Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
tips later in this chapter. With regard to the points listed above, here are a
few additional notes.
Integration
Proper integration starts, in all likelihood, with physical co-location of the
writer with the team. The writer should be on-site with the team for at
least the majority of her work time, if not full time. When she is on-site she
shouldn't be isolated, especially if the rest of your team works in an open
plan. (That said, you might want to give the writer a secondary, quiet loca-
tion where she can work when she needs to buckle down and
write
.)
Team leads should convey the importance of fully integrating the writer
into the development process, and recognize that narrative touches al-
most every other aspect of the game's design, mechanics, and features.
Thus, the writer should be invited to any meeting and involved in any pro-
cess that involves brainstorming or deciding:
▪
What will or can the player potentially
see
or
hear
(concept art, art,
animation, audio)?
▪
What will or can characters potentially
do
(game design, mission
design, AI design, AI engineering, animation)?
▪
Where
will the action take place (concept art, mission design, art)?
▪
How
will narrative elements be
presented
(UI design, animation, au-
dio, engineering)?
Yes, that's a lot of meetings. Can anyone attend so many and still be
productive? When in doubt as to whether a specific meeting is narrative-
related, the best approach is to create a clear agenda for your meeting,
then invite your narrative expert as an optional attendee and let
her
decide
whether it makes sense to participate.
Empowerment
It is vital to trust the instincts of the writer you've hired, even when you
might not quite understand or agree with them. Susan O'Connor, founder
of the Game Writers Conference and a writer on
BioShock, Gears of War,
Far Cry 2
, and other top-tier titles, says that when it comes to story and
character, professional writers can “see around corners.” In other words,
an experienced writer can imagine story scenarios and evaluate their po-
