Balancing lore, plot, characterization, and philosophy in game writing

"Futuristic, military science fiction action game" doesn't really give me an insight into what you're trying to do (other than a bit of everything) — I could label Halo or Fallout with that label, or I could apply it to X-COM.

However, It's my opinion that themes should be introduced organically as part of the world-building process. In the opening acts, I would prefer such things to be alluded to or mentioned to pique the player's interest, rather than having it as an info-dump. Here are a few games that I consider to have excellent opening acts, which allow the player to become immersed in a universe while wanting to know more about the character(s):

PlaneScape: Torment
Jedi Knight
Venetica
Baldurs Gate
X-COM: Enemy Unknown
Lost Oddyssey
Mass Effect

I realise that I've listed a lot of RPGs there, but with an action-game, you might get a bit of cross-over with regards to story-telling.

I've never written a script for a game before, but I have done some preliminary world-building work on a module for a game. As I understand it, you (the writer) don't have the same liberties as we (the novel writers) in 'discovering' your character as you go along (I totally discover my characters as I go along, so I can sympathise). You need to know everything about your character (unfortunately) and decide how much information to divulge, and the best places to do so. Simply because a minor change to your character's history during mid-programming could require a coder to go back and make massive changes to their work.

A game intro needs to tick a lot of boxes. You're going to need to teach new players the combat mechanics. You need to introduce them to your character, give them a brief insight into the world, and also ensure they're hooked enough to want to keep player. I would try to find a balance between the combat and story-telling. Introduce some general themes but don't start getting too heavy right away.

Dunno if that helps any.

The hooking of the player is rarely going to be 100% storytelling. Players usually want to start on core game mechanics pretty quickly. They need some buttons to click and something to do while they absorb the world.

The player character (unless it's a silent protagonist with little story attached) should be introduced early, then gradually fleshed out. The world should be built gradually as well. But the first part of Baldur's Gate for instance I find boring, because you just run around and do fetch quests for some antidotes and small change in a part of the game that you can't revisit until much later. I love Baldur's Gate, but the intro is very old fashioned and drags out like bubble gum. They tried to improve it in BG2, but one of the most popular BG2 mods is called "Dungeon Remover" - it snips the intro dungeon and starts the game in the middle of the big city.

The idea of having a lengthy, dedicated training course at the start of the game isn't ideal. Better mix it up with mechanics tutorial and worldbuilding etc. as you go.

Regarding the OP, the hero's journey is a genre that naturally lends itself to video games. I'd introduce Ellexis first since she's the protag. Then I'd build up the philosophical stuff gradually. Remember you are (likely) going to have gameplay mechanics and worldbuilding going on at the same time. Then again, there really are no standard rules for videogame storytelling (yet).

From my own experience (also writing Hero's Journey) I'd reckon you need to ease the player into the game while establishing the protag and the foundations of the world, and then gradually develop until the major challenge / problem the protag has to overcome is revealed around the middle to end of act 1. Act 2 would (typically) start when the protag decides to take on the challenge.

But the classic mechanics of three-act structure and movie/novel/etc. plot development don't necessarily adapt very well to video game structure. You got to take some liberties here and there.

Practically speaking?

Build the thing.

Things will go wrong. I speak from experience, here.

Things will go wrong for you, too. That perfect line you wanted to use isn't so much out of character as it won't fit in the dialogue box and, because of a bug you don't and will never understand, changing the box dimensions crashes your engine. This is OK. Put the line in a folder--use it later, or in the next game.

When you have something playable, play the game. You will very, very quickly realize that even you aren't reading most of what you wrote. If you find you are reading most of what you wrote, great! Now have someone else play it.

Blow everything up and start over. At this point you will want to.

Write some more. Build some more. Don't be afraid to write as you build and then rewrite what you built. Use internal documentation, even if you're working alone--you will thank yourself for it at the office Christmas party. Structures and storytelling techniques--much less academic sociology maladapted into storytelling technique like the Hero's Journey--don't matter as much as having a game that's fun to play.

There are a million ways to define what "fun" means. There are a million and one games that are fun.

Welcome to game development.

It's not just bugs and rewriting dialogue.

The last project I worked on--because, to be clear, I totally still make this mistake--I wrote a nifty opener with a couple of meaningful branches, nicely scoped using a bunch of scoping theory; some dialogues; and a couple basic gameplay quests. I built it, played, and immediately noticed the pacing was off, I didn't care about the branches in-situ, and the gameplay felt cramped. I ended up creating an entirely different combat system to solve the gameplay issues, which necessitated a different branching structure because I'd tied the choice points to the gameplay, and thus ended up tearing up the entire script and rewriting with entirely different situations and quests.

What can happen, when you've written stuff out first, is you commit the sunk-cost fallacy. Playtesters tell you the gameplay doesn't feel great. But because you've written a story and built the gameplay around it, and built assets based on those characters and structure, you can't actually change the gameplay without investing a lot more time/money. The gameplay suffers. It doesn't feel as good to play, it's not as punchy and immediate, and that tends to be the kind of thing, not story, that sinks a project when it comes time for funding, publishers, or Steam.

I'm a writer first; I like to write world backgrounders and cutscenes. Games, maybe more than anything else, are hands-on. I was speaking tongue-in-cheek last night, but it really does change completely when you play it. I've written out three-ish scripts. They were decent practice, and I learned a lot doing that. I don't exactly regret it, but I do wish I'd learned more about prototyping earlier (and been more confident in my ability to try it; I'm not a coder but you don't need to code to prototype).

On your opener idea:

When you say Ellexis is talking to herself, and that this is an action game, my guess--and it's only that--is that no matter how you write that scene, whether it's firefight or more introspective, it's going to feel boring. Partly that's because characters talking to themselves is almost always exposition, usually info-dump.

Think about other openers you've played. How long before you want to press a button? That doesn't have to be a firefight, and I like your idea to subvert expectation, but like in any writing, make sure that you're breaking the rule for a reason. So if you want to subvert the immediate involvement of the typical action game, what involvement are you replacing that with?

HD Simplicityy said:

I forgot to clarify: the "talking to herself" scenes I've written out aren't necessarily part of the introduction; just for me to see her inner thoughts on paper.

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that. Is a good exercise for getting voice, thoughts, character flowing.

And a form of prototyping.

kneedeepinthedoomed said:

I love Baldur's Gate, but the intro is very old fashioned and drags out like bubble gum. They tried to improve it in BG2, but one of the most popular BG2 mods is called "Dungeon Remover" - it snips the intro dungeon and starts the game in the middle of the big city.

Click to expand...

The Dungeon Remover is there to allow players who like to replay a lot to skip what can quickly become ennui after the first few times. But every new player should go through the dungeon at least once. It helps set the scene for what comes after, and there are quests and storylines which later reference activities taken place in the dungeon. Yeah it's a grind when you're on your 12th iteration of your protag (and ugh, those two golems hit hard), but that doesn't mean it's entirely pointless; otherwise the game designers would've just dumped the protag in Athkatla from the get-go. Sure, the devs could've PoE'd it and shortened the dungeon considerably, but they wanted players to go through it at least once.

BG intro *is* old-fashioned... now. But at the time, there was nothing else like it in terms of story-telling RPGs. Game devs are finding better ways of introducing characters and worlds, but from time to time, they do make the mistake of having tedious go-fetch quests in the intro. It's not an ideal way to kick off a game, but whatever way the OP chooses should try to be innovative (even if, fifteen years from now, some gamer looks back and thinks it was a boring intro because it wasn't even a VR game)

Either way, the game would still need to find a balance between introducing the world, familiarising the player with the mechanics, and providing a hook to keep playing. I'd probably manage okay with a point-and-click adventure game in which the mechanics are *point* and *click* and I could launch right into the storytelling, but I don't think I could cope with the complexity of something action-RPGey. I don't envy you, HD, in the project you're undertaking.

Edit: Just a thought, but could you make a skippable tutorial? Maybe tease some information about the world and character that isn't integral to the main plot, and then launch into the story after teaching the basics of the mechanics?