Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Being brought on board too late in the process is the concern I hear
most often from other game writers. Rhianna Pratchett, writer on games
like
Mirror's Edge, Overlord
, and the 2013 revamp of
Tomb Raider
, has
come up with an apt metaphor for this all-too-common scenario. She
says the game writer coming late onto a project serves as a sort of “narrat-
ive paramedic,” trying to resuscitate a game story that is in very bad shape.
There's no question of a full recovery; the goal is to just stabilize the pa-
tient.
By the time these late-stage writers are hired, deep-rooted damage to
the narrative has often already been done—and there is no time or money
to undo most of it. By “damage,” I mean incorrect structure, clichéd char-
acters, redundant scenes, missing scenes, massive coincidences, uneven
pacing—things that are so baked into the near-complete levels and their
designs that there is probably little anyone can do about them while main-
taining schedule and budget.
I've heard several tales in which many of a game's levels had already
been brought to a near-final state, with full environmental art, and only
then was the writer hired—to invent a conceit for why the player character
would visit all these different places to “tie it all together.” This is not how
great or even good stories are crafted.
So the writer does his best, slapping a coat of “dialogue paint” onto the
shaky, crumbling story structure (or even inventing a last-minute struc-
ture!), hoping it helps a bit, but knowing the problems are much more fun-
damental. The game ships, its narrative components are perceived as weak
and amateurish (but at least there's some decent dialogue), and it too is
piled upon the heaps of previous games reinforcing the notion that game
developers—including game writers!—just don't know how to “do” story.
Cue the executive producer vowing to force his team to hire a Hollywood
writer next time …
Game Writer Hired Early, but Let Go Early
A game development leadership team that recognizes the benefits of hir-
ing a game writer very early in a project's cycle is already doing something
very right—like a sprinter getting off to a great start. Which makes it all the
more sad to see a stumble just short of the finish line.
When a game's primary (and probably only) writer leaves a project be-
fore it's finalized, the situation presents problems almost the exact oppos-
ite of hiring a writer too late in the cycle. The game may have solid under-
