Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Design Practice
EXERCISES
1.
Game writers often find themselves asked to write content with very limited
information, and they have to make it up as best they can. This is an exercise about
writing dialog in such a situation. Assume the following scenario: An adventurer
arrives at an old ruin. The main entry gate is guarded by a huge stone golem that
has to be convinced to let the adventurer pass through. The player might take three
different approaches to the conversation at hand:
intimidation
,
admiration
, or
subter-
fuge
. Write a scripted conversation for this situation in which, at each menu, the
player has a choice of three options corresponding to each of the three approaches.
Your conversation must include no fewer than four exchanges, counting introduc-
ing and parting dialog lines. If the player chooses a consistent approach
throughout the conversation, the golem opens the gate; if the player does not, the
golem refuses and the conversation ends.
2.
This exercise is a case study. Choose a game that you have played through (or
one that your instructor assigns) that contains a story. Analyze the story according
to the principles introduced in this chapter and write an essay (your instructor will
inform you of the required length) addressing the following questions. Is it a linear
or a nonlinear story, and if nonlinear, what story structure does it use? Does it have
more than one ending? What is its granularity? What kinds of narrative does the
story use (cut-scenes, scrolling text, voiceover narration, and so on)? What proportion
of the player's actions are dramatically meaningful versus dramatically irrelevant?
Considering all the player actions, in-game events, and narrative events, do you
feel it is a good story according to the requirements for credibility, coherency, and
dramatic meaningfulness? Why or why not? Does the story evoke any emotions
other than those associated with victory and defeat? If so, give an example.
3.
Pick a linear story of your own choice from a book or a movie and write a half-
page summary of the plot (don't start with
War and Peace
). Then make a nonlinear
story out of it by introducing no fewer than three branch points into the story at
what you consider to be key moments in the plot—points at which an event could
have occurred differently or one of the characters could have taken a different
action from the one portrayed by the original story. (Each branch point may have
as few as two options, but you can include more if you like.) Draw a diagram of the
result, and show the options at each branch you introduce. The diagram should
include the original plot as well. Write a brief summary of the consequences of the
alternate branches arising from taking a different path. If you want, you can fold
back the story to a single ending, or leave it branching with multiple endings. If
you include multiple endings, be sure they credibly follow as a result of the particu-
lar path taken through the branching storyline you created.
