on a daily basis to make sure my ideas fuse perfectly with theirs. I also work directly with the cinematics department, rehearsing with the actors and brainstorming with the directors — but this is fairly unique to the heavily narrative-driven franchise I write for.

In the later stages of production, I am furiously proofreading and playtesting to make sure my work is well represented.

How did you get your job as a Game Writer?

I had a few lucky breaks which resulted in me getting a writing gig. In the early 2000s, full time game writing gigs were somewhat uncommon. But when the opportunity presented itself, I had most of the prerequisites needed to convince people I could do the job.

For one, I was already a writer, with a few published short stories to my name. Two, I had some design experience, and enough coding experience that programmers didn’t frighten me. Three, I said yes to every writing task offered to me, and sought out others when I had free time.

Good writing is something many small design teams prioritize last on their big to do lists — game design must always come first — so it’s actually quite easy to offer your services as a writer, even when your official job is something else. It never hurts to ask for more responsibility.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

In my specific case, writing for Assassin’s Creed, I love the extensive research we do before we make any new game. When we finally dive into production, I am passionate about writing dialog. I love the sound, and feel, and scent of good writing, so I take great care to make every sentence a masterpiece.

I also love working with actors to get my dialog off the page and into the atmosphere. My background in theatre makes me especially appreciative of thespians.

What aspect of the job would be surprising to people looking in from the outside?

The radically collaborative nature of making a game is often hard for people to grasp from the outside. Good ideas come from everywhere, and everyone on the team must be receptive and open to them if they want the game to succeed. I get some of my best story, character, and line ideas from designers , artists , and animators … and have contributed a number of design and art ideas as well.

It does nobody any good to be closed off in this industry. If you think only about your little slice of the pie, your narrow discipline, you will miss the bigger picture and possible harm the final quality of the game.

What kinds of talents and personality does it take to succeed as a Game Writer?

A strange brew of confidence, thick-skin, and humility is needed to succeed in this job. Be confident about your work and your opinion, but realize that it is only one small part of a larger whole. Sometimes you’ll need to sacrifice your best ideas in service of the larger goal.

You must also have the fortitude and constitution to work, and re-work, and re-re-work your writing to suit the evolving nature of the game. All games change over the course of their development cycle, and writing is often the first to suffer.

Thankfully, writing is also the easiest to change (before any actors get their hands on it, anyway) so you must be flexible and willing to work hard.

What advice would you give to somebody who’s thinking about becoming a Video Game Writer?

Number one, make your own games. Small ones, if necessary. The world is full of great tools for burgeoning game writers and designers — GameMaker, Unity 3D, etc. — so just dive in and make a little game. This will look incredibly impressive to a prospective employer.

Number two, learn a trade other than writing. Probably design or coding. If you can’t talk with game designers on their level, you’ll be in a much worse position on the project.

What would you recommend for education, books, or other learning to start down the Game Writer career path?

Rules of Play book

Ralph Koster’s book A Theory of Fun is one you’ll hear tossed around a lot, and for good reason. It’s engaging, accessible and short. Rules of Play is another academic-flavoured tome it wouldn’t hurt to read.

In terms of writing education , I’m a bit of an oddball in this regard. I think Modernist and post modernist experimental writers — like Joyce, Beckett, Paley, Barthelme, and Lydia Davis – offer the best preparation for learning to write in games. Understanding their unique approaches to literature will improve the quality of your writing while getting you in the habit of thinking outside the box.

In games, writing comes in all forms. It helps to be experimental. To be sure, classic plot-driven novels can be fun too, especially if they have crackling dialog, like a Raymond Chandler novel. But narrative-driven games make up only a fraction of the total types of games found in the wild.

Also, take some coding or digital art classes in university. They’ll help tremendously, even if you don’t major in them.

And lastly, play games with a critical eye. Not to determine how good or bad they are, but to understand how they work and why they keep players attracted.

Check out Darby’s books on Lulu . If this advice was helpful, please return the favor by sharing on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

Read my new book!

Making games for a living is an incredibly rewarding career, but it’s hard to break in unless you have insider knowledge. This book levels the playing field.

READ: Start Your Video Game Career

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56 Comments on “ How To Become A Video Game Writer ”

Thank you so much, This was incredibly helpful

This was a lot of help! This is exactly what I want to do in the industry so this was really helpful, thanks!

That’s great to hear, Kieran, I’m glad you stopped by. Best of luck with your writing career!

Thanks! Helpful tips! This is a career that sounds appealing to me, cheers.

It sounds like game writing and game designing are very similar. I was looking to become a game designer due to the fact that I was able to make the story but it seems like that’s what game writers do. Is it realistic to think that I can make the plot and story by being a game designer or should I consider switching to game writer?

Hi Lance, you’re right that game designer and game writer are different jobs. However, most game companies don’t hire full-time writers – most of them either hire writers on an as-needed contract basis, or else they have their game designers do the writing. Very few companies have enough writing work to actually keep a full-time writer on staff.

thanks a lot…i love writing but i hate coding ..i should try digital art classes

This is very helpful! I’m currently in school for liberal arts, but I already have skill in digital art. I probably will take some classes like that over the summer so that I can be prepare for that. Thank you so much!

Thanks! This is incredibly helpful. I’ve always wondered how exactly to break into this industry, specifically from a writing standpoint, and this was exactly what I needed to read. I only have one question: What is the format of the writing within the industry (is it similar to Scriptwriting, or closer to Fiction styles)?

I’m glad this was helpful! There’s no standard format, some studios may have a scriptwriting style for in-depth cinematics, but most are less regimented. I wouldn’t be concerned about the exact style, because you can easily adapt to whatever style happens to be in use.

This is generally pretty helpful advice! My only issue here is, honestly, that I already finished college. I have a B.A. in Writing; it’s a little too late for me to go back to my university and get more than the one C++ class I took under my belt, let alone any sort of game design or digital art course (the former was not something my university even offered).

So what can I do aside from writing and working on getting things published?

First of all, congratulations on getting your B.A.! That’s a great start. Now you could focus on 1) learning game design on your own by making a small video game, 2) writing some short fiction that would show game studios your writing ability, and 3) start doing career networking to meet people in the game industry such as writers and game designers. You may be able to apply for entry-level game design positions, which would be a good start as Darby mentions in the article. I wish you luck!

Hi! I’m interested into getting into some kind of writing, what kind of schooling is necessary to get a job at a big company? I write many small fiction stories on my own. What will help me be successful? Thank you so much x

All the writing that you do will help you become a better writer, and will add to your portfolio that employers will evaluate when you apply for jobs. So yes, keep writing those short fiction pieces. As far as schooling, any kind of writing or literature will be helpful. Also, learn as much as you can about the process of game design and game development. You’re heading in the right direction!

Hi, whats the salary range? Its for school.

Game tester salary figures are here: Game Tester Salary

I want to be a writer for video games. I have a love and passion for writing and playing video games. I have actually started to write a book last year but need some inspiration to keep working on it. It’s hard to come up with ideas. This has provided me with much needed information and I was having trouble finding it.

That’s great, Lee, I’m glad this was helpful. Best of luck with your book!

This is a great article, I have always wanted to be involved in the gaming industry in some capacity, but never knew where to start. Do you know if Game Design requires heavy math skills, its not really my forte.

Hi Blake! Good news – game design does not require heavy math skills. (BTW, I was pretty bad at math when I was younger, I got better with more practice – you probably will too. :))

Thank you very much, you helped me a lot! I’m thinking about whether non-native English speakers have a chance to become international video game writer. For example, I’m Hungarian but I can speak English (and little Japanese), too. I have passion and lots of ideas (I think I could provide at least 5-6 games or more right now), but I don’t really know if I could be emplyoed by any game developing companies. Would they give me a chance to work for them even if my mother tongue isn’t English? Thank you very much for our help in advance!

Hi Katalin, I think it could be difficult to get a job as a writer in a language that you may not have strong fluency. But it doesn’t hurt to try – unless a job posting says something like “requires native English speaker” then you can still apply. I wish you luck!

I have a homework assignment due for a college class on September 4th 2016. And I was thinking of using something like this for it. But I am also kind of curious of what date the interview actually occurred on for copyright purposes of course and all that other legal stuff or whatever it is called.

Hi Patrick, this interview was published on February 26, 2014. But usually when you cite a website in a paper, you put the date you accessed the page not the date published, since web pages change all the time. Best of luck with your paper!

I was wondering…what subjects did you complete at school and University before you became a game writer? Is English one of the key courses to take at Uni, or is it more your practical application of writing that you need?

Darby completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in English, and then worked in games as Level Designer / Producer. He later earned an additional degree, an M.A. of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama, before becoming a full-time game writer. You can see his full resume at https://ca.linkedin.com/in/darbymcdevitt .

Thanks so much! This was extremely helpful. I was not sure if a video game writer was an actual job, but I want to do it and this gave me a lot of advice and inspiration. I’m still worried about finding a job, though…

Getting jobs isn’t the hard part – the hard work goes into learning how to write, writing a lot, and becoming good at it. Keep in mind that writing for video games isn’t the only job that you could do as a writer. Many people who write for games also do other types of freelance writing jobs such as screenwriting, speech writing, comedy, books, and journalism.

Hi Jason. I’ve been coding for over twenty years and I’ve recently completed my MA in Creative Writing. I want a career change and I feel that a move into video game writing would be perfect for me. Are there any tips you could give me?

Hi Amanda, congrats on your MA! Starting as a game writer can be tricky until you pull together a small fiction portfolio, but you may be able to leverage your coding skills to start out on a smaller game team in a design/scripting/writing role. There are a few other tips here: How to write for video games .

To someone who has the idea for game play concepts and story should I look more into design rather than writing the two seem very parallel from the outside.

Hi Robare, there is some overlap between Writer and Designer. At smaller studios, the game designers might also do all the writing. If you’re just starting your career, I’d recommend looking into game design as a starting point, but also continue working on your writing skills.

I was wondering what are the universities you could recommend for becoming a video game writer? and the one you liked and if they helped. I’m 17 and got inspired to become a video game writer because of the game life is strange PLEASE TELL ME YOU KNOW WHAT GAME THAT IS

Hi Cody, I don’t know of any universities specifically for game writing. The game writers I know went to school for degrees like English Literature, Creative Writing, or Journalism. A few went to school for Game Design. I hope that’s helpful! (I’ve never played Life Is Strange, but it sounds amazing!)

Hi Jason, I am 17 years old. I have a few questions to ask. 1) Is writing any story involves any restriction on age? 2) Can a person do head-start in a AAA industry? 3) I start to write the games but leave them and move onto another one. Tell me how to stay focused. Apart from the questions, I have skills in 3d design, 3d sculpting and coding in C++ as well. Any tips are welcome!

Hi Harris, here are some answers for you. 1) To get a job writing for games, you’ll need to be at least legal working age in your country. Additionally, it’s uncommon for game studios to hire people under 18 years old. 2) The way to get a head start in games, is to start (and try to finish!) some game-related projects on your own. It sounds like you’re going the right direction, by working on game projects, learning 3D art, and coding. That will all come in handy. 3) That’s a common problem for many people (myself included). You can make it easier on yourself by making small games that you can finish quickly. You could also try doing mods instead of full games, since those offer similar experience but can usually be finished faster.

sir,i am a college student doing B.tech but in summer vacations i write some story for games so i want to give my story to games developer not for money at starting.so,how can i send my story to game producing compnies.

Hi Vishal, unfortunately game companies do not use stories from the public. They either write their own stories, or they license stories which have already proved successful as a book, movie, or TV series. Sorry for the bad news!

I had a few questions for you. Let me set a quick picture for you first. I’m in the military and I’m closing in on 30 years old. I did a lot of online role playing when I was initially in college some years back and fell in love with creative writing then. I’ve since gotten away from that now but I’m still very passionate about wanting to be a writer but for video games specifically. I plan to go back to school after my contract is up and get a creative writing degree. With that in mind, what are some things that would be a good investment of time to get started on now working towards my future goals? And what are some of the best ways to build yourself up as the most marketable individual that you can be in order to crack into the industry (not limited to just writing for games)?

When you apply for game jobs, the most important thing is to show you can actually do the work. So if you want a job as a writer, you need to have a body of creative writing work you can show. It doesn’t need to be “professional” (paid) work — it could, for example, be short stories that you publish on your own website or a site like Medium. There are many aspiring game writers who “have a lot of ideas” but haven’t actually completed anything, so you can put yourself ahead of the competition simply by starting and finishing some writing projects.

Hi. I’m 24 and I’m a film director. The thing is, what I’ve been doing through my life, was gaming and write stories. Now I realised it’s time to mix those two together for my ultimate career desire. Writing and gaming. I have no knowledge about coding or design. Is there a chance for a guy like me to write sagas and stories? If yes how can I get started?

To get a job as a game writer, you’ll need to show potential employers proof that you’re a talented creative writer, so that’s where you should start. You can do that by self-publishing stories on the web, or by working as a writer on indie/hobbyist game projects. It’s also helpful to have some experience or knowledge about game design, because writers work closely with game designers, and it’s necessary that the design influences the story and vice versa.

Hi! I sent a “GDD” of continuation to series x to company y with the rights for the franchise, also to a couple of plausible studios for the actual possible making, of course. The GDD, 174 pages (and this is the guestion), includes also key cinematics, character design, gameplay concepts and implementation, environment description etc. to give the “bigger picture”, AND it has a lot of detail, but leaving (of course) room for imagination and things to add. I wrote it almost like a book, or maybe like a play, but with different setions for gameplay etc. included also. My biggest worry is now, is it too LONG, or “wrong kind of” document (word; proofread 6-3 times depending on part)? I’m confident in the “product” itself, since I imagined through everything I wrote, cried and laughed and swore doing it, and the series itself was decently profitable in its time (but made with low budget at the time, games selling about 2 million copies each, with budgets about just about 1 million per game! Talking about xbox360, wii etc. combined!) So… how, if ever, can I even make the devs read through it? If I told them I can pay for them to read it, will it just sound stupid? I’m very confident about it alright, I spent 750 hours with it so far, and the plot is great and leaves room for sequels, and leaves you wanting for more (I didn’t ‘spoil’ everything in it). The gameplay could be very, Very good also (I’d play it!), BUT the budget for the game probably would be in the class ~50 million in the optimal case (a lot, I know – but, the franchise is very popular at the moment too) So… too much? How to get them to read it? Wrong format (book/play combined)? I’m sorry for this long post… the same problem as with the GDD itself I bet 😀 btw I study molecular biosciences, I’m not a game dev, and I’m only 23 years old. But, that being said, I poured my heart and soul into this GDD, sometimes 19 hours a day… I hope it works!

Hi Antton, I’m going to start with the bad news: game studios don’t generally use stories/designs from non-employees, so unfortunately I don’t think there’s much of a chance they will take you up on this offer. But there’s some good news: Very few people actually do the work to write and detail at the level you’ve done, so I think that will look very good on a resume if you apply for jobs as a game designer. You may or may not be able to get a job at “company y,” but if you apply for game designer jobs, your document could be a great resume piece!

What to study in college to became a video game story writer?

Creative writing, literature, film/cinema, and game design, would all be good places to start.

Very handy. Writing would be my preferred avenue, if I could gauge the kind of speed they’d expect you to work at. I’ve made a note of the books. Hope the drafts don’t pile too high.

Thanks for sharing these experiences and knowledges!

I’ve just started to write a book, after writing tales and other kinds of texts on my blog.

Now, I wanna do it professionally… and to become a video game writer looks like a nice idea 🙂

Hi Pablo, writing books is fun, challenging, and super rewarding. I wish you the best with your book!

Hello Jason! Would fiction works ranging from a couple of pages to 80+ chapters be elligible as proof of writing skills if referred to in a CV? I have a BA in English language and literature, I teach, translate etc. but would like to write in gaming industry. You’re saying it would be awesome to get some practical knowledge in game design and coding before applying anywhere, right?

Hi Anita, yes, if you already have several good writing samples, definitely put those into your online portfolio and link to it from your resume and job applications. Beyond that, you could start applying for jobs now.

Hello Jason

I don’t have a thing for coding or game design, but I want to create stories for games, could I make stories for another thing like a cartoon and then make them for video games if the opportunity comes up?

Hi Tahj, writing and storytelling are skills that take a lot of time and effort to develop, so anything you can do to start out would be good. Writing your own comic books, short stories, etc. will help you develop your skills, and will be the start of your writing portfolio! Both of those things will help you to eventually get a job writing for games.

I’m in community college right now and I was wondering, do you even need to go to college at all to get a job in game writing? I get that having a major in English can help but what if I don’t have that? I’m 18 and want to write/design games but I’m not sure where to start or even how I would write and make that into my own game. I basically just started learning about different writing jobs in general and just don’t know where to begin. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi Jesse, you can find out what kinds of education is (or isn’t) being required, by looking online for job postings at game companies. They’ll usually have a “Requirements” or “Education Requirements” section. Not all companies require a degree, but getting a degree can be a good way to 1) learn how to write better, 2) start building a portfolio of finished work, and 3) meet other writers who can help you find jobs after you graduate.

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How to Write a Good Story Narrative for a Video Game

how to write stories for video games

Creating a video game is not easy, particularly in the current time where the expectations of the players have risen. Now a day, narrative or a good story has become extremely important to give the player an immersive experience while playing a game online. Narratives can be of different times. Before knowing how to write a good story or narrative for a video game, it is important to understand the different types of narratives which can be created. The section below deals with the different types of narratives.

What Are The Different Types Of Narratives?

The non-player character narrative involves a character that often gives hints to the player by starting a conversation which can start with a plain Good Morning and then go ahead with their narrative, these stories are not playable but exist. The linear narrative in a video game consists of forwarding motion which tells the events of the video game. However, these stories do not allow the player to track or skip anything and also, do not play any role in the storyline of the video game. The string of pearls narrative is the narrative that is influenced by the player but generally is driven through a linear progression. The branching narrative is a narrative in which the choices of the player play a vital role. Depending upon the choices, the ending of the story is decided. For instance, instead of a good evening, if a player chooses Good Night , the story of the video game will have a different ending. The amusement park narrative gives the player the power to decide the storyline and may also consist of side quests. The different other types of narratives that are popular are cutscenes, hybrid games, and side quests. Now that the different types of narratives are known, it is time to figure out how to write a good narrative for a video game.

How To Write A Good Story/Narrative For A Video Game?

For creating the perfect story or narrative for a video game, you can follow the steps given below:

1. Create a storyline

Write the rough storyline of the video game, after deciding the type of narrative that you want to go for. The storyline should consist of all the major plot twists that you want the character to experience. On the basis of the narrative, the depth of the story can be decided.

2. What type of game are you working on?

To decide the perfect storyline, you will also have to decide the type of game for which you want to write the narrative. The type of video game will help you to create the perfect framework for the story. The narratives will be different for different types of games. For instance, action-adventure, role-playing, first-person combat and puzzles will require different types of stories.

3. Create the setup of the game world

Different video games will have different setups. For deciding the set-up of the video game, consider the time period of the game, the culture that you want to showcase and the settings, which again will include the time and location. It is a good idea to brainstorm the setup of the world and do research on the same to make everything as factually correct as possible.

how to write stories for video games

4. Work on the main character

While writing the story of the video game, it is important to define the characters of the story. A story, of course, will consist of the protagonist, which is often the main character. Other characters which you can include in the narrative of the video game are antagonist and companion characters.

After working on these steps, create a flowchart to picture how the story will process. This will help you to understand the bigger picture of the story. Also, while creating the workflow, you will be able to identify the loopholes and fill them while writing the story. In this situation, if you need to add any more details, you can go ahead and add them. In addition to that, now is a good time to add small details to the story which you need to add. For instance, if you want to include the side quests, add the details of the same. Do not forget to keep an eye on the details to create the perfect narrative for the video game.

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Skull and Bones Review

This seafaring rpg has a great foundation, despite feeling like a live-service first draft..

Skull and Bones Review - IGN Image

Like spotting the first sign of shore after years adrift, Skull and Bones has finally, actually found its way to launch. Six separate delays and several different concepts that were forced to walk the plank might make you understandably apprehensive about Ubisoft’s long-brewing pirate game, but after spending over 60 hours hoisting sails and swabbing decks, I’ve had a yo-ho-whole lot of co-op fun with friends and strangers alike. The 17th-century Indian Ocean works well as avast open world to be explored and plundered, the RPG mechanics are (briny) deep with opportunities for buildcrafting alongside your fellow scurvy dogs, and the naval combat you’ll spend bucca-nearly all your time on the high seas engaging with is tactical and consistently entertaining. Predictably, there are still some major concerns common with always-online games nowadays, including performance issues and bugs aplenty, as well as a very small list of endgame activities that become monotonous and grindy in short oar-der . Skull and Bones might not be the AAAA Man-of-War Ubisoft was hoping for just yet, but with a strong start to a live-service that’s got a year of upcoming content mapped out, it’s already quite seaworthy.

Skull and Bones - The Complete Timeline

Skull and Bones was revealed to the public at Ubisoft's E3 conference, on June 12, 2017. It was planned to launch in fall 2018.

Skull and Bones is fairly unique in the grand scheme of open-world RPGs in that it gives you direct control of a ship and lets you sail the ocean as you pillage ports and send enemy vessels to Davy Jones’ locker in search of loot and infamy. Alone or alongside the ships of up to two friends as a fleet, you’ll gather resources and complete action-packed heists to feed your greed and climb Jacob’s progression ladder as you power up your vessel, which is usually a blast. Though it might be tempting to compare this online ocean to Sea of Thieves , Skull and Bones actually has more in common with the Forza Horizon series. They’re both over-the-top, arcadey open-world RPGs where you play as a vehicle, except instead of racing cars with friends, you’re committing piracy in boats – a SeaRPG to Forza Horizon’s CarPG, if the court will allow it. And that laser focus on wonderfully intricate maritime gameplay and commodities/economy simulation is extremely enjoyable most of the time, even if you never get to swing a sword or fire a flintlock like in Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag .

While it’s a bit odd at first that you only ever explore the world by controlling your ship (aside from brief intermissions at the social hub), it took just a few hours for me to not feel like I was missing out on much. That’s primarily thanks to how good the ship-to-ship combat quickly becomes. After a fairly underwhelming opening meant to help you get your sea legs with the glorified hunk of driftwood you’ll call your starting ship, things really open up. Once you start to upgrade and customize your vessel to fit your playstyle, then tackle some of the more challenging areas and activities that require you to seriously up your game, Ubisoft’s strict focus on navals fights works a lot better than I thought it would.

What should we do with the drunken sailor?

Disappointingly, Skull and Bones only has the faintest whiff of a story, which focuses on two of the very few major NPCs: a vulgar English pirate named Captain John Spurlock, and a violent political dissident named Admiral Rahma, neither of whom are particularly interesting. You have a couple conversations with each of these rogues and run a few missions for them that conclude in a boss fight against a particularly mean boat, then they tell you to buzz off and do your own thing just as fast. That’s not to say there aren’t a few likable rogues and skallywags to meet along the way – like Yanita, who introduces you to the world of black market trading with all the enthusiasm and pomp of a circus ringmaster – but NPCs are little more than vendors and quest dispensers with no substantial story connecting them.

It’s especially weird that meatier pieces of the story seem to have been lopped off since I saw them in the closed beta last year, like an early part where you meet a dying pirate named Abel Rassler, who you now just find dead instead. My guess is these changes were made to keep you out on the ocean waves as long as possible rather than lingering in the social spaces, and I certainly found myself spending a lot more time doing just that – which isn’t such a bad thing. Still, I expect my pirate games to have a bit of drama, infighting, and betrayal, and Skull and Bones doesn’t even attempt to tell a story of any substance or consequence, so feel free to make use of that skip button during the few conversations there are.

Instead, your attention is directed toward the compelling treadmill of blasting through increasingly lethal enemy ships and then using your loot to craft better instruments of piracy. Ship-to-ship PvE combat is the star of the show, and it requires strategy, cooperation with other player-controlled vessels, and good aim to pull off at higher levels. For example, when taking on powerful fleets found in later areas, you might want to reconfigure your ship to a tank build optimized for withstanding hits and dealing close-range damage, while your friends focus on DPS or even support options capable of healing allies by peppering them with nonsensically medicinal cannonballs. (How would that even work?) It’s also awesome how great naval combat and sailing the open ocean look, as a lot of effort clearly went into giving elements like waves and cannonfire an extra layer of visual polish – although, on the flip side, NPCs often look animatronic, with dead eyes and robotic mouths.

Crafting new ships and trying out different builds is extremely compelling. Just when I thought I’d built my ideal vessel, I’d see a special cannon or a unique piece of ship armor I just couldn’t live without, then gleefully jump through surprisingly rewarding hoops by attacking certain factions and seeking out rare resources to buy a schematic and craft it. Taking those new toys out to lay the beatdown on any blaggards foolish enough to oppose me is especially thrilling. For example, I spent many hours and tons of resources to craft my first mortar, which unlocked the ability to rain fire from the sky on my enemies like I was calling in an airstrike. Sure, doing so forced me to spend every last scrap of my ill-gotten riches, but can you really put a price on turning your foes into pulled pork? As you dive into the endgame, the builds that open up get downright wild, and you can unlock a ship-mounted flamethrower that spews ghostly blue flames, or rocket launchers that fire dozens of burning projectiles to devastating effect.

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how to write stories for video games

Once you’ve established yourself on the high seas a bit, you’ll also begin to understand both trade routes and the supply and demand they influence in different parts of the world, which adds an interesting economy management minigame to the mix. You’ll even gain access to the black market via The Helm, a clever endgame mechanic that allows you to build and manage underworld businesses by creating and delivering embargoed goods, like opium. This opens up a whole new way to line your pockets, as you can ferry legitimate and illegitimate goods to and fro, buying low in one place and selling high in another, like a pirate with a bachelor’s degree in business. Later on you can even conquer coastal settlements to convert them into manufactories that generate passive income and help you obtain the most powerful equipment. Before you know it, you suddenly find yourself playing Pirate SimCity – or as I like to call it: SimSea-ty – as you manage lumber yards and farming settlements, and it’s a truly awesome playground for the endgame grind.

That’s because, in order to add settlements to your collection, you’ll need to participate in Skull and Bones’ PvP activities, which don’t appear until later on, adding a neat new wrinkle to things right as they start feeling stale with the overwhelmingly PvE foundation. Hostile Takeover is a delightfully sweaty slugfest where participants sail to a settlement and fight for control over it by seeing who can down the most enemy ships (including other players), while Legendary Heists send everyone to attack the same convoy carrying treasure, then let them turn on one another to claim it as their own. There are also cool moments where you’ll sometimes be offered an opportunity to double your dividends when picking up the resources generated by one of your bases, but only if you agree to become hunted by all the other players on the server, who then come zooming across the waves to rip you off. These isolated PvP events are a nice compromise from having griefers constantly attack everyone all the time, since you’ve gotta opt in to each of them, but the reward is usually worth the trouble.

When they work properly, that is, and unfortunately they often don’t. There’s a really common bug where, instead of the Hostile Takeover activity directing you to one area, it points you to six or seven, annoyingly leaving you scrambling to figure out which is the right one (each with their own lengthy travel time). If you pick wrong, showing up late to the right area is basically just wasted time since someone else will have likely gained a commanding lead in your absence. Other times, during Legendary Heists, I’ve had the person who grabs the loot simply never become targetable by other players, completely eliminating the interesting PvP aspect. During one of my “double or nothing” supply runs, Skull and Bones crashed entirely, and my prized coins were nowhere to be found when I logged back on. Issues like these are pretty rampant once you reach the endgame, and they’ll continue to throw a massive wet sail over the whole thing until they get addressed.

Even when these events are working, the endgame is needlessly grindy in its current state, Skull and Bones doesn’t have nearly enough variety in its activities to keep things interesting for very long. Since it costs thousands of gold coins (called Pieces of Eight) to unlock single items, you’re expected to play a whole heck of a lot, long after the campaign has sunk to the bottom of the ocean, and there’s not currently any quests or enemies in the world that require those powerful items to power through them (aside from other players willing to do so for an advantage in PvP). Hopefully the upcoming seasonal content will provide actual reasons to want them, but Ubisoft would also need to add a lot more activities to keep that grind interesting, because right now all you can do is repeat the same handful of tasks, then shuttle your loot from each settlement back to the base ad nauseam.

TieGuyTravis' Favorite Pirate Games

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Although it’s not particularly unique in the live-service space, Skull and Bones is an extremely unstable experience in this early state. I had crashes every couple of hours, pixelated textures that loaded right in front of me, and most irritating of all: constant erroneous notifications popping up every couple of seconds, sometimes repeatedly for hours at a time, clogging up the screen with obnoxious and inaccurate warnings that drove me absolutely up the wall. I still enjoyed most of my time lobbing explosives at unsuspecting merchant vessels, but shiver me timbers, that exasperating layer of jank really made it harder to love.

Skull and Bones isn’t the successor to Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag that many seem to want, and it isn’t many of things Ubisoft itself said it would be at various points in its storied history, but the seafaring RPG we ultimately got is still surprisingly good. Sailing around the Indian Ocean firing cannons, mortars, and giant ballista at your foes is a fun time, the RPG mechanics and cooperative buildcrafting is as deep as the ocean with plenty of awesome gadgets to grind for, and the economy simulator is impressively in-depth. It doesn’t quite fulfill the promise of a decade-long cruise to port yet either, with a thin endgame, almost no story to speak of, and general instability that sometimes makes the adventure feel like a rough draft. But here’s hoping some of those shortcomings can be washed away by the waves of content already planned to come in an ambitious live-service roadmap that’s fast approaching. For now, its maiden voyage is a good start.

In This Article

Skull and Bones

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    how to write stories for video games

  2. How to Write a Good Video Game Story (With images)

    how to write stories for video games

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  5. Kid-friendly story writing for grades 1

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  6. Story Writing

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  5. TOP 5 Story Based Game 🎮For Android|முரட்டு Games|TG Entertainments|#TG

  6. Storytelling: How To Write Stories That Sells

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    November 22, 2017 Whether you've been playing video games since you were a kid or have recently noticed them as an exciting new medium to tell your story in, you may be wondering how to write a good video game story. After all, video games seem deeply complex and overwhelming—not to mention all the development work behind them.

  5. How to Become a Video Game Writer

    1. Writing: Video game writers need to be skilled at narrative storytelling and creative writing. 2. Game playing: Video game writers understand the style of writing required for different types of games, along with interactive storytelling and writing with gamers in mind. 3.

  6. Video Game Script Writing

    They're written by writers of course! Like any creative industry, writers are an essential part of video game design. However, video game script writing is distinct from that of films or stage productions for a number of key reasons…

  7. So You Want to Write for Video Games?

    by Ken Miyamoto - updated on August 4, 2021 Many screenwriters dream of writing the scripts for video games and reaping the profits of an industry that is far more profitable than the film and television industries that screenwriters are striving to break into today — but there's more than meets the eye when it comes to being a game writer.

  8. How to Develop A Game Plot and Write Video Game Stories

    Techniques for Writing Memorable Video Game Stories The great plot challenge. Plot is the kind of thing that can ruin your game. Or take it to the next level. For a game like Angry birds, the plot is….eh, not really there. Birds fighting pigs, kamikaze-style? Ok… but we don't really know why. And there isn't much of a story.

  9. How to Write for Video Games

    Sure it's realistic. What I'd ask any aspiring writer wanting to make their story into a game is: "What's stopping you?" There's a bunch of websites that have tools for creating interactive, non-linear fiction. Sites like Twine or Inform have powerful tools and an enthusiastic community who are happy to help.

  10. Writing for Video Games

    Typically, a game writer focuses on story and characters, themes. We also plot out and create methods of delivering the story in the game, like cutscenes, gameplay VO, or text. Then we, you know, write all of that. Narrative designers layout levels, hook up voice-over, and match gameplay mechanics with story beats and pacing.

  11. How To Write A Compelling Game Story In Three Steps

    April 1, 2016 More people are realizing just how powerful video games are as a storytelling tool. Movies are fine and books are great too, but there's just something about jumping into an interactive world where you can choose who to talk to and explore wherever your heart desires— within the limits of the game, of course.

  12. Ten Incredible Tips to Guide You in Writing a Video Game Story

    Tip One: A video game story is like any other story. Like any writing, video game writing requires creativity, skill, and the ability to connect with the audience. As such, a video game writer should be eloquent and should communicate the motive of the story. The story should guide the player such that they meet all the objectives of the quest.

  13. Video Game Narrative: The Different Types and How-to Start Writing

    Step Two: Decide the Type of Game. In order to effectively create a cohesive video game experience with your story, you must consider game mechanics and the different types of games out there (this is where video game experience comes in handy!). The type of game acts like a framework for your story.

  14. How to Write a Cinematic Story for Your Game

    So you're trying to come up with a story for your game, but you don't know where to start? Watch these tips on creating characters + conflict, tying it to yo...

  15. How to Become a Video Game Writer

    Well-crafted stories and writing simply stick with the player long after they have turned their console off. But how do you go about writing the story to a video game? What is the process of crafting a gripping storyline? I am going to lay out the basics to give you a glimpse into the world of video game writing and how to become one yourself.

  16. The Three Pillars of Game Writing

    Let's examine the elements that make up "game writing." Plot, characters, and lore all have to be balanced depending on the type of game you're making--knowi...

  17. How To Become A Video Game Writer

    The best way to get good at something like writing for video games is to do it, and do it a lot. Darby talks with us today about how his passion for learning new things and taking on more responsibility got him into the game industry - and continues to open new doors. It's a lesson he hopes you'll take to heart.

  18. How to Write a Good Story Narrative for a Video Game

    1. Create a storyline Write the rough storyline of the video game, after deciding the type of narrative that you want to go for. The storyline should consist of all the major plot twists that you want the character to experience. On the basis of the narrative, the depth of the story can be decided. 2. What type of game are you working on?

  19. Game Writers' Corner || Writing for Video Games: Why it's different

    Thinking about starting a career writing for video games? Or are you currently working on your own game narrative?In this video, I go over a few things that ...

  20. How to Write Game Stories with Multiple Endings

    Writing game stories with multiple endings and player-driven narratives can be difficult to manage and visualize. You need a way to organize your ideas, track your variables, and test your logic.

  21. How To Become a Video Game Writer

    In this article, learn what a video game writer is, see what a video game writer does, review the average salary for a video game writer, understand how to become a video game writer and read answers to frequently asked questions about video game writers. Related: Top 14 Video Game Jobs Related jobs on Indeed Video Game Designer jobs Part-time jobs

  22. A Practical Guide to Game Writing

    Not all games require a narrative arc, of course, but it's a rather common feature of quite a few mainstream console titles, and these days if an actual writer is going to pen the script of one of these games -- as opposed to the lead designer or the producer -- some Very Important People probably have a Very High Opinion of the property.

  23. How To Become A Video Game Writer in 9 Simple Steps

    3. Practise writing video game stories. Once you've taken notes, start developing your own video game plot lines and stories. Consider practising your skills by writing different stories and creating a checklist to help you stay up to date with your set timelines.

  24. How Can You Become a Video Game Journalist?

    Games Radar, Game Informer, and Nintendo Life are one of the many online websites that accept pitches, including video game news stories, reviews, opinion pieces, and more.

  25. NFL Fans Ripped Tony Romo for Ruining the Moment After Chiefs' Super

    Jim Nantz and Tony Romo were on the call for CBS, and fans were rightfully not impressed with how the former Cowboys QB handled things right after the touchdown was scored. Instead of being quiet ...

  26. PDF Video Game Narrative: The Different Types and How to Start Writing

    How to Write a Good Video Game Story by E.M Welsh https://www.emwelsh.com/blog/write-good-video-game-story Practical Guide to Game Writing by Darby McDevitt at Gamasutra https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134542/a_practical_guide_to_game_writin g.php?print=1

  27. Skull and Bones Review

    Still, I expect my pirate games to have a bit of drama, infighting, and betrayal, and Skull and Bones doesn't even attempt to tell a story of any substance or consequence, so feel free to make ...