Ask a Narrative Developer

A few weeks ago, I posted this question on LinkedIn: "...let's say you had a veteran game writer/narrative designer handcuffed and tied to your basement chair. What questions would you like to ask this person? What have you been curious about narrative game dev wise but have been afraid to ask?

And hoo boy did LinkedIn deliver. Also, no one kidnapped me. Which is good.

By the way, if you have a question, ask away here. Now, let's get to the Qs and the As.

Yeferson Peña Ramirez writes:

Hi, these are my questions: Does videogame storytelling change much from film storytelling? What do you think these differences are?

For me, it’s a reflex in my brain that says, “this isn’t working.” On the flip side, you can tell when something really works. Not to sound New Agey, but when the story flows smoothly, you’ll feel it. The themes are in place, the characters click, the dialogue sounds natural, everything feels correct. I’ve learned after a lot of hard collisions with Writer’s Block that WB mostly comes from you not believing in the story. Trust your instincts if something is feeling flat.

If you are getting overwhelming notes not understanding a character’s action or a plot moment, it’s a good sign something isn’t clicking in that spot. This will help you uncover blind spots or those moments when you know what you mean, but you need to put in more details for everyone who isn’t living in your mind.

But also get feedback from your team. All the time. Encourage an environment where teammates give constructive feedback and criticism.

As the game moves deeper into development, you’ll likely have regular playtesting sessions. You will get a mountain of feedback from those. Look for common themes or issues there, too.

What is your process for starting to write the videogame story

Typically, game writers (unless they are present at the creation of a game pitch) will sit in a room with other writers and take the baton from Leads to start working on the proposed world, how the mechanics will fit into the narrative, the premise, and the rough sketch of the main character.

As a writer, I would look at the world and the main character and, once we determine a theme, I think about how this world is pushing back against the character from getting what they want. It’s good to do this as soon as possible so you can see if the theme fits and discover further questions you want to explore narratively.

I didn’t work on Horizon Zero Dawn, but I like to point to it as a good example of Player Versus World design.

Example: Aloy grew up an outcast (because she had no mother) in a society ruled by matriarchs. She wants to know where she came from, which leads her to explore more of the world, which in turn pushes back in a number of ways as she gets deeper into the story. You escalate the difficulty of the obstacles she faces as you raise the stakes, lacing in the reason for the player to be rewarded but pushed to keep going. The rest is going more granular to figure out how to go from Start to End.

Side note: Open-world narrative presents a greater challenge here. As your main character grows, you need to make sure they are given a next destination that is a match for them lest they get bored. Typically, you’d make a golden path through the map where the next objective lies in the middle of a more challenging environment.

Additionally, you can unlock new parts of the world when the player gets a new ability that would allow them to go there (Think Metroidvanias here).

Do you start with a premise to determine the theme of the story?

See above.

Do you start first with a logline or the premise?

Premise, then logline. In my eyes, the first informs the second.

How long is the synopsis of the game's story?

This depends on the game you are making. Unpacking’s synopsis will likely be shorter than Final Fantasy 14’s.

A synopsis should hit all the main character’s plot beats from start to finish, including the locations and major characters the player will meet. Add in the stakes of the story, how the player’s character will change as well as the forces against the player. Keep it as tight and lean as possible. Save the in-depth stuff for the world/lore bible.

Do you use a storyboard before creating the script?

Typically, no. It’s easier for me to write the script and then storyboard. That said, once you have the script in a good shape, it’s smart to talk to the cinematics team about their budget and their thoughts on the big showpieces you have in mind. Expect a lot of storyboard and cinematics revisions as the game is being developed. 

How is the analysis you do to more or less determine that you are on the right track with the story? What questions do you ask yourself for that?

For me, it’s a reflex in my brain that says, “this isn’t working.” On the flip side, you can tell when something really works. Not to sound New Agey, but when the story flows smoothly, you’ll feel it. The themes are place, the characters click, the dialogue sounds natural, everything feels correct. I’ve learned after a lot of hard collisions with Writer’s Block that WB mostly comes from you not believing in the story. Trust your instincts if something is feeling flat.

But also get feedback from your team. All the time. Encourage an environment where teammates give constructive feedback and criticism. If you are getting overwhelming notes not understanding a character’s action or a plot moment, it’s a good sign something isn’t clicking in that spot. This will help you uncover blind spots or those moments when you know what you mean, but you need to put in more details for everyone who isn’t living in your mind.

As the game moves deeper into development, you’ll likely have regular playtesting sessions. You will get a mountain of feedback from those. Look for common themes or issues there, too.

Elly Call asks:

My question is this: how on earth do you make time to stayup to date with new trends and software so you can reflect it in your game writing/narrative design? I know everyone has their own focuses (i.e. play a lot of games! Set google notifications! etc.,) but your work has always been fresh and responsive to new trends. I'd love to know your secret!

Hmm. Discord to hear what otherwriter/narrative design folk are playing. Word of mouth is sometimes better than a big-dollar marketing campaign. Same goes for social media. Connect with your writing comrades and you’ll get info on games you might have never heard of. Of course, you should post what you’re playing too. You might clue someone in on a game they've never heard of. See why these games are so hot (but good and bad). Dissect what works and what doesn't, what you like or not. Your brain will eventually key into patterns, for narrative tools and techniques.
 
There are a few sites I bounce through on a regular basis, too. Kotaku, Polygon, Second Wind, Game Developer, Game Industry, PC Gamer. These days I'm trying to find good news outlets about upcoming Indie/AA games.

Also, as you noted, play a bunch of games, although the irony of being a game dev is you get so busy sometimes you don’t have time to play games.

Anastasia Morgan inquires:

Starting out and trying to get those first narrative jobs,what would you recommend in a portfolio? Especially in a portfolio where you don’t yet have gaming credits yet, what should be included to show narrative ability?

Out of all the questions, I get this one the most. The following is what I see as serving you well in a starter’s portfolio.

1) A character profile (at most 1 page): Show me how you think up interesting NPCs. Since you don’t have anything you can draw from a game you made, try imagining an NPC in one of your favorite games. RPGs are the natural draw here, so fans of Baldur’s Gate 3 or Cyberpunk 2077 or Witcher 3 will have a lot to work with. Also, devs reviewing your portfolio mostly likely played those games, too, so they'll get what you are aiming at.

Write up a brief summary of the character. Name. Age. Background. What do they do in the game? How do they interact with the player? What do they want?

Now, if you are a DM in a TTRPG, consider using one of the NPCs you created for your campaign.

A word of caution here: resist the temptation to make this NPC a self-insert or a dreaded Mary Sue/Gary Stu. A well-rounded character has equal merits and flaws (to borrow from White Wolf TTRPGs).

2) After you make your character, it’s time to write 1 page of Barks based on this groovy character you created.

Barks should be short, evocative, and rich in the character’s voice. No monologues. Barks should be broken down into basic categories: Hello, Goodbye, Happy, Curious, Starting a fight, Alarmed, Tell a Joke, Commanding. You want contrasting emotions to show off voice and character.

3) A short scene – 2-3 pages at most, in screenplay format. This one focuses on dialogue and how you can have a beginning, middle, and end. I did a screenplay exercise recently where we had three video game characters in an elevator. Pick your three, give them a conflict, and resolve the conflict by the end. What you want to focus on is: brevity, character voice, and pacing.

4) Item descriptions – 1 page. Junior writers will be tasked with writing descriptions for things the player picks up in the game. Keep the descriptions really short. 30-40 words. This is a test of how tight and evocative you can write. Optional: depending on your items, you could grab an image off the Internet to go with your description. Just be sure to label where you got it from.

5) Branching conversation example - 1 to 2 pages. This does two things: it shows off your dialogue skills and how well you design branches, and how well you loop everything back together again.

5b) A Narrative Design aside: if you are building a narrative design portfolio, you might want to change this to be a short Twine game on your site.

6) (this is for your online portfolio only): A couple prose pieces looking into how a certain game influenced you or an analysis of something happening in games as of late will show you have put some thought into your industry as well as your craft. Keep it about 500-750 words.

The portfolio you'll submit should be no more than 10 pages, but also have a five-page bundle ready to go. Once in a blue moon a studio will want no more than that.

Lastly, I prefer PDF over Word since PDF is widespread these day. Also PDF versions are smaller in size, which will allow you to submit files where there might strict size limits.

Scott Hungerford wants to know:

What are your methods for making a world bible for a game,where you detail all the cultures, customs, and details of a fantasy setting?

Break up your world bible into chapters. The first is the overview, a quickstart guide for new people on your team to learn about the world in a hurry (with the invitation to dive deeper into the other chapters). An overview helps new team members learn about the world without having to stare down hundreds of pages, which can be intimidating or even discouraging. Imagine having a 500-page text book dropping on your lap on day one of a new job.

After that, break down chapters into the races (playable/non-playable) and their histories and customs, player classes, a world timeline of major events that lead to the player’s appearance, a map of the world (including major landmasses, landmarks, cities, and important regions), weapons, how magic works*, and the monsters or other threats.

When it comes to how much detail you need to put in, my rule of thumb is: put in enough of what you need in terms of the game AND what you need to keep a handle on your world. If you find yourself on page 5 of describing the curtains in the healing temple, you might be adding too much.

*If you have a fantasy game with magic, you need to definite in detail (in lore and later in mechanics) how your magic works. Magic needs rules and limits -- even if it's just a mana bar. The rules need to be firm and communicated (in gameplay) to the player. Infinite magic that can do anything will rob your story of stakes.

Richard Swanson sends a raven with this note:

My Q: How often does your work revolve around game design theory and established narrative design models versus more fundamental, nuts and bolts character/world/story building and writing?

Another way to ask that might be, what's more important in your role, technical and theoretical frameworks or just crafting compelling components (characters, quests, overarching story, lore)?

Writing fundamentals first, but writers need be aware of theory and what’s going on narratively in games so they can communicate their story to narrative designers, game designers, and quest designers. It will never hurt you to know how to speak designer-ese.

Ruty Rutenberg yodels:

What advice/direction would you suggest to CEOs/Directors who need to give feedback to their creatives but don’t have a narrative background?

Bonus points if replied would be helpful for other Disciplines, like QA, responsible in the feedback loop.

Anyone can give feedback. You don’t need to be a creative to weigh in, but it helps creatives when you use a language a narrative game dev understands.

A few tips
1) Do not make this about yourself. Do not talk about how you would fix it. Trust the creatives to do that.

2) Be as tactful as possible. Avoid judgmental language or accusations.

 
3) Be positive to start with. Talk about the stuff you liked. It shows you actually read the work.

4) Be clear about your negative feedback. Say what took you out of the story. It’s okay to talk about it like “This doesn’t sound like her voice” or “I am confused why he ate the couch.”

5) Keep it simple and direct. And, please, tactful.

6) When in doubt, ask your creatives what feedback they are looking for. Odds are, they will tell you.

William Hulshof and Kenneth Topp sing a duet called:

(They both wrote in with the same question so I’m connecting them into one answer)

What other skills are generally required/expected when applying for or working in the games’ industry as a narrative designer?

From my experiences, this is absolutely underrated: Being able to collaborate and revise your work when necessary. Don’t be a jerk who thinks everything they make is precious. Don't say "no" to any new idea or piece of feedback. Learn how to be constructive in giving criticism, and learn how to keep cool in emergencies.

Also vital: Storytelling fundamentals, knowing your way around engines, being able to write tightly and evocatively. Being able to say what works in effective narrative design and be able to give examples.

Padraig Nolan delivers this telegram:

This might apply to game development as a whole rather thanspecifically narrative design, but how on Earth does anyone make the jump from indie to AA/AAA? AAs all want writers with AAA experience, and AAAs all want the same. Every application I've ever put in outside of indies and startups has been at best rejected with a kind note saying they need someone with AAA experience. Then when I check later to see who they hired, the work history is like "3 months writing ambient barks at Rockstar" preceded by a year at Dairy Queen. And those are the places who reply at all; half my AAA applications are ignored entirely, and the other half end with an automated rejection six months later.

There has to be some magic incantation I never learned, right? Do you have any insights on breaking into AAA as an experienced indie writer?

Frankly, I have no idea of the hiring alchemy that goes on in game studios these days. If it helps, a lot of people had getting either ghosted or bafflingly automatically rejected. It’s not just you. In fact, it probably has nothing to do with you and is more about an industry that’s going through a severe bout of turbulence. I don’t know when it’s going to end or what the industry will look like after. No one does, and that's the lingering worry we all have.

The best advice I can offer is: make your own stuff and don’t sleep on indie projects.

I also recommend you ask yourself this question, “Do I need an AAA job to be legitimate?” If yes, then please understand you are chasing something that won’t make you happy in the long run. In fact, that kind of long fatal love chase is toxic. Take care of yourself.

Torn Torres smuggles this past the Imperial blockade:

I would carry a table into the basement. Within this basement there are purple luminescent lights tucked away into the corners of the ceiling. Various tapestries depicting various spiritualistic concepts, such as skeletons holding each other on a romantic light, or various mushroom and fae representing sceneries. Finally the floors are cold and cemented, populated by multiple multicolored pillows.

After slamming the table on the floor while displaying a ferocious semblance of urgency, I will breathe in deeply while making direct eye contact and think of my overall goal.

My goal will reflect my want to discover the perfect game writer/ narrative designer for my project. This is someone who can plant imagery into the minds of others and provide a story that is both moving, compelling, and soul rattling. Video games have always been my passion throughout life afterall, having played such inspiring games such as Kingdom Hearts, and The Last of Us.

Finally after that deep breath with prolonged uncomfortable eye contact, I would request with a mighty cartoony Valhallan voice, for them to describe this scene from my point of view.

At this point if they write better than what I created here^

They’re hired

I literally have nothing for this.

Jonathan Jennings uses Omega-level telepathic powers to ask:

I've always been curious where you start when creating acharacter, is the character just there to serve the plot do you write them to fit in the story or is a character their own unique entity and their role in the story evolves as they evolve?

I’m going to assume you are talking about an NPC and not the player character.

Ideally, a character is someone how plays a vital role doing at least one of the following:

- Reveal to the player about the player’s place in the world (how they are
seen)

- Reveal to the player a little more about the world they are in.

Now if they are just someone on the street delivering background chatter, they don’t need an elaborate backstory, but they should look like they are there naturally. A couple of uniformed cops outside a police station. Members of a pit crew at a racetrack.

Background characters don’t need to evolve, but you can have them say something after a major event (say, a story mission) happens. For example, you as Spider-Man just stopped Sandman from pulling off a daylight diamond robbery. The cops might later talk about seeing you in action.

Okay, let’s make this NPC a little more major of a character. You are going to want them to have more details, so they get wrapped into plot and they get more of a unique touch. They get written to have a purpose, not just in service to the plot but as a character. These NPCs have opinions, a distinct voice, can be a sounding board for the player, and should have an arc. They should feel alive.

Best example I can give is God of War Ragnarok, which is a game where the NPCs are so well drawn I can imagine them going about their lives when you aren’t around. They evolve throughout the story, and it’s in part to the player’s actions, but they have their own wants and desires. They can be messy, but they always feel genuine.

Cati Gayà Valdueza beams in with:

I've got one that feels a bit like a chicken-and-egg scenario for me (screenwriter, no gaming industry exp). In your game development process, what do you think is the best way to balance narrative and level design to ensure they come together seamlessly? Is it better to focus on one aspect and let that shape the other, or do you prefer a simultaneous approach?

Every studio will have their own opinion on which comes first. Ideally, you are going to want narrative (dialogue, story beats within a mission) and level design to happen at the same time. Also, it’s a good idea to have other departments (like art and audio) in on the development as well.

The narrative and the level design will constantly inform one another throughout development, so whichever department starts first will (hopefully) in sync with the rest of the studio as the game is being made.

Joe Pishgar taps out in Morse code:

How would you construct a narrative journey whose intended outcome was to reduce the pandemic of global loneliness?

Hey, this is a question I’ve never been asked Neat!

I’m curious of you are looking to reduce loneliness through gameplay (as in a social aspect) or if you are looking to make a game to address themes of connection and loneliness.

If the latter, I would recommend something like Death Stranding (which is about a man trying to connect distant city states in the face of a world-altering event). If you are looking for something that’s a little less heady, but not quite multiplayer, then check out Kind Words. It’s a game where you write short letters to people who post their concerns anonymously. You send them notes of encouragement while you send your own requests for help out into the game’s world. You aren’t in the same place, but you all occupy the same means of connection. The gameplay for each example here is connectiveness. Think about a gameplay loop or a theme that would connect the player to others.

If the former, then look at something like Among Us, Minecraft, Stardew Valley or even a virtual tabletop, where players can share the same game space at the same time, interacting and (largely) working together to accomplish a task. The narrative journey here is happening on a number of levels thanks to interactivity and instant communication.

Lastly, Jerimiah Goad summons this question:

Okay, then how do I go about abducting awriter/narrative designer? Details, please.

Lay out of snare trap of caffeine and anti-anxiety drugs.