Writing in Video Games

In 2008 the Entertainment Software Association stated that in 2008 the video game industry brought in $11.7 billion dollars.

I could probably best describe writing for a video game as a mix between writing for a film and writing a Choose Your Own Adventure type book. The film aspects you must consider because video games are typically a visual medium.

With the increased ability to fit more data on discs, voice actors are being hired to replace text. And with actors comes dialog that must sound believable. The Choose Your Own Adventure influence comes with the myriad of choices the user can make in a game. For example, a character could be standing in a room for various objects. What happens when they examen a book? What happens when they turn on the TV? The radio? Is someone speaking on the TV/radio? If so, more dialog is needed. Flowcharts are often used in design documents to help organize all the information that goes in to making a game. A good example of a game design document is the Grim Fandango Design Document. Grim Fandango is a PC adventure game released in 1998 by LucasArts. If you were to look at the document you can see that the cut scenes are written very similar to a novel while including rough sketches of storyboards. Also written out and explained are the puzzles and their solutions.

The games that rely on writing the most are adventure games and role playing games which typical feature hundreds of characters. However, all genres (racing, action, sports) have writers too because things need to happen in the game in order to keep the player playing. Scenario writers for games are the people who plan out what happens in the game. They are the ones who plan how the story plays out. These writers work closely with the director of the game to develop actions and plot points that can be worked in the gameplay.

Looking at the Electronic Arts job website, qualifications for a game writer include: ability to work within the framework of the overall story, an awareness of what resources (art, programming) are available and the ability to work within these limits, must be able to recognize potential problems in their plots, characters, and areas, familiarity with the genre, works well in a team environment.

-Colin Cowden