"I just made this amazing, ground-breaking, emotional game!" "Who is the protagonist" "A white, shaved head, male!"

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.” Ernest Hemingway

(Hmm... picture from IGN)

Why is it that I can remember more about an animate glove from a N64 game that came out in 1998 then I can about Marcus Fenix? Don’t get me wrong, I like the Gears franchise, played all three games and paid close attention but I honestly can not tell you one really distinguishing characteristic about him. His father was important... and he is sorta of dating that girl whose name begins with an A, ummm Anya, I think. My personal problem with that series is that while the world they have created is quite fascinating, the lead does not get me emotionally invested at all in his story. “He’s a badass” is fast losing flavor as the go-to option for a character trait. Long after you forget you’ve played a game, or every twist of the story is lost in the deep recesses of your memory, guess what you will remember? The characters that made the game interesting, the ones who you cared about, that you wanted to kill or protect, to spend the night with or punch in the face. To elicit a GENUINE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE from you, the player.

It’s not enough to like a character, you have be invested in that character, they have to so many sides to them that they will surprise you and make you want to dig further into their past, their families, their wants and needs. While this is by no means required for every NPC or player character in every game the core cast needs to fulfill these requirements or else the story will lose a lot of its punch. How can I care about the giant robot that kidnapped my girlfriend if I know more about comboing then her? Let me end the post with this, who of the following do you remember the most? Please leave a comment with your answer.

Jason Brody

Vaas Montenegro

Hoyt Volker

Blog Intro

On the problem of video game endings (I'm looking at you Mass Effect 3)

(picture from here)

I know it’s coming....

While my first official blog post probably should not be about something that for the most part is done and over but since I know people are going to ask, I’d rather just give my two cents and be done with it. I love Mass Effect, it was my favorite franchise from this current generation of games, I love the style, the universe, the characters, how they go the extra steps to back up everything they do with detail, juicy details. Yes I was not fan of the ending to Mass Effect 3, it was a fumble right before the end zone. Did it leave a sour taste in my mouth when I finished the game? Yes, for a few weeks but you know what? I’m adult enough to admit that the other 99% of the game was amazing, it even made me cry at certains points. So much attention has been thrown at the ending that people forget that it’s about the ride, not the destination. Everything about Mass Effect 3 was top-notch, and the writing specifically was as good as it could get. Never before in a gaming series have almost all of the plot threads been tied up so in such a satisfying way with the only stumble being the ending.

If I do succeed in breaching the world of video game writing then eventually I will face the same challenges of nailing the ending and be scrutinized by the world over. It’s a common problem in the video game industry right now.  How can you wrap up what could have been hundreds of hours of devoted playtime in a way that will satisfy everybody? I can’t say, I don’t think there is anybody alive that knows the secret to it. As far as my observations go, an ending should not cater to the fan-base but should make sense within the universe the game designers have created and try not to pull a surprise twist that late into it. Just provide closure to the people that have stuck with you for so long, they don't have to end on a happy ending but they should feel satisfied. It’s one of the reasons I hate the “woke up from a dream” endings, what that says is that all that adventure and risk was entirely worthless as there was no tangible impact of anybody's actions. Writers of the world have mostly gotten over this trope but new variations have taken it’s place. Until we can get over this type of tying things up too cleany, and take more sensible risks, then people will start to feel bored by the same tired plot points. As for the ending of Mass Effect 3, it was a risk that did not pay off, did not leave most people satisfied, and left a sour note on a great trilogy. Does that ruin Mass Effect? HELL NO!

Spoilers after link! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Spill.com's take on it

Angry Joe's

Links

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Who Am I?

Shortest: I am an aspiring game writer who has grown up with games and is focused on the development of engaging worlds and player driven stories.

Shorter: I am an aspiring game writer who has dedicated himself to video game industry. I aspire to create both long and short narratives where the player has a voice and the world captures their imagination.

Short: I'm an aspiring game writer whose first real memory is booting up my N64; it taught me the power of imagination and opened my inner eye. As we live in age where a game needs to be more than just a mindless button masher, where the player can engage and have a tangible impact on the world and characters have nuanced personalities and that do not rely on stereotypes, I have been the head writer on two gaming projects and have written for an animated show and some shorts. Most importantly, to open more inner eyes and let them challenge themselves by thinking of new ways to look at things.

Game Writing

As a young kid in the 90's there was only really one thing I cared about, games, games, games. I cared about what little stories that were there, I read through every detail that was in the little booklets (I miss those game companies btw) that came with the game and the soaked it all up. From the very first game I plugged into my N64 (Star Fox 64) I knew that I wanted to work in the game industry (the desire to become a writer came much later) and I dedicated all my education in that pursuit. Now that games have more developed story lines, larger casts and extensive plots featuring player input, writers are more important than ever. Too often, the writing portion of the game is left aside or not given the importance it deserved. It's getting constantly better and better, and I want to participate in getting the medium the respect it deserves as an art form, to captivate players and entertain them through what possibly may be sixty hours of their valuable time.  This blog will be my experiences with writing for games and my experiences with writing found today in games, what is and isn't there. (To clear up things, writing involves everything from the universe the game resides in to the actual story, although on big games this is usually spilt up between multiple writers). Hopefully some day, my name will be among the greats of the video game writers and hopefully these people will get more and more recognition by the other writers in the other mediums.

Here are some of the greats today