Video Game Writing: A Deep Dive

*talks about a niche topic for twenty minutes AGAIN*

ARTICLES REFERENCED:

FOOTAGE USED (thank you so much lol my switch cannot store more than one game at a time):

ME:

[calicow]

Hey there. You asked folks in the industry to weigh in, so I wanted to take a moment to do that. I work as a narrative designer and have also worked for many years either in that field or in the general field of game writer. I will say it was super refreshing to see someone talk about narrative design and what it actually is, because I've found most people have no idea. It's even hard for me to explain what I do in the context of games, but I felt you summarized it well.

I'd say you're more likely to see positions for game writers rather than scriptwriters, because I do think that term is a bit antiquated for our industry. But "game writers" is also a nothing term that means so many things depending on who's hiring for the position and the needs of their project. My team, for example, is involved in all of the preproduction aspects of narrative such as worldbuilding and character design, but they also write the dialogue that goes into the game.

One thing that could be interesting to talk about in the future is a skill I feel is unique to writers in our industry and that is the ability to write for a player. You mentioned how there has to be a balance with the gameplay, and I definitely agree. But I think why the industry has finally shied away from hiring traditional screenwriters and novelists like the old days is because what you write in the script and how it comes across in game are two vastly different things.

We do extensive playtesting to make sure the writing gets to the player at the right moment and communicates effectively. As a member of the narrative department, especially a narrative designer, you're often working with the game, systems, and level designers to sell, contextualize, and explain aspects of the game without tutorializing them.

...But that's a lot of even deeper dive nerd shit to get into. I felt your video was a great look into the importance of game writing and game writers, and I really appreciate you shedding some light on our work!

[theamandafiles]

another casual fucking masterpiece i love u i love ur brain

[zoe]

Thank you for such an interesting and thought-provoking video! I feel especially concerned as an inspiring video game translator. While the writing you are interested in in this video does not just concern language, and that no translation can entirely fix a badly written game, I do feel like I wanted to bring that point to the conversation. If you play a game that's not in the original language it was written in, I do feel like the "magic" of the game can be lost (or, in better cases, gain some magic) and that it can render the game even harder to understand. I will definitely take that more into account when thinking about my work in the future - I feel like your analysis will help me better analyze games and, therefore, better translate them. Thank you again!

[brandonsclips]

Ahh. I love how varied your videos are. Your voice is so chill <3

[kbhasi]

Ooh! I decided to listen to this to motivate myself to work on the story for a story-driven game idea I'm working on as a side project.

I like that you focused on Nintendo games, also because I'm taking inspiration from some of them, well, not only the games but also points in the GDC talks hosted by people from their internal studios.

What you mentioned about Pokémon having a key objective and a story that weaves around that reminded me of what I had imagined doing with my game idea, which is that there'd be an inner world and an outer world, along with storylines for both, and for example, events in the inner world could affect events in the outer world. That's all I can comfortably say as, because I haven't finalised the story, there are other things that are subject to change if I do ever complete developing it. One idea I had was for the player to see stories of the outer fictional world through a gameplay element that I can only think of as being like the Sunken Scrolls from the Splatoon series or Lost Pages from Grindstone. For my idea of having inner and outer fictional worlds, The Plucky Squire is the closest real game I can think of that implements such a concept.

[EatnAllMyBunk]

I really like the takeaway of imperfect stories still being worth the time of giving them a chance and offering your investment, even if they aren't paid off by a satisfying conclusion in the end. Some of my favorite games have glaring flaws that I'm completely aware of, but that doesn't stop me from loving them for aspects that I think are truly special.

[giangeegibb]

Fantastic video! I really appreciated your final point in this; I think that there's so much you can take away from and learn in any story in any medium, and video games are no exception.

[POTATO-plkt]

LETS
You are truly wonderful. Thank you for making this

[Dobutameme]

Thankful for this video essay to listen to on my way home from work tonight

[philbertius]

As a game developer weighing whether to add story heavy elements to my game, this was helpful!

Getting even deeper into the ways that story can and should be integrated with gameplay would be even more helpful. Things like “what is theme in a video game setting, ” how can story be changed to suit gameplay and vice versa, etc.

Thank you for making this!

[unitangel]

This is so cool, thank you for creating a whole video on this!

[R.W.D.-vsxl]

Despite how much of this video was saturated with games I don't have the slightest interest in, I found your points very logical and well thought out. I've done two years of work as a games writer and have done plenty of research, but I still learned something new here.

[grimfaery]

this was an amazing video i always love your commentary!!<333 also i need to play slay the princess at some point that game looks so cool

[stefaniejohansen]

I was fiending for a Salem video. Yayyy <3

[jiameiwang]

i love watching ur videos as i eat fried rice.

[Heathenshalt]

She be ridin on my narrative til i write er

[dementedsoul]

wake up babe a new salem video essay just dropped

[adisofiyan]

you said you're a guy but you sounded like woman??? oh and btw, nice video you make here, it help introduce someone who wants to start a career in video game industry writing part specifically but has no clue what or where to start honing the skill themselves or to someone who's all sucker and itchy into topics about video games in general, thank you for making this video, keep it up and wish you all the best things in the world <3

[fllowerknight]

I never knew how to explain why i dont rlly enjoy new horizons and new leaf unlike how i LOVEE gamecube AC and played wild world for 6 years and probably 40 hours a week like a dam job 😂 sOO thank you for taking the words out of my head.

[Nobody-hrgt]

i didnt even know this was ur vide what