In Story Mode: The Creative Writer’s Guide to Narrative Video Game Design by Case, Freeze, and Pane, we get some basic ideas of the new and evolving world of video games.
Now if you’re like me you suck at video games and refuse to play them. This is due to the fact I am bad at the controls, and I lose interest fast. I also don’t like the appeal of sitting down and staying at a screen for hours. I already do that for school and at work, so it was never appealing to me.
Regardless how you feel about playing video games, the art and skill of writing video games is a field that is new to me and many others. When you think of creative writing and things people can write it’s typically along the lines of a novel, blog, news article, film/ screenplay, play, poetry, etc…. but video games are rarely on that list.
I find that to be because it’s a new field and not a lot of people are aware that it’s a venue you can take.
Getting back to Caze, Freeze, and Pane there has been a lot of discussion on the art of writing a video game. Something I took away from this chapter was it should be a goal to make the game impossible to play the same way twice. I think the idea of a game being customizable and different every play through is exciting and a new concept to me as a nonvideo game player.
They talk a lot about choice, and how choice is the most important thing to give the players. Through this choice you should allow for different kinds of genders, races, sexual orientations, etc. as well as different options in speaking roles or pathways they can take.
Choice is an important aspect of video games, especially for the player. When referring to the players themselves there are four main types of players to keep in mind. The four types of players are:
- Achievers
- Explorers
- Socializers
- Killers
To break this down in baby terms, achievers are players who play the game to get all the badges and awards. Explorers are players who run around the map and discover new people, places, and things. Socializers are players who play the game to hang out with friends or maybe like to play so they can meet new people. Killers are players who like to… well kill. Killers like to fight and battle enemies.
Keeping in mind what type of player you are writing for is helpful when writing what choices they might be making.
Comments
2 responses to “PRESS PLAY”
I totally understand the disinterest you have in video games! Honestly, I don’t love the kind of games that force you to play for long stretches of time to get to a save point; I’d rather do my thing when I want and be able to stop when I want. APICO, for example, is a beekeeping game that is one of the most chill and relaxing because while there are objectives and goals to complete, you aren’t forced to finish a task to be able to stop playing. Regardless of what type of game it is, designing a game is an art form and one that comes with many challenges and considerations. One of the major considerations, as you mention, is choice. Choices are a facet and a fact of life: we all make them in one way or another.
I feel like game creation as a subfield of writing is really starting to take off. At least, I have seen and heard a lot more about it within the past couple of years. I’d be interested to see how that process works as compared to writing a short story or a book. I know a lot of DND gamers write whole backstories, create worlds, and draft maps for their games, so I wonder how similar or different that is to writing for a digital game.
I get what you’re saying about video games, not everyone likes them. I’m kind of that same way about Xbox games. I grew up with a Nintendo controller and got obscenely good at Mario games. Nintendo controllers are the exact opposite of Xbox, so anytime that I try to play I get super confused.
I’ve struggled with implementing and understanding how to gear the interactive nonfiction game toward different types of gamers. We’re limited to a certain extent of what we can do, but I think that there are certain elements we can pull in to make it feel like you are exploring, achieving, etc.