Gamewriting

[PyTom]

I'm currently in the midst of writing my first full game. I've been noticing that writing for the game form is different than writing a classic, linear work, due to all the branching that is possible.

I've been using a flowcharty graph to keep track of all of the different paths through the story, but I don't know if that's the best way to do things.

I'm wondering if any of the game authors out there would like to offer some advice on how they go through planning and writing a story.

[Guest]

As for myself, I found that for the purpose of Black Pencil I was best off with (here it comes...) - the good old fashioned hand-drawn paper diagram (reworked a few times, but nevertheless). It's easy and handy if you need it, don't have to alt-tab yourself to see a table in Powerpoint or similar.

It depends on the length and complexity, naturally. Normally, the possibilities multiply - for 3 choice points with 2 possibilities you will have 8 paths (2^3). I drew each path to see it and then though which parts of it could be made common.

The greatest challenge is to make the parts that are common for more than one branch as neutral as possible, so that the player does not notice it (especially when something important happens and the next day the character talks as if nothing happened - which is fine, if you would take a path, when that serious situation never happens.)

To be honest, I would have wanted every path a genuine one. That way, I could avoid plot inconsistencies like the above mentioned (and it happens even to professional game-makers, a few bishoujo games have such situations), but that is a LOAD of work.

A nice tactic when developing a plot is to have a basic line (good ending), and try to think of a few "what ifs", and put them in as the alternatives.

[Guest]

can't find my PW, that guest above is me, mikey

[Blue Lemma]

The general plan:

* Determine basic plot and character descriptions
* Write an outline of major events
* Fill in the outline with minor events
* Write the script

I suggest writing the script from the beginning to the end without skipping around. I also suggest reviewing what you have written multiple times as you go along. These things will reduce the risk of plot and character personality inconsistencies. As for the format of the script, I use a programming-like approach, using gotos and if-then blocks. Works for me!

[Grey]

For Kasuka I just thought of the situation first and the characters, and a few events that had to slot in somewhere, and wrote the story into the game as I went along programming it. No paper diagrams or anything :rolleyes:

Generally I worked along linearly but if I couldn't think of an event for a certain time I skipped it and returned to it later.

[chronoluminaire]

Obviously, get an overview worked out first, including all significant events that are common to multiple paths (the overall plot). Then work out the most significant events for your major branches (each girl, for example) and decide where those fit into the overview from before. Depending on the size of your story, you may want to go through all this deciding things in more detail (on a scene-by-scene basis, for example) still without writing much actual game text. Only then do you go through writing the actual script and dialogue etc.

I write the non-linear sections in pseudocode: if-then blocks and things, or switch-case for major branches And Mikey makes a good point that the "common" sections should be compatible with all the branched bits before them... either that, or add tiny variations to the common sections to adjust for what's gone before.

There are lots of different styles, though, so find one that suits you

There have been a few different answers given here so far... do they answer your questions? Or do you want clarification in a different area?

[PyTom]

I will say that this has been helpful, at least in assuring me that I haven't missed an important or very helpful step. What I'm doing is:

* Come up with the basic outline of the story.
* Assign each character motives and personality traits.
* Break the story down into individual scenes.
* Flowchart out a few of the more complicated scenes, such as the finale. (I use pen and paper to do this.)
* Write the script, in roughly the order that the game occurs.

To some extent, I'm mixing the last step with the process of extracting graphics for the game. Since I can't draw, I need to ensure that the emotions the characters exhibit are ones I can find pictures of. (I've wound up coming up with an emotional vocabulary for each character.)

What I tend to do is to write a chunk of dialog, then go back and add in images. I like being able to see the game unfolding.

[tryo_kane]

use a mindmap.....probably the flow chart would do well.....