Video-game story-lines

[Vkmies]

I didnt find a thread about video-game storylines so i decided to create one. Just story-lines in general. Wich game has the best story?Dialog?writing?Voice-actors? Do you have your own ideas? How important are story-lines to a video-game?

I wanna start this with a question: Is there any kinda book like "Video-game script-writing for dummies"? I would love to know, 'cause i actually have some ideas.

I think story is a important part of a RPGs,strategy-games and for some odd reason, i like Sci-Fi games if they have a good story. I've always praised the Halo-series for being so simple, but still interesting.

[Jorpho]

I wanna start this with a question: Is there any kinda book like "Video-game script-writing for dummies"? I would love to know, 'cause i actually have some ideas.Let me be the first to say: ideas are cheap; learn how to program.

Also, http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37582 . (I will admit I'm kind of surprised I couldn't find something newer.)

I'll throw out Anachronox and Gateway for starters.

[Vkmies]

Also, http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37582 . (I will admit I'm kind of surprised I couldn't find something newer.)


Isnt it like against the rules to reply a thread that old? :D And yeah. I thought about programming once, but its far too complicated for me. I dont have any patience. :D

[Jorpho]

And yeah. I thought about programming once, but its far too complicated for me. I dont have any patience. :DSo you're just going to say, "Hey programmers! This is my idea! Make a game about it!" ? It really, really, doesn't work that way.

If you don't have the patience to learn how to program, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than having your ideas see the light of day. The end.

[jb143]

I think the book "Game Design: Secrets of the Sages" covers writing the story for games. It covers everything else anyways. It's basically a bunch of interviews with game designers offering up their advice on everything from programming to sound, AI and UI design. I'm not sure what revision it's on anymore. My book is several years outdated at this point(still lots of good stuff in it though)

And if you can't or don't want to program, your best bet would be to get a job as a tester or some other lower end position at a game company and slowly work your way up. Many game designers started out that way. Then, and only then, can you say...


"Hey programmers! This is my idea! Make a game about it!" ;)

[Jorpho]

Many game designers started out that way.And they undoubtedly learned how to program before they were through.

[jb143]

And they undoubtedly learned how to program before they were through.

Not necessarily, though I'm sure it's a good idea. From what I understand, unless your a lead programmer, you usually don't get much input into the games story anyways. Not all game designers can program, just as not all screen writters can direct, or not all directors can act.

[Vkmies]

So you're just going to say, "Hey programmers! This is my idea! Make a game about it!" ? It really, really, doesn't work that way.

If you don't have the patience to learn how to program, you have a better chance of winning the lottery than having your ideas see the light of day. The end.


Well, i didnt say im going to get hose ideas out. I just wanted to know more about writing a video-game story. I said i had few ideas.

[ubikuberalles]

This seems like a very on-topic thread so it shouldn't be in off-topic. It's moving to classic gaming.


>>>MOVE>>>

[Jorpho]

I said i had few ideas.And I said, who doesn't?
Not all game designers can programIs that a fact? Truly, it would change my outlook on such things considerably, what with game design seeming to be rather unlike screenwriting and directing at this juncture. Is there a particular successful game designer you had in mind?

[jb143]

I'm basically going by what I've heard and read. There's an article in an old Nintendo Power magazine that's comming to mind and the book I mentioned earlier. The interviews in the book are from guys like Sid Meier, Richard Garriott, Will Wright, and Shigeru Miyamoto...so I have pretty good faith that they know what they're talking about.

Big budget games are much closer to movies than they once were. You have programmers, writters, directors, producers, artists, sound guys, musicians, etc... The only ones that really need to know how to program nowadays are the programers.

Saying that a game designer HAS to know how to program would be a bit like saying that they have to be an artist or musician as well. Sure, they can be, and it will probally help them a lot if they are, but they don't have to be. Just read the credits on any modern game. There will be some overlap but mainly each person's name will only be under 1 heading.

[Jorpho]

The interviews in the book are from guys like Sid Meier, Richard Garriott, Will Wright, and Shigeru Miyamoto...so I have pretty good faith that they know what they're talking about.You mean some of these people didn't know how to program?
Saying that a game designer HAS to know how to program would be a bit like saying that they have to be an artist or musician as well. Sure, they can be, and it will probally help them a lot if they are, but they don't have to be.Art and music can stand alone without the game underneath them.

[jb143]

You mean some of these people didn't know how to program? Those were the only people I remember...mainly because I'm a programmer.

I will say that, yes, a lot of game designers started out as programmers. But I got the feeling that once your designing games, programming is viewed more as grunt work. And that programmers are too busy coding to have any input into the story.

I'd have to look up the Nintendo Power article, but it was about Nintendo game designers that all came out of testing with no programming experience.


Art and music can stand alone without the game underneath them.

So can a story ;)

[The 1 2 P]

Wich game has the best story?

Tetris.

[Jorpho]

So can a story ;)If the story is not particularly entwined with the gameplay experience, then there is no need to consider video game story writing as different from any other kind of story writing.