My question is simply, how do you design your plot/story so it will fit into your game? Just to elaborate a bit,(eg.) if I write a one page opening sequence, and 12 pages of plot, how would I go about converting that into game/code(from paper)?

This depends heavily on your game, I'd think. But at some point you need a system that gets the actors / units / heros in your game to do what they do on the page.

Say you're the writer for a Starcraft mission. You've written that Mar Sara is under attack by an unknown lifeform, and that Jimmy Raynor must liberate Alpha Wing's outpost. Upon arriving, he finds most of Alpha Wing in bunkers, and he has to gather them all together to defeat the enemy creatures. After he does so, Raynor will discover the first Zerg hatchery. When he does, he's so awestruck that he says, "Dear God, what is THAT?!"

At some point, then, you need to set up a mission that involves Alpha Wing's outpost and the enemy. The first part would be setting as described in the writing. You place the terrain, foes, objects, etc. For this, a map editor is a good idea.

Next, you need to set up behaviors of units. This is sort of like the backstory and determines what's going on when the player arrives (like a base under attack, or units retreating, etc). Most games seem to use a scripting system for this that gives level designers control over AI behavior.

You might also want some way of detecting events and triggers. This could make things (like enemy attacks) happen at a certain time. For example, an event triggered could be when the enemy is defeated and the player moves Raynor to the hatchery, his dialog line is triggered. Scripting / event - trigger systems can be like languages in and of themselves.

Hope this helps.




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Just waiting for the mothership...

Edited by - Wavinator on January 19, 2001 7:41:47 PM

Once you have a story, you come up with a system. the system is how the world works. You can base a system off a story. But the system has to be bigger than the story. Look at star trek. If you wrote a single story for that.. you leave a lot of open loopholes possible. Look how many people have poked at star trek and said "how is this possible?" i mean, the biggest thing is that ALL races in the universe are two-legged humanoids! Yeah, right.
But in the world of star trek, that is the truth of things. All races can speak english.. that''s just the way things are. You can''t question them or the rules will break, usually. But they''re rules.. like physics. There are rules.. we just like to try and break them.

So once you have a system worked out, you can begin to create the world in which the system works. The world needs to have a history, races/clans.. etc. If you''re going for broader than that.. then you need to set up a gaming universe. How are the planets arranged in star system Alpha?
When you''ve done this, pass it to the alpha testers or other designers you have helping you. They''ll find flaws, they''ll try to break it and succeed. You then patch the holes, and make things work. Then you set it into program code.
If nessicary, you can program it as you go.. but you''ll make a lot of errors and need to correct them. Early versions (called alpha versions) will be where you really make things mesh in the development. Once things are together, you begin to build the world and all into the code. Then you start doing things like you would in the real game. And you alpha test this. Then you fix the bugs in the code and design flaws. Then, when it''s coming along good.. you beta test it. That''s when all hell breaks loose. Once that''s done.. you''ve got a product.

The order can be varied somewhat.. but design as much as possible before you code. Once coded, it''s a pain to change.
As always, if you need some more help.. give me a ring

J