Writing for Games - A Backstory
summary
Practical rundown: games need a deep bible creation and style guide to keep thousands of assets and 200+ developers consistent; MMOs demand massive output (six and a half years on one project, “millions of words”) and woolly scripting so any play order still reads; cinematic vignettes are used as story missions rather than quest text (Secret World) to show, not tell; single‑player work focuses on puzzle integration and tight voice work—examples include a silent player choice strategy versus voiced protagonists and experiments in player voice choice and branching that often don’t pay off.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Writing for games intro
- 1:49From Funcom to Red Thread
- 3:54What a game writer actually does
- 7:08Game world bible
- 10:00Designing game characters
- 13:09Technical writing in games
- 15:43Dialogue for video games
- 17:27Dialogue examples: The Secret World
- 25:37Dreamfall heartbreaking scene
- 33:53Writing for game genres
- 37:26Adapting to IPs
- 39:56Writing for your audience
- 40:20Q&A
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