# Writing in video games vs. writing in prose



## Temaran (Jan 24, 2016)

Hello!

I was curious on your thoughts on the difference in writing style when it comes to writing for games compared to writing prose. There are obviously some big things to tackle here, such as:

* Agency (the player can do whatever the game allows, which needs to be dealt with somehow)
* Branching storylines
* NPC personality
* Evolving characters depending on player choices
* Unplanned deaths (if the game features permanent death especially)
* Dynamic NPC relationships

But also maybe not so clear-cut differences like:
* Ludo-narrative dissonance (does the gameplay fit the story and the storytelling style, or do they clash?)
* The writing process when writing for games
* Tools (Are they different?)

I'm sure there are lots of other points that are different, but those are just some things to start with 
Has anyone here written for games before and can give some pointers?

Looking forward to see what you guys might have to say on the subject! 

Best regards,
Temaran


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## millymollymo (Jan 24, 2016)

Writing for games is different from the start, as your audience is different. Their expectations and also the "in place knowledge" if you will. You are asking the player to make choices, not just "come along on a story" so every part of the story you weave has to encourage those choices, AS WELL AS support the narrative. 

You mention evolving narratives, player choice and branching story lines, all of which will stem from where the writer chooses to start.
World or character. Some will argue that tropes and clichés are important for a game, yet as the Writers Guild awards are now awarding games writing, more and more players want depth and backstory, they want an immersive narrative, not just point and shoot.


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## Temaran (Jan 24, 2016)

millymollymo said:


> Some will argue that tropes and clichés are important for a game



This surprises me a bit, although not too much I suppose. I've always seen them more as a necessary evil, rather than something I would view as "important".

Something that I think would be extremely interesting would be to focus on building a world, and interesting characters in that world, and then simply dropping the player into this environment.
I always get the feeling that most games focus on the interactions between the player and the NPCs (which of course are important to some extent) but those interactions are not what make the world feel alive. In most cases I feel it actually detracts from the experience because it feels extremely surreal that everyone just wants to talk to me, and in most cases just stand around waiting for the PC. Very strange.
The NPC-NPC intrigues and banter are what builds most of the immersion, intrigue and atmosphere, at least for me.

A good example of this structure is of course the open-world RPGs, such as skyrim, but I still find these games to be very player centric... There are plenty of dudes and dudettes just standing around for the hero to come by and rescue them. There is usually one or two disputing factions in these games as well, but it rarely goes beyond the faction itself, and the individuals still have doorpost character quality and no interactions beyond that with the player.


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## millymollymo (Jan 24, 2016)

Ha. I should have posted the line I deleted. 
There's nothing worse than coming a across a damsel in distress in need of a hero. The missing clue the PC needs is inside her house. Why does she need a hero? Her house is burning down and she can't find a bucket. 
Stop it already.


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## Temaran (Jan 24, 2016)

Yeah, stuff like that gets very tired very quickly.

I can see that working in the context of some game set in the time where this type of mindset was (unfortunately) common, but what baffles me is that it still happens fairly often today. I do feel like it's at least getting better though.

I remember reading something a while back, but unfortunately I can't remember the source article where the author argued that you should basically just roll a couple of dice every time you completed one of your (rough) character arcs, and decide upon stuff like skin color, sex etc. at that point, and then (possibly) go back and modify the arc where it would make sense in regards to your new info to really try to deal with that unconscious bias that every writer carries around. I really found that quite interesting.
I suppose that could apply to prose as well as video games though


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