Monday, January 31, 2011
Excellent posts so far- especially the story's dos and don'ts. It is very key too always be aware of dry spells and scenes that feel like fillers rather than enhancers. As for the main character, the pose and posture is interesting, and the examples are great. So far we have concluded that the main character is "well grounded" and is modest. So I think his stature and physique should differ quite a bit from, say, Sora's. Sora feels like a stiff breeze would blow him over, but he also looks like an adventurer from the start so its taking one for the other, depending on the actual character traits and body type. Love that sense of purpose that Tidus has in the water with his sword, that's what Merle needs too. He needs to fit in the world and have reasons to either protect it, explore it etc. We definitely need to show sketches of what he should look like to further nail it down before we continue with other aspects of the game, so we can move on to other things. Without the vision we are still in the dark about who is driving the game. However, i'm not saying that we shouldn't read up on everything we can tho...
How to Write a Video Game Script- bill kalif
Write An Executive overview of the story in prose
This is the most important part of your game script and this is what will sink or float your script. This overview has to tell a compelling and unique story and it should tell the complete story from the opening scene of the game through the major steps all the way to the completion of the game. An overview like this can be almost any size and it would be very easy for this to be ten written pages or more. Remember that today's video games are very complex and the stories can be very complex. This overview is also the most important part of the script. You would shop this to game developers to see if they are interested in developing it into a game.
Write a History and Background of the world
Video games are complete worlds and game designers need to know what the world is like and what kind of history it has. This will help the designers to visualize what the world will look like.
Create a Flowchart for the entire game
Your game is going to be very complex and there will be many decisions that the player will have to make and each decision opens up a whole new path for the player to take. Creating a flowchart is the best way to keep track of all the possible paths through the game.
Create sub-quests and write a prose overview of each quest
Sub quests can be simple or complex but each one is a story in itself and you must tell these stories.
Create character descriptions and bios for all the major characters in the game.
Game designers need a complete picture of the characters in the game. Many of the non-player characters you create will pop up time and time again. And their story is woven deeply into the fabric of your world. You need to describe this relationship in detail to the game designers.
Write interactions with non-player characters
Your game will probably involve interaction with non-player characters (NPC's). You should write out the dialogue and flowchart the choices the game player can make. These interactions are often critical to the story and they can take the player on very different paths toward the conclusion of the game.
Write Cut scenes
Cut Scenes are short animations or movies that come before or after major plot points in your story. A cut scene should always be written to enhance or describe the story. A cut scene is also a reward given to the player for achieving a major milestone in game play.
Writing the actual storyboard script
This is the final step in the whole video game script writing process and it is the most detailed. You do this step last because you need all the supporting materials to understand and describe this correctly. This part is very similar to that of a movie script. You progress through each scene of your story and you detail all the necessary information. Here is an example:
Scene 1:
Location: A dark cathedral with stained glass windows. An NPC is kneeling before a stone casket in the center of the main room
Music: background music of an organ playing introduces the scene but subsides
Characters: Main player, NPC named Thomas, seven were creatures
Player Goal: Discover the location of the underground lair
Action: Player must initiate discussion with Thomas, upon first contact we activate cut scene (1) where Thomas morphs into a were-creature and summons his were-minions. Main character must battle the were-minions then re-initiate discussion with Thomas.
Flowchart: No decisions made at this point: If battle is completed Thomas reveals the entrance to the underground lair and player advances to that level. If player is defeated in battle revert to death cut scene (11) and move to try again screen.
Notes: Player is locked in the cathedral and there is no exit. The only viable way out is to initiate contact with Thomas. Random were-creatures can be activated if player explores cathedral before talking with NPC.
Scene End
When writing a video game script you have to remember that your primary audience is not the game player but the game developer and what the developer needs is a complete picture of what your game is about. This means that you are not just writing a story but you are creating a world complete with a tone, sounds, characters, story, plot, and subplots. To successfully communicate this to the developer you need to use a whole set of creative tools and this is where video game scripts depart from normal scripts and open up a whole realm of creative possibilities.
This is the most important part of your game script and this is what will sink or float your script. This overview has to tell a compelling and unique story and it should tell the complete story from the opening scene of the game through the major steps all the way to the completion of the game. An overview like this can be almost any size and it would be very easy for this to be ten written pages or more. Remember that today's video games are very complex and the stories can be very complex. This overview is also the most important part of the script. You would shop this to game developers to see if they are interested in developing it into a game.
Write a History and Background of the world
Video games are complete worlds and game designers need to know what the world is like and what kind of history it has. This will help the designers to visualize what the world will look like.
Create a Flowchart for the entire game
Your game is going to be very complex and there will be many decisions that the player will have to make and each decision opens up a whole new path for the player to take. Creating a flowchart is the best way to keep track of all the possible paths through the game.
Create sub-quests and write a prose overview of each quest
Sub quests can be simple or complex but each one is a story in itself and you must tell these stories.
Create character descriptions and bios for all the major characters in the game.
Game designers need a complete picture of the characters in the game. Many of the non-player characters you create will pop up time and time again. And their story is woven deeply into the fabric of your world. You need to describe this relationship in detail to the game designers.
Write interactions with non-player characters
Your game will probably involve interaction with non-player characters (NPC's). You should write out the dialogue and flowchart the choices the game player can make. These interactions are often critical to the story and they can take the player on very different paths toward the conclusion of the game.
Write Cut scenes
Cut Scenes are short animations or movies that come before or after major plot points in your story. A cut scene should always be written to enhance or describe the story. A cut scene is also a reward given to the player for achieving a major milestone in game play.
Writing the actual storyboard script
This is the final step in the whole video game script writing process and it is the most detailed. You do this step last because you need all the supporting materials to understand and describe this correctly. This part is very similar to that of a movie script. You progress through each scene of your story and you detail all the necessary information. Here is an example:
Scene 1:
Location: A dark cathedral with stained glass windows. An NPC is kneeling before a stone casket in the center of the main room
Music: background music of an organ playing introduces the scene but subsides
Characters: Main player, NPC named Thomas, seven were creatures
Player Goal: Discover the location of the underground lair
Action: Player must initiate discussion with Thomas, upon first contact we activate cut scene (1) where Thomas morphs into a were-creature and summons his were-minions. Main character must battle the were-minions then re-initiate discussion with Thomas.
Flowchart: No decisions made at this point: If battle is completed Thomas reveals the entrance to the underground lair and player advances to that level. If player is defeated in battle revert to death cut scene (11) and move to try again screen.
Notes: Player is locked in the cathedral and there is no exit. The only viable way out is to initiate contact with Thomas. Random were-creatures can be activated if player explores cathedral before talking with NPC.
Scene End
When writing a video game script you have to remember that your primary audience is not the game player but the game developer and what the developer needs is a complete picture of what your game is about. This means that you are not just writing a story but you are creating a world complete with a tone, sounds, characters, story, plot, and subplots. To successfully communicate this to the developer you need to use a whole set of creative tools and this is where video game scripts depart from normal scripts and open up a whole realm of creative possibilities.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Story Arc
I. Starting in Merles' hometown
a) Explore
b) Learn Controls and Leveling System*
II. Arrival of 'others' via Large Carrier ships / airships
a) discuss why ships have shown up
b) thicken story plot / learn more about the world
III. Leave hometown on cargo ship in secret
a) explore ship, find items revealing truth about mission
IV. Ship is capsized by giant creature during a stormy night
a) first glimpse of large monsters
V. Wake up on an unknown beach
a) recover gear/ party members
b) explore terrain / fight a lot
c) many upgrades and bulk of leveling
d) discover truths about world and creatures
VI. Discover new 'catalyst'
a) Final boss moments
b) resolve story
VII. Return home: everything destroyed. have to leave again.
End Game.
a) Explore
b) Learn Controls and Leveling System*
II. Arrival of 'others' via Large Carrier ships / airships
a) discuss why ships have shown up
b) thicken story plot / learn more about the world
III. Leave hometown on cargo ship in secret
a) explore ship, find items revealing truth about mission
IV. Ship is capsized by giant creature during a stormy night
a) first glimpse of large monsters
V. Wake up on an unknown beach
a) recover gear/ party members
b) explore terrain / fight a lot
c) many upgrades and bulk of leveling
d) discover truths about world and creatures
VI. Discover new 'catalyst'
a) Final boss moments
b) resolve story
VII. Return home: everything destroyed. have to leave again.
End Game.
Friday, January 21, 2011
game design-
ok. Now, we have mentioned that we want to introduce ships alongside naturalistic landscapes and characters. Being that this approach has been done to death, namely with the FF series, it is up to us to make each element unique to the games aesthetic. SO... it would behoove us to start brainstorming what we want the style of the game to be. What does it look like, how do the characters act, what does the world feel like to be in and how does the main character and others fit into the levels and overall visual design. We need people to look at it and say, hey that looks cool AND different. Its not enough to say oh it looks cool, and throw it in, In other words, we need to have methods for the madness.
We have a main character established, well.. at least his name, Merle. So the next logical step would be to flush the character out until we are satisfied with how he looks. GOAL 1: Establish a main character fully, covering everything from age, clothes, weapon and motivations. Once we get him established, we can move on, but not until this happens, otherwise we will floating around without a catalyst. -N8B.
We have a main character established, well.. at least his name, Merle. So the next logical step would be to flush the character out until we are satisfied with how he looks. GOAL 1: Establish a main character fully, covering everything from age, clothes, weapon and motivations. Once we get him established, we can move on, but not until this happens, otherwise we will floating around without a catalyst. -N8B.
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