Did a little bit of research on writing specifically for games today. I was wondering if writing for a game is really different from writing a regular written story on paper. I was also wondering if it was as troublesome as it was for me.
From my current experience there are many differences. It's a little more like writing a script for a movie mashed into a regular written story. You've got mostly dialogue and depending on the style you're telling the story in, you'll have little descriptive snippets. I also found it hard to write the story to fit in with what everyone else wanted.
There's actually not many articles on game writing or game writers. This is because, according to Angel McCoy (2011), the role of game writer in the industry is very recent. Previously, the dialogue and story is a role that's incorporated into the role of the game designer. The game designer is like the director of a film. The game designer designs what the artwork is going to look like, the game levels, maps-- everything. Only designing though, the role of actually making it all is a job for the game developers, artists, and others. This recently includes the game writer. McCoy (2011), who is a game writer for Guild Wars 2 states that "industry leaders begin to realize what trained writers can do for a game."
This is interesting because McCoy does make a really interesting point. She says that, yes, everyone can write. However, not everyone can write WELL. Now that is the point of difference and the reason for the emergence of the game writer.
A game writer develops the narrative and writes any text that appears in the game. This includes dialogue, descriptions, control interface, and so on (Johansen, 2000). The game writer's influence on the narrative depends on how early the writer is taken on board. If they're taken early on they'll have a lot of influence to craft the story. Later in production though, they'll need to write something that fits with everything else. So the game writer would have to familiarise themselves with all other elements (Anonymous, 2012). Working closely specifically with the game designer is an absolute must in both cases.
Right now, my current experience in writing this way is pretty similar. It does get frustrating when half the things you write doesn't actually get used. Even more so when you're told that what you're writing is a mere frame rather than the actual thing. I'm not sure how I feel about that to be honest. I'm cool with edits, because that's what happens in the industry. What you write goes through several edits and it might not be the same as the stuff you wrote. Improvisation though? I don't agree with that. Why bother writing at all if it's going to be improvised in the first place? I've written everything so my part is done. I'm happy about that and I'm pleased with my final edit. But to be told that it's only going to be used as a frame for improvised dialogue? I don't know whether I've just wasted my time. I'm not sure whether my role here is even necessary if that is the case. If it's going to end up completely different to what I actually wrote, then I would say that my role is obsolete. My role shouldn't exist if the majority of it is going to be improvised anyway. This I'm not happy about. I've voiced my opinion on this. My part is done. I'll just need to wait and see how it turns out.
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References:
Anonymous. (2012). What Does a Game Writer Do? Retrieved September 20, 2012, fromhttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-a-game-writer-do.htm
Johansen, T. (2000). What Kind of Writer Do You Want to Be? Retrieved September 20, 2012, from http://www.writing-world.com/basics/types.shtml
McCoy, A.L. (2011). What's Game Writing Like? Retrieved September 20, 2012, from http://www.angelmccoy.com/blog/?p=1789
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