Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
lying story structure, characterization, and world-building thanks to the
early involvement of a writer. However, during the project's frenetic final
stages—a time in which major swaths of the game can still be (and often
are) hurriedly updated based on user testing, executive or licensor reac-
tions, ESRB considerations, and so forth—
someone
has to step in and
generate updated narrative content to match. And if that someone isn't a
writer, it will show.
Imagine again our metaphorical wedding cake, expertly baked to moist
perfection, stunningly iced and decorated, and now delivered to the re-
ception venue several hours prior to guests arriving. The proud cake maker
leaves, but shortly thereafter the wedding planner realizes that a large
number of guests who didn't RSVP have shown up for the wedding, and
now there won't be enough cake! Rather than call the baker back, though,
the wedding planner decides to run out to the local supermarket, buy a
few premade sponge cakes and some canned icing, and attempt to graft
an addition onto the wedding cake her/himself.
Do you think no one looking at that cake would notice?
If you avoid the mistake of hiring a game writer too late, don't fall into
the trap of letting him go too soon. A writer should stay with the team until
there is no more chance of any updates to the levels, dialogue, or in-game
text. Only then can you be confident that your players will not find them-
selves enjoying a rich, moist mouthful of narrative cake one minute and a
stale Twinkie the next.
Game Writer Isolated and/or Unempowered
Even if team leadership appears to be doing everything right on the narrat-
ive front—hiring an experienced game writer early in the process and
keeping him on through the duration of the project's development—there
are several other, more insidious missteps that can undo much of these
good intentions and actions. All involve the writer's working relationship
with the rest of the development team.
Imagine a symphony conductor stepping onto the stage before an or-
chestra with whom she's never before worked—or even practiced. Further,
imagine that a number of the orchestra members have made it clear that
they don't really believe that conductors or composers are important or
even necessary, and so can be expected to ignore both the conductor and
the sheet music she's placed before them. On top of all this, of the musi-
cians who are willing to try to work with the conductor, many of them are
