My Creative Process
As a games writer, my favorite parts of the writing process include research, story stack generation, and character design.
Writing for games allows us as storytellers to showcase the most immersive stories imaginable with direct player interactions. By taking inspiration from our real world, we can provide infinite yet entirely relatable stories to players everywhere, making all players feel seen while also entertaining them. That’s why I love writing for games.
Hittin’ the Books
When researching a topic or reference work, I feel it’s vital to capture the elements in which I plan to adapt upon and which I plan to omit. Video games allow us to express the real world or other pieces of fiction through an entirely new lens, so noticing what would and wouldn’t work within this lens from the start is key.
Start Stackin’
After the research, and knowing what I plan to include, a story stack can be crafted! For me, I find creating a story stack to provide even more strict (but necessary) guidelines to follow for the remainder of the process, so nailing this down early is one of the most helpful tools. Keeping a consistent vision is key, and for me personally the more bumpers to write between the better! While my imagination can easily run wild and free, I find it best to put restrictions on that imagination from this point onward, ensuring a cohesive vision.
Characters? Characters.
Finally, after the game’s fantasy, actions, economy, world and high-level story have been defined, it’s time to see who will take part in said game. Characters, much like the reference works of the research phase, allow us to express incredibly real individuals, where a player has the ability to leap over the hurdle of being being a bystander to interacting with them directly. Knowing what makes each character unique, whether that’s their desires, their tone of voice, or even their hobbies, I can allow the player to feel even more immersed and invested within the story, even if these characters attributes are never explicitly stated.