Callthe
sCript
doCtor
games often change direction
mid-development, so how does
that affect stories?Oneofthetrickiestaspectsofgames
developmentis realisingwhenthings
aren’tworkingout.So,whatcanyoudoif
yourealisethatthenarrativeyou’vebeen
painstakinglycraftingforyourgamehas
gonepear-shaped?Theansweris tocalla
scriptdoctortowhipit intoshape.
Specificscriptdoctorsdon’texist,but
thepracticedoes,asRhiannaPratchett
explains:“I coinedtheterm‘narrative
paramedic’manyyearsagotomakea
jokeaboutthewaywriterswereoften
usedin games,whichwasbasicallybeing
parachutedin neartheendofa projectto
saveanailingstory.It’sstilla common
practice,althoughit is lessening.”
WillPortershedsmorelight.“There’s
littledoubtthere’smorerespectfor
writersandnarrativethesedays,but
ultimatelyduringthecourseofdesign,a
gamewillnaturallyevolveandchangein
thedirection(hopefully)ofmakingit more
fun,”hesays.“Thisresultsin cuts,
changesandredirection– whichoften
resultsin scriptsurgery,nomatterthe
goodintentiongoingintoa project.
Clearlytherearesuccessfuloutliersto
thisbutoverallit’s,tome,thenatureof
thebeast.Thetrickis in makingthe
stitchingin thissurgeryashardto
distinguishaspossible.”can be easier to get your voice and viewpoint
heard and represented in the game. With
triple-A you get more shiny, bigger budgets
and access to the highest quality performers
and other talent. You can see your narrative
realised on a completely different scale.
However, it’s much harder to get your voice
heard on bigger teams.
“Game writing used to be somewhat of
a free-for-all in the past, often crafted by
whoever had the time and inclination to do it,
rather than skilled professionals,” Pratchett
continues. “That created a residual feeling
that anyone can do the writing – because
anyone did – and as a result, writers can
often get treated as secretaries for other
people’s ideas and the machinations of
would-be writers. This often leads to story-
by-committee scenarios, which are the stuff
of game writers’ nightmares.”
Where next for narrative?
It would be nice if big publishers suspended
their rush to make their shareholders richer,
in order to think in a more philosophical,
holistic manner about the nature of games
as a medium. To give publishers some
credit, narrative games are still being made:
Resident Evil 2, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
and the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen
Order, published by Capcom, Activision and EA
respectively, show that they’re not dead. But
is there a way to marry story-led experiences
and games-as-a-service mediums?
Rockstar Games, with its huge resources
and willingness to give its games long
development cycles, has shown that it is
possible to make narratively rich games that
also function as games-as-a-service. And it
will be fascinating to see what Bungie can do
with Destiny now that it has full control over
the franchise.
Writing good stories for games is hard, and
it would be a travesty if the top publishers
used that as an excuse to abandon narrative.
But the irony is that, as Pratchett points out,
it’s only recently that games writing evolved
into something resembling a proper discipline:
“When I first started out in games writing, I
didn’t have any mentors, or writers’ rooms. I
was often the only writer on a project. I had
to succeed and fail on the job and work it out
for myself as I went along. Now writers coming
up have more support, options and space to
grow. I’m slightly jealous. What started out as
a dirt track is now a proper road.”
Let’s hope this anti-narrative climate is a
speed hump, rather than a cul-de-sac. nMore Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm the official xbox magazine 067