Blog - My New Job Writing for Games

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Now that I'm tasked with the job of writing the story for an actual title, writing for games seems all the more an interesting thing.

Unlike with most other kinds of writing I've done (screenwriting and playwriting), in games the story comes second to the gameplay, and this causes a really interesting set of constraints on the writer. I can't just write whatever I feel like, whatever my artistic soul most wants to explore.... I'm bound to writing something that would benefit the game, and fall within its own constraints.
Many essential story elements were already created by others on the project long before I showed up... setting, characters, and key gameplay events were already laid down. I have to work those already established components and work them into a awesome cohesive story, rather than create them as I weave them together.

But just like in game development in general, those constraints are a good thing. They've given me a launch-pad to jump from, rather than just an intimidating blank slate.

The thing that strikes me most oddly about this project though is that the story I was asked to write is one that on my own I would never have attempted in a million years. The student projects I wrote for were either entirely my babies, or at least of a genre/topic I was already interested in. Now, though, I'm writing for a target market I have never been a part of, nor ever will be.
It's not a story I would have ever thought I'd like to tell, or thought I'd be able to be inspired by or relate to in any way.

But I am. I find I'm delving into this world just as passionately, perhaps even more so, than any other story I've developed. I didn't come up with these characters, but I've gotten to know them and fall in love with them as I try to find and fix their own internal conflicts, struggles and flaws. And I think that's wonderful, and fascinating that that has happened. I hope to continue experiencing this on future projects.

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posted by Brian Shurtleff @ 11:47 PM 

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