Yeah, the pet guide thing pretty much already is an article. I went looking for the FAQ about how to formally submit something as an article, but there doesn't seem to be a contributor agreement in place yet, and I wanted to read that first. I also have art-related reference disgrams over at deviant art that I'd be happy for someone else to include in a larger art article, as they are too small to count as articles on their own. And I have a class I taught online on the subject of designing a cast of characters (the concept art portion of the design) which I could convert into an article without too much trouble.

Here's my attempt at starting this article about writing for games. It's going to get a lot longer - the following section will be a history of major developments in fiction theory, then there will be a part about how to develop a plot synopsis and other stuff I haven't decided yet. Suggestions are welcome. Specifically, is what I've written here so far understandable? Is it presented in the best order, or would rearranging it somehow be better? Is there anything else you think should be covered in this first section before I switch to the history section?

Story Is Meaning

Writing for games is a challenging subject to talk about. First one has to correct the confused people who think it has anything to do with game programming. Nope. We are talking about writing stories for games, though writing documentation and sales copy for games can also legitimately be considered writing for games. But even if we establish that we only want to talk about creating game stories, there are a ridiculously large variety of things that count as game stories.

Types of Game Stories

Some games have no text or spoken dialogue within the game itself. These games may rely on the promotional copy surrounding the game to orient the player, or they may rely on the graphics, gameplay, and sound to tell a wordless story, or they may consider the game elements to be toys which the player can use to tell their own stories. Wordless stories can range from extremely simple to as elaborate as a dialogue-less movie. Toy-like elements can range from only slightly under the player's control to completely under the player's control, and can range from a sparse set of abstract symbols to a rich visual "dictionary" of symbols.

Whether told with words, graphics, gameplay, or a mix of all three, game stories can be divided into linear stories and non-linear stories. Some games have a completely linear story. A linear story could be completely separate from the gameplay (for example, by being told in between gameplay sessions) or it could be woven into the gameplay. There are even visual novels where there is significantly more story than gameplay. Linear game stories are the most similar to traditional screenplays, comic scripts, novels, and short stories. Some games have a linear story as the game's 'spine', but also have optional linear side stories that exist in a non-linear relationship to the core story and each other.

Some interactive stories branch, with the player's dialogue choices and/or gameplay actions pushing the story toward one ending or another. Other interactive stories don't use branches, but instead use story modules which have no real relationship to each other except in the player's head, though they may effect a state machine or meters/counters which describe the playable character's stats and abilities, or which model an NPC or faction's attitude toward the player character. Some games generate minimal story modules to give variety to recurring quests, these are not in a linear relationship with anything else in the game.

I think that all of these approaches to story, or even lack of story, in a game are equally valid. (Though I'll confess to a personal preference for games that have plenty of story rather than only a little.) At any rate, we've established that there are several different types of game stories. So now let's look at what they all have in common. What is it that makes a story a story?

[Sidebar insert thingy: "If this is too abstract for your tastes, allow me to recommend the book Story by Robert McKee as a great practical introduction to writing screenplays and survey of many of the important concepts in modern how-to-write theory. Screenplay scripts are the most similar popular format to game scripts, and this book is both beginner-friendly and a good one-stop-shop for a beginner or intermediate writer who isn't looking for a deep exploration of theory."]

Actually, let's leave the “what” aside for a minute (I'll come back to it), and instead consider “why”. Why do people consume stories? Why are stories an important element of games? Stories are ancient. People have been telling each other stories since long before writing was invented. Stories are fundamentally human; a person who was unable to understand stories would be regarded as having severe mental damage. Terry Pratchett suggests that humans would be more accurately called “pan narrans” than “homo sapiens”. Like birds showing off their plumage, the little anecdotes we hear and tell in our everyday social interactions are an important part of how we judge each others' attractiveness as friends or potential mates.

Stories are not just for entertainment; they accomplish all sorts of work, both between individuals and within an individual mind. Stories can persuasively communicate complex ideas, such as morals and problem-solving techniques, which are more awkward to try to explain in some non-narrative way. Stories are how we develop our own identities and develop mental models of others' which help us anticipate their behavior and opinions. Stories are how we understand the past, how we deduce who committed a crime and what would be a just punishment. Stories are how we imagine the future, both how to get to desirable results and how to avoid undesirable results. Stories are pleasurable because they can affect our emotions in a way that has been variously compared to getting a massage, riding a roller coaster, and having sex.

Music and sequential art (which includes animated and live-action video) share this near-magical ability to create an emotional experience for an audience; when all three art forms are combined into a game, then made interactive with programming, tremendously powerful experiences can be created. We can begin working our way back to the question of what story is by starting here. What do these three art forms have in common?

They are chronological; they don't just supply a single input to the audience's mind, like most visual art, but instead a whole sequence of inputs. (Any programmers in the audience may want to contemplate the similarity to coding in an interpreted language, where audience members are providing their own assorted versions of the interpreter.) Chronicity is important not just to show a sequence of time, but specifically to show change over time. These three art forms exhibit grammar-like structure: Beginning, middle, end, modular clauses, sequences of parallel items with minor variations, earlier elements that reference later elements, and vice versa. Pattern recognition is how human brains, animal brains, and computer programs decide where to direct their attention at any given time. The grammatical patterns of sequential forms of communication, whether verbal, visual, or musical, direct the attention of the audience to regard some elements of the composition as background context and others as the object to be contemplated, and possibly manipulated. Whether the manipulation is done directly by the creator, indirectly through a character, or by the player, this activity is like an experiment, with the composition presenting the results for the audience's evaluation, and perhaps education.

I suspect most of you are not all that interested in semiotics (the study of signs, syntax, and meaning). So, let's get more concrete. So far we've said that a story is a communication about how some things change over time. Okay; what things?

At its most basic, a story is about a being trying to accomplish a goal. It can also be about one being with multiple goals, multiple being with one goal, or multiple beings with multiple goals. This being is called the protagonist, a word meaning "one who takes action toward [a goal]". If two of these beings have opposing goals, the other one is called the antagonist, "one who takes action against". (Other characters or groups of characters besides these two can have goals, but that's going deeper into character roles than I want to do here. To make it a good story, the being(s) ought to have emotions and motives driving them to accomplish their goal(s), and there ought to be obstacles for the being(s) to struggle against in the attempt to reach their goal(s). I say being here, instead of human or person, because although humans are the most common main characters, animals, aliens, robots, computer programs, and anthropomorphised inanimate objects can work just as well.

One might assume that in a game this being is usually the player, but this varies depending on the game's genre. In real life, many of us spend at least half of our daily effort toward accomplishing others' goals, and even our own personal goals are often suggested by or imitated from others. It's much easier for a game to provide a goal and ask the player to adopt that goal than it is for the game to allow the player to choose a goal. It's certainly possible to ask the player what their motives are and what goal they want to accomplish within the game, but it's complicated and not very efficient to provide such a wide range of game content that you can allow to player to pursue and accomplish any goal they might think of. Imposing a motive onto the player or assuming that the player will agree with a motive is simpler but problematic, because the player might disagree with the provided goal or motive. If the goal is the core gameplay and the motive is the core game concept it can be safely assumed that the player decided these were acceptable before purchasing the game. One of the purposes of advertising copy and packaging is to tell users what kind of activity the game is offering them (and why it will be fun). An example: in tycoon games the object is to become the best at some type of money-making venture; the fact that a game is a tycoon-type is often specified right in the game's title. Or in racing games the goal is to win races, and probably upgrade your car along the way; a screenshot showing an in-progress race can communicate this easily. Someone who objects to earning money isn't going to even start playing a tycoon game, and someone who has a philosophical objection to competitions isn't going to start playing a racing game. What you don't want to do is take a player who is there to kill bad guys and assume that they are enthusiastically motivated to grow plants, or take a player who is there to solve puzzles and assume that they are enthusiastically motivated to race on dragonback, or many other possible motive/gameplay mismatches.

What about an article on why games need writers? Most companies build a game and then tag on some in house to do some writing to tie the bits together and add dialogue. Considering how cheap it is to hire a writer its a shame that they don't do it more often. So it would be interesting comparing and contrasting games that have had writer from an early stage or used professional writers to showcase how it improves the overall quality of the finished product.

What about an article on why games need writers? Most companies build a game and then tag on some in house to do some writing to tie the bits together and add dialogue. Considering how cheap it is to hire a writer its a shame that they don't do it more often. So it would be interesting comparing and contrasting games that have had writer from an early stage or used professional writers to showcase how it improves the overall quality of the finished product.

Um... this IS an article about why games need writers? I mean, it's aimed at writers, you were probably thinking something aimed at producers or lead designers who aren't writers. But my article is titled Story Is Meaning, and I've got some paragraphs there about why stories are important.