The Three Pillars of Game Writing - Plot, Character, Lore - Extra Credits

Let's examine the elements that make up "game writing." Plot, characters, and lore all have to be balanced depending on the type of game you're making--knowing what to cut from your story bible is just as important as knowing what to keep.

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♪ Intro Music: "Penguin Cap" by CarboHydroM

♪ Outro Music: "Ruinous Ruins"
by Ben Briggs, Phonetic Hero

[extrahistory]

When people talk about “game writing” they usually talk about it as if it were one monolithic thing. It’s not. It’s actually three monolithic things…

[seanmurphy]

On the most broad level, this is pretty writing 101. That is to say that plot, characters, and world-building are pretty much the 3 fundamental pillars of all fiction, not just games.

[zodayn]

These pillars are relevant to pretty much all forms of writing. There was some great writing advice.

[animorph]

The plot of every JRPG ever:
A group of plucky children must band together and use the power of friendship to kill god.

[SalokinQuagsire]

It should be important to note that music is a very good way to tell a story and blend it all together. If you have a main theme you made for a game you can use motifs of that theme in impactful moments like the beginning to set up the plot, during character backstories, or even have it pop up when exploring a new place. It’s a great way to give the player a clue that something important is here. I think legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild does this very well.

[GeneralLuigiTBC]

At the risk of sounding like an obsessed fan (which, admittedly, I probably am), I think Tyranny did a pretty good job in all three of those categories--though I'll admit that the lore is probably what fascinated me the most.

[MrJumanj]

I love DHueso drawing skills, his drawings looks so alive

[NrdCool]

Great video. Personally I'd love a whole mini-series on game writing.

[asalways]

In the name of the plot, lore, and character development amen.🙏

[TheGreatNincompoop]

"Whole games can seem amazingly written, even with a paper-thin plot, so long as they deliver characters that we believe in and love."

See also: The Last of Us

[ccandrew]

Nice. I personally have 3 pillars for game development as a whole as well. I refer to them as writing(what this video discusses), presentation ( graphics, audio etc.) and gameplay (game mechanics). I tend to rate games by these 3 pillars as I find they encompass so much more than most reviews

[arturoreyescortez]

You can also trick people into thinking a game is about one of these pillars, but it's actually other pillar. For example: in Dead Space Isaac Clarke is a silent protagonist, and it seems it's because of making him and the player seem like the same person, but the twist is that Isaac is slowly becoming insane and the moment he takes off his helmet we see his face with an expression of pain and sadness; later in the second game we explore his mind while he is fighting against the madness induced to his brain. The same happens in Undertale: the protagonist and the player seem like the same person, but it's revealed at the end that the protagonist has their own name and it's questioned why they climbed Mt. Ebott (the implications are really sad).

[weirdmin]

I know this probably won’t get read but I’d like to thank y’all for all that you do, and though I may not make games your videos do inspire me to try and bring things from games to other parts of my life, as well as this video has made me realize what I’ve been missing in my D&D campaigns that always feel flat. So from the bottom of my heart I’d like to say thank you.

[BanditRants]

As a content creator myself, I must say Extra Credits never fails to deliver quality content.

[VirgilScarborough]

yes, tetris is famed for its brilliant lore and well fleshed out characters

[lilyannetherose]

When Isaac showed up for character writing, it made me daww because the artist made Isaac so cuuuute!

[johnnybadboy]

“Deliver characters to us we believe in and love”

*Life Is Strange character appears onscreen*

[lancelindlelee]

If you want a good example of this, play the Trails in the Sky Trilogy. This is a masterclass.
Plot: While the first game starts off slow, it ramps up in the end, leaving a huge cliffhanger in the end, leading upto the 2nd game. This is basically the same game, it would just be too long it were one game. All hell breaks loose here, having a beautiful conclusion. Some loose ends are then tied in the last game, which is more of a spinoff.
Character: In the first game and especially the second, you can see that each character really has their own motivation for completing the end goal. There will be a few major bosses in the game who are actually tied to the development of some of you characters. For the 2 lead characters, they have some of the best growth within any game. Character development and plot are actually highly connected.
Lore: Admittedly, one of the comparatively weaker points but still strong. In this world, all technology and magic are replaced by crystals called orbments. The significance of this is actually touched upon at certain parts of the game. The plot is also tied to the lore as the key "evil item" in the game is actually tied to some very ancient civilization that more or less established the current world. Finally, a lot of the NPCs have their own stories you are not involved in. Just interact with them in some side quests or just by talking to them after every event.
This is the best way I can describe it without spoiling it but seriously, go grab it. There is still 6 other games apart from these 3. 2 are localized and available in Steam as well, 2 are having fan translations and the last 2 were just recently released in Japan. The story of all these are highly intertwined.

[marksowders]

I love the image at 1:44, showing the many different kinds of character writing all in one place. Well done.

[roy]

I love this artist! Extra Sci-Fi was great and I hope you bring him back for more!