I am currently writing a game that is set in the very near future. I have the idea, it's solid, and I know where I want the entire game to go, from beginning to end. It's just that I want the gameplay to be just as immersive story wise as Half-Life was when it debuted. Anyone know of any techniques when writing to achieve this? I'm not saying I want my game to be exactly like Half-Life, I just want the level of immersion that they were successful with. Brandon/Kidd

Well, you could start by getting a script of half-life and analyzing it.

you can get the script to hl? i didnt know that. neato.

anyway, all you gotta do is write and write and write and write some more.
get hl and its story or how "good" is was out of your head. it's a bad thing to plan on making X thing as good as Y thing.

just write. and dont stop until it...good.


ps. and post your story here and on writing forums for lots of crits.

Yeah...I guess I could do that. Didn't know you could get HL story...you know _where_ I coulc get it?

here is is the link that I uploaded the story too...

I'm no where near completed with this thing so, be gentle on the critiques but be harsh so I know where to correct.

http://www.upload2.net/page/download/dufHxAOZ1fA07JE/neverside_script.doc.html

Keep in mind that so much of the story in Half-Life is difficult to just write out. You experience it through the encounters and the context of gameplay more than things people say. If you want to make a story like Half-Life, think of writing it as the player experiences it from the first person, not as a "script" per se.

That's really what makes HL, the storytelling, more than the story itself.

Quote: Original post by Beige
That's really what makes HL, the storytelling, more than the story itself.

Yeah, the storyline isn't really anything special. "Some dude in a cool suit doesn't die when a science project goes wrong. Cool suit dude tries to make it out of the lab alive, while blowing the snot out of a bunch of aliens and military guys"

Throw in a few lines about the whole thing being planned by some super super secret goverment branch, which is THEN controled by the aliens, and you basically have the story for Halflife.

Quote: Original post by Talroth

Quote: Original post by Beige
That's really what makes HL, the storytelling, more than the story itself.

Yeah, the storyline isn't really anything special. "Some dude in a cool suit doesn't die when a science project goes wrong. Cool suit dude tries to make it out of the lab alive, while blowing the snot out of a bunch of aliens and military guys"

Throw in a few lines about the whole thing being planned by some super super secret goverment branch, which is THEN controled by the aliens, and you basically have the story for Halflife.

Over simplification of any plot will make said plot seem stupid. The story and the way the story is told go hand in hand. The style of the story telling is part of the story.

Every Final Fantasy: the world is going to end unless you beat the bad guy.

Well, yeah. I mean, I'm writing the story in a third-person feel as you noticed if you read the little bit that I have. I like writing that way just because you get a better sense of things and can see things better than when trying to write in fist person, which is difficult for some people (myself included). So, why won't the way I write the story work out or whatever? Can I still have a immersive game with the style of writing I choose? I mean, as long as the gameplay follows the story I'm trying to convey, it should be decent, right? What is another way to write that would get the player involved in the game and make them feel like they are apart of it? I mean, the _entire_ game is in FP. Even the CG movies are in FP (if I can even get that far) so the player should be into that, right?