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Table of Contents
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Forming the story
1.1 - Introduction
1.2 - How to Begin
1.3 - Getting It On Paper
1.4 - Organizing
1.5 - Adding the Details
1.6 - Proofreading
1.7 - Proofreading Again

Presentation
2.1 - Why It's Crucial
2.2 - Successful Presentation
2.3 - Accepting Criticism
2.4 - If It's Ignored

From Paper to Program
3.1 - Forming the Team
3.2 - Rebuilding the Plot
3.3 - Having To Change
3.4 - Communicating
3.5 - Working With More Than the Writers
3.6 - Finalization
3.7 - The Wrap-Up


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Section 1.1 - Introduction
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This giant post is intended to help you figure out, not just the do's and don't's of writing in general, but also the construction of the game. The writer has to be very involved in the construction process, but also has to know when to give people their space. These chapters cover all of these things, plus some extra tidbits that I've learned trying to start up some games. I will be using examples on how to create, edit, and present a compelling game plotline that players will thouroughly enjoy.



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Section 1.2 - How To Begin
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This is the second toughest part of the entire creative process - creating the story. Beware, this story will not come to you in a day, most likey. Most great storylines take days of formulating characters and events, and that's just the basics. If a storyline consisted of the first thoughts that popped into a writer's head, the story would be boring and unexciting. While your main points are easily your setting, plot twist, and ending, these three alone cannot form a good story for a game.

You begin with an idea. Something you're watching, playing, listening to, or seeing on a billboard, even, can motivate and inspire you with just one idea. From that idea, your entire car ride becomes a ride of thought as your run red lights and ignore police officers flashing their lights at you. The next thing you know, you're on the most recent episode of Cops.

Of course, it doesn't exactly happen this way, but fairly close to it. Something inspires you, and you build upon it. From this initial idea branch characters, events, twists, and great dialogue sequences. You decide not to write it down just yet, and this is not a bad or good idea. If your ideas are that great, you will remember them. If you have poor memory, write it somewhere in your notebook, journal, computer, on your arm, wherever you will remember it. Over the course of approximately five days, you will have a lot of ideas that you can't get straight. This is where you funnel your energy and begin forming the plot.



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Section 1.2 - Getting It On Paper
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So you have a ton of ideas swirling around inside your head and you don't know what to begin first. Sit at your desk in front of a pen, pencil and paper, or a keyboard and monitor, or even on your iTouch or iPad (I have done this on an iTouch many times). Write the ideas as they come. Don't think about what comes first, just write. You'll spend anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour on this, depending upon the size, shape, and complexity of your plot. The reason you do this is because very few people can organize their ideas as they write them. Do not fool yourself into thinking that you are one of them because, chances are, you are not. If you are, you'll know it, but you're probably not, so just listen to me for right now.

When you look at your 1 - 5 pages of random thoughts and ideas that formed as you wrote, you notice that they are no chronological order...at all. Unless you're one of those people mentioned above, you're going to have to reorganize. This is where classic pencil and paper come in hand.



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Section 1.3 - Organizing
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On paper, you can draw arrows, cross things out, and do double-arrows because it is much easier than the "control-x ... control-v" or the "control-c ... control-v" formula of the computer keyboard. Also, it helps to visual recognize what you are moving, removing, or reformulating.

So look at your thoughts as written on your monitor. Scroll down, if you can, and keep looking. Sit and think for a second. That's right, don't do anything but sit and think long and hard. Think these thoughts:

Where am I going to start the story?
Why am I going to start there instead of somewhere else?
Who is my main character?
What is he/she like?
why is he/she like this?
Why is he in the position that he is in?
Can I tell his background with a good flashback?*
Who is the antagonist?
Why is he/she like?
Etc.

*If the flashback travels to time before you want to tell your story (as in the starting point of the game), it is still considered the beginning of your story. Develop everything from the start of the flashback timeline to the start of your game.

You get the idea. These are just a few of the questions to ask yourself. Now you get to deepen the story with a little more...depth.



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Section 1.4 - Adding the Details
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No good story just has the basics. Every riveting story that you've ever seen, read, or played, had intricate details that hinted at character traits, past events, or even strengthened events to come. These are elements that any writer who wants to create a compelling book, screenplay, stageplay, or game should know.

The details of your game need to accomplish one of three things:

Allusion to past events
Foreshadowing
Revelation of character trait (strength and flaw)

While a certain detail should only accomplish one of these things at a time, all of these things should be accomplished, but spread evenly before the plot twist/climax of your story.

Adding these details doesn't necessarily mean adding dialogue and the length of the main character's cowlick. Just event details. Don't make a timeline on a piece of paper like you did for a book report in 1st Grade. We're all adults now. Just add events that will add to the depth of the story. I really don't know another way to say this.



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Section 1.5 - Proofreading
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Ah, the best part of the writing process. Note the sarcasm.

Proofreading actually is one of the most constructive parts of writing. We are, often, our own worst critics. We note our flaws in writing, ideas, structure, and even use of numbers (depending upon your plot). Go through and fix, not only sentence structure and spelling, but your flow of ideas. Sometimes a writer will place an idea in the wrong spot because that's the exactl moment that he thought of it. This happenes, so catch it an fix it. While it probably won't show up in the game, the readers will be thrown for a loop when an idea is presented out of place.

While you're proofreading, use paragraphs to separate general ideas. One thing that I've noticed when proofreading other writing is that everything gets turned into one large massive paragraph that makes it difficult to discern from one idea and the next.



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Section 1.6 - Proofreading Again
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Yeah, that thing you just did? Do it again. Also, it helps to get a family member or close friend to do the proofreadings. You always need another set of eyes on what you've written, because sometimes, when you spot mistakes, occasionaly you will refuse to admit that it is a mistake and leave it as a mistake. Also, some family and friends may bring up grammatical mistakes that you never even realized were mistakes. This will go a long way in presentation.



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This marks the end of Chapter 1 - Forming the Story
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[Edited by - Hudaw on June 18, 2010 11:28:06 AM]

Chapter 2 - Presentation


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Section 2.1 - Why It's Crucial
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Presentation is possibly the one thing that many people have so much difficulty with. They have High School classes for this, people ignore them, and then wonder why they can't communicate their ideas with clarity. Well, you can either take a class, or listen up. The second one is much cheaper and only costs a dime of your $24.95 a month for Internet.

It is very important that your presentation be very appealing and very organized. Professionals look for this kind of thing and will be more drawn to your project if, not only is your idea intriguing, but your presentation is clean and attractive. I cannot tell you how many potential ideas I have seen ruined because the presentation was rushed and sloppy.

Remember that your presentation says a lot about you as well. It shows if you're willing to take the time to clean things up, to make things not only be exciting and interesting, but to look that way as well. This will surely take practice but will pay off in the long run, as tedious as it may seem now.



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Section 2.2 - Successful Presentation
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People like to see colors, different fonts, styles, and a little bit of white space. If the forum you're presenting on disables colors, such as GameDev does, then opt for the other 3. Check the headings of each of the sections in this handbook. IF you notice, they are separated by some whitespace and are bolded and italicized. It also may be a good idea to use some dashes to separate them. People are very visual, and you have to help your readers separate ideas as much as possible.

Not only that, but make sure that when you begin your post, you have an outline of everything you want to cover in a separate word document for reference. You don't necessarily have to post it as I have done with the Table of Contents, but make sure you have your ideas well organized. Also, be sure to check for mandatory templates, such as the one that GameDev uses.

In addition, be careful not to use uncommon language. Your presentation isn't a school essay, it's an advertisement, of sorts. Try to be down-to-earth, and definately make sure that everything is capitalized correctly, puncuation is implace, spelling is good, etc., because these things, while they seem tedious and unnecessary, go a very long way. Try reading a post without punctuation, or proper spelling. It is very difficult to see where one idea ends and another begins. Capitalization isn't crucial, but it adds to the attractiveness of the post when the correct words are capitalized.



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Section 2.3 - Accepting Criticism
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The toughest thing to sit through, not just for writers, but for anybody, is negative criticism, but let's cover the different kinds.

Constructive criticism seems to be our favorite. We hear good things about our writing and a few suggestions, but there's nothing negative about our ideas. The author of the positive post seems to enjoy your thoughts and has little to say to the contrary. This kind of post boosts our morale and drives us onward with more ideas just as good if not better than the others. We adore this post because we feel accomplished. This kind of post also takes you away from the truth momentarily...your writing simply is not perfect. Though the first few posts said nothing bad, that doesn't mean you can't make improvements. In fact, many people take positive criticism as their cue that they are done with the story. This is an aboslutely awful idea. While this criticism is the best for raising self-esteem, it's the worst for spurring on a better storyline.

The second kind of criticism is the least common: Objective criticism. The author of the critique doesn't let his feelings over the storyline, genre, or presentor get in the way of his judgement, and this is very hard to pull off. You get honest feedback on what is good and what needs to be improved. This kind of critique is very down to earth and still very friendly while remaining perfectly objective.Very few times will it boost your self esteem, but it will give you insight on what you should look into changing or removing. While you may not admire the author of this criique, you should respect his opinion simply because it is the toughest criticism to produce, and more often than not, it is correct.

The final criticism is the one we all dread: negative criticism. Very few people want to hear their ideas put down and stomped into the mud, but a select few do...and those are the great writers. While it may lower your self-esteem, negative critiques give you almost brutally honest viewpoints of everytinhg wrong with your idea. While some may be biased, they are still things you need to look a and consider. It is very tough to take to heart, and occasionally you want to punch the guy right in the mouth for how rudely he points out your rather less-than-perfect ideas. But it helps you grow as a person and a writer to see your mistakess and change them based on their biased and rude viewpoints of others. Also, don't respond to such a post. It's a complete waste of your time.



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Section 2.4 - If It's Ignored
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This is a very difficult topic to get through to people who seem to get their ideas shot down. I won't make this section long.

It's very disappointing when you post your idea and no one seems to respond to it. You sit on your computer all day, refreshing the page only to see that you have gotten no replies and gained only 2 views. It's very disheartening to know that you seemingly wasted your time and that your idea must be awful. Do not think this, it is simply the wrong way to feel.

If your idea is ignored, it may be that a topic was recently posted that has spurred a lot more interest, and your post was lost in the heat. If this is the case, wait a few days for the insanity to die down and then, ever so lightly, bump your topic with the word, *bump*. Another tactic is to add ideas to the post while it's being ignored. IF you can clean up your presentation and errors before anyone gets to it, it'll go a long way. If this fails, try another forum. It may just be that you have to repeat the outlined steps in sections 1.1-2.2. If you've done that, and still nothing happens, it may be best just to find another hobby. You may not be cut out for writing. If you really love games, you'll try programming, coding, mapping, or modelling. Don't give up on the gaming community just yet ;).



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This marks the end of Chapter 2 - Presentation
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Chapter 3 - From Paper to Program

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Section 3.1 - Forming the Team
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Now that you have written and presented your ideas, as well as accepted or denied applications, it's time to bring your team together. OF course, this part of the process has nothing to do with writing the game, so I may cover that in a separate article.

The writer's job, when forming or joining the team, is to have a personal discussion with nearly every team member or section leader. You have to inform everyone, personally of the story and how it pertains to their job. While you may not have time to do this in live chat with everyone, you can E-mail people. Pick a group to start out with, say the Concept Artists, and create one e-mail, and then forward it to the whole concept team. Continue this with every group: programmers, voice actors, mappers, etc. You will most likely be asked questions, so answer them. Do not stand apart from your team, otherwise they will have no idea what to do as far as single-player is concerned.



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Section 3.1 - Rebuilding the Plot
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While you must stay out of everyone else's business, the chance of people giving you suggestions are very high. Team members who have no writing experience whatsoever will toss you their ideas. Your job, as the writer, is to, at the very least, truly consider these ideas, because while you are not a coder/programmer/artist and cannot suggest anything in these fields, everybody has ideas, and there is a good chance that some of them are very good. It always helps to have another set of eyes on the project.

Aside from this, you're going to have to do something very difficult. Do you remember when I said that the idea-making process is the second hardest part of writing? Well you're about to do the toughest thing right now: you're going to have to change all of your ideas and plot elements. This is, if you are part of a select group. This is something that every game writer dreads: their ideas not being able to be produced in the game.

For most of you, your ideas are not so massive that computing power can't handle them for the next few years (and remember that computing power doubles continuously every two or three years). For those of you dreaming up something a little more massive than Mass Effect, you're going to have to change a few things, unless you're willing to do what James Cameron did with Avatar and wait 20 years to release your story.

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Just a side-note, but you would think that, over the course of 20 years, he would have found a way to make that movie a little stronger. This is a side-lesson. If your writing sits around and you wanna whip it out, change a few things and work on it. Chances are that you'll hate half of what you read if you've matured as a writer since you first formulated your idea.
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Your team will let you know if your ideas are within their abilities or modern-day computing power. If they aren't, you may have to change your story a little bit, and possibly even shorten it.



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Having to Change
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It's very difficult to change anything about your plot. It's set in stone, right? Several of your sequences are based around gameplay ideas that can't be handled. These sequences are also key in the story...or so you think.

The first thing you have to do is look at the very big picture. When you created your plotline, you made a general outline (hopefully). Decide what you can remove from your plot that isn't in the outline and won't risk making the story vague. Make sure that everything you have is totally necesarry and cannot, in any way, be removed without risking the intergrity of the tale you have woven since day 1. If you can't do this, put it away and try another idea. Wait it out for a couple years. Your idea probably won't be taken, at least not exactly.

However, if there are elements that you can remove, make sure that you do so without leaving a giant space between plot events like you just yanked your own tooth out. IF you need to, don't be ashamed to get suggestions from your team. Don't be afraid to let them know that you're struggling a little bit. Let them help you, because then everybody will be aware of the changes you've made, and this helps the concept artists especially. It's a tough stage of the development process, but if you get through it, you have a great chance of getting the game constructed.



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Section 3.4 - Communicating
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You have to be actively speaking with your team and accessible at all times. There is nothing worse than a writer or project leader who can't be contacted when needed. This doesn't mean you need to troll the internet and stay on the computer until you enter an epilleptic seizure. It means that, every moment you have free, you should be on a predetermined form of live-chat, and if you cannot be, you should check your E-mail whenever it's convenient. If you are going to be away from the project, let people know and appoint a second-in-command who shares your vision and ideas and knows what you want. Do not just disappear without a trace. Excuse my informality, but that's a great way to piss people off.

IF you are easily accessible, your team will work like a well-oiled clock. You must be ready to respond to any questions or problems that the team has and be able to formulate and intelligent, or at least, honest response. If you don't know the answer to a problem, do not give a false answer in hopes that you're right, and don't simply say that you don't know. Research it, look it up, find out the solution to a problem. The internet is huge. Someone else has surely had the same problem.



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Section 3.5 - Working With More Than Just the Writers
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By this time, you should know that there is more to the team than the writing staff. You will need to communicate with everyone.

I would like to share with you one lesson that I have learned the difficult war. I was the lead writer for a project titled Era of Darkness. It was to be a star Wars game, available for free. Circumstances prevented me from writing, so I handed my position to someone else until I was able to return. When I did return, I noticed the project was at a standstill, so I hijacked other people's jobs, specifically mapping and music.

Let me tell you that this does not blow over well. While you need to be involved, do not look over everyone's shoulder all the time, even if you are the project lead. Give people their space. As the writer, your job is to write, not do anything else. Unless you think that products developed by the team do not fit the story, let them do their jobs. Trust me. Please, I beg you.

However, this does not mean you should isolate yourself. You should be actively looking at people's work, while not dictating every single detail. Not every product will fit your exact vision, and it shouldn't have to, but it should be vaguely close. Be carefully not to be too much of a perfectionist because this will really vex people. Be close, but not too close. Give people space, but not too much space.



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Section 3.6 - Finalization
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If everything else in the game creation process has happened, it's about time to begin discussing cutscenes, which means speaking with your voice actors, should you have them. If you do, you will have to make sure to inform them of each character so that they interpret the script correctly as you have laid it out. However, may I remind you that if you tell them exactly how to act in every single cutscene, you might as well do the voice acting yourself, which may not be a badidea unless you cannot voice act. This goes right back to giving people space.

Also, your actors will probably have suggestions as well. I cannot stress enough that you must consider them.

Make sure that your dialogue is strong and exactly where you want it before you had it to the voice actors. Nothing ruins a cutscene more than a corny line that you forgot to look at. By the time you realise your mistake, it will probably already be all over the internet. You've come too far to let the game be ruined by a crappy cutscene. Don't quit now. Drive all the way through. You may think that you're out of energy, out of ideas, but you're not. Keep digging deep for some new material. It'll come to you.



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Section 3.7 - The Wrap-Up
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You're almost done, don't give up now. I'm talking about the article. You're done with the game at this stage, most likely.

You face a lot of questions after the game is released, mainly the big one: "What's next?". IF you enjoyed working with the team and the feeling is mutual, it may be a good idea just to talk to each other online and keep in contact. Unless you've planned on making a sequel, you will part ways and work on other projects, but your first team shares a special bond, as cliche as this sounds. Remember each other when you have an open position for their focus. You just made some great friends...if the project went well, that is.

Don't forget these guys or gals. They probably won't forget you. You'll see each other on the street someday and won't know it, but you'll see their screenname online and you'll be tempted to talk to them. Do it. Stay connected. You have made some really good friends. Keep each other up to date on what you're doing.

If you make money from your game, don't be in too much of a rush to make another. Sit back and enjoy the income. And rememeber, video games are not life. While you make a living off of writing for them, they are not the most important thing in your life. It is a very well-paying hobby, game design. Don't take it to far. Don't ruin your life. Enjoy the people you see around you daily, and while you will have to connect to your game team, don' disconnect from your family and friends.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope that you learned something from this and that it will help you through your next big idea.

Happy Gaming!

[Edited by - Hudaw on June 18, 2010 2:53:07 AM]

Please make the dashed dividers in the first post shorter so they don't stretch the screen. [smile] Also, were you looking for some kind of feedback?

It wouldn't be a bad thing, but I would appreciate if it could wait until I've finished posting Chapter 3

May I suggest posting your article somewhere else? Like in a blog or a webpage. Having chapters and people comments in the same discussion, it may become very difficult to read.

That's not a bAD idea, but I wanted to post it here to help the writers the develop games. I may probably just add Chapter 3 onto the Chapter 2 post

Finished. The topic is now open to suggestions.

Since this forum's topic, and this thread's title, are "writing" (not "game design,") why does your paper have sections on Presentation and Forming a Team?

Since when does a STORY have to be presented, to whom does it have to be presented, and what is the reason for presenting it? Story is not game concept, story is not game design, and since when does a professional development group accept story pitches rather than game concept pitches?

Why is a team needed at all, since all the writer has created from your outline is a story (not a game design)? And if a team is being formed, what's the business plan? What's the purpose for forming the team -- to make this one game? And if so, for what purpose? https://www.igda.org/games-game-june-2010

Because writing still has to do with the game design process. The writer has to be very active in this process, and if the writer is the team leader, he still has a responsibility, not only as the writer, but as a leader as well. So perhaps I chose the wrong title and went against my own rules xD

Re:

Tom was referring to this statement:

Quote: Professionals look for this kind of thing and will be more drawn to your project if, not only is your idea intriguing, but your presentation is clean and attractive. I cannot tell you how many potential ideas I have seen ruined because the presentation was rushed and sloppy.

Tom:

Quote: [T]o [what professionals] does it have to be presented[?...] ince when does a professional development group accept story pitches rather than game concept pitches? <!–QUOTE–></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><!–/QUOTE–><!–ENDQUOTE–><br><br><hr><br><br>Re: Formatting<br><br>I like the formatting of your post. But Gamedev does allow colored text. See <a href="http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=264375">this thread</a> for example. However, not everyone uses the same background color. It also allows some HTML code such as hr as a divider. <br><br><br>Re: Timeline<br><br>What is an example of timeline that you shouldn't make?<br><!–QUOTE–><BLOCKQUOTE><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width="95%"><tr><td class=quote><!–/QUOTE–><!–STARTQUOTE–>Don't make a timeline &#111;n a piece of paper like you did for a book report in 1st Grade. <!–QUOTE–></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><!–/QUOTE–><!–ENDQUOTE–><br>What is an example of an outline that you should make?<br><!–QUOTE–><BLOCKQUOTE><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width="95%"><tr><td class=quote><!–/QUOTE–><!–STARTQUOTE–>The first thing you have to do is look at the very big picture. When you created your plotline, you made a general outline (hopefully).<!–QUOTE–></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><!–/QUOTE–><!–ENDQUOTE–>