Moving pictures and moving audiences

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Moving pictures and moving audiences

• An exploration of games in the past, present,
  future and perfect tenses
• Leanne C. Taylor

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A Brief Introduction

• Leanne C. Taylor
• Freelance Games Writer
• Lecturer in Interactive Narrative at Qantm
  College, Brisbane
• Worked for both Pandemic Studios and THQ
  Australia
• Released games Destroy All Humans! 2, Nicktoons
  Attack of the Toybots (DS)
• Announced games Avatar Into the Inferno
  (PS2/Wii DS)

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But what does it all mean?

• Why am I here?
• Why are you here?
• Mines easier to answer
• Im here to improve storytelling
• Sound simple?
• Its tricksy like that
• My honest aim in all I do is to improve writing
  in games, through myself or others, and to create
  the kind of experiences others have given me

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Dont you have any hobbies?

• To get to where were going, we need to know
  where we came from
• This requires a little self-indulgence on my
  part, but you get to take notes on some great
  games to play later

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The beginning...

• In 1998, Black Isle released Baldurs Gate
• In 1999, they also released Planescape Torment
• In the same year, they released Fallout 2
• In 2003, on the 8th of December, they were
  disbanded by Interplay, their parent company

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What it is about games?

• In books, you can immerse yourself in, and to an
  extent, interact with the world and the
  characters involved
• In games, that ability is a thousand-fold
• Books rely on the readers imagination in
  games, everything is right in front of you
• That takes the pressure off writers, right?
• In the immortal words of Lex Luthor...
• WRONG!

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Over the rainbow

• The world still needs to be just as detailed
• Look at Oblivion
• The world still needs to have rules
• Even if the players power comes from breaking
  them
• The world still needs to have a soul
• But where does that come from?

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More examples!

• Lets take a look at Jade Empire and Bioshock
• In Jade Empire, the side quests are King in terms
  of storytelling
• In Bioshock, the audio diaries are the most real
  thing in an underwater Art Deco city inspired by
  Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged
• People are people, no matter their circumstances
• If you can remember this, and write
  realistically, youre a lot closer to making your
  world feel alive

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But whats involved?

• So where do I (and you) come in?
• Game Writers can be hired for several purposes,
  such as writing
• A story overview for the entire game
• Cinematics
• Missions and/or mission dialogue
• General dialogue/barks
• Character and world backstory
• There are also other areas, such as cinematic and
  VO direction, that can benefit from the writers
  input

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The deliverables

• Physically, these things take many forms
• Cinematics are usually written in script format
• Dialogue is usually written into an Excel
  spreadsheet (for the ease of recording and
  localisation)
• The most important rule is short and sweet
• Trying to write something thats both informative
  and short takes a lot of practice
• And something else...

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Editing!

• 80 of the writing process is rewriting!
• Especially in games, as missions and characters
  change throughout the project
• Many current games suffer from poor editing
• If your audience gets bored, youre talking too
  much
• If you want to be able to write a good story, you
  need to be able (and willing!) to edit
• I know, I never used to believe it either

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Another example!

• Lets look at Neverwinter Nights 2
• The cinematic, as it stands
• What could have been done to improve the dialogue
  thats already there
• What could have been improved overall

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And briefly...

• What they did well is a little bit of in-game
  worldbuilding
• Nothing intrigues people more than a passing
  reference to something theyve never heard of
• And nothings more fun than orchestrating those
  moments!

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The realm of make-believe

• All in all, its a lot of fun
• As long as you keep an open mind and an eagerness
  to learn, youll be fine
• Then again, dont lose your spine
• Nothing says Im desperate like taking whatever
  work you can get
• It may work out in the long run, but if you want
  to be known as a writer, start as a writer
• Theres always Coles in the meantime

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And thats me!

• If writing is the thing that makes you happiest
  in the world, and if loading up a game can make
  hours of your life disappear, game writing might
  be for you!
• But whatever you do, do it with passion
• Youre going to spend most of your life working
  (almost as much as you do sleeping!), so you may
  as well be doing something you enjoy