5 tongue-in-cheek game writing exercises that are a more realistic representation of what most game writers do (in my experience) than a branching dialog tree:
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I was gonna reply with "Ooh, I hope we get the writing exercises thread" on your earlier post but then I refreshed the app and saw this so I feel blessed haha ^^
ONE: You're writing ultimate ability lines for a hero character in a pvp game. Her personality is "hot valkyrie with a katana." Write 20 lines for her, no more than 3 seconds each when spoken aloud or your audio director will hate you because she's chattering over gameplay.
My wings are up here
I'm just to die for
You look better in pieces
Slash of the Heavens
Sisters protect us
World tree's grace
By baulder's will
Fang of Fenrir (Could double as a skin)
TWO: The player can unlock 20 different motorcycles. Name each motorcycle and write a lore blurb for it that is no longer than 80 words. The only thing you can visually change about the motorcycle is its color, the model is already locked and is identical for each motorcycle.
Definitely worked on a game where we had to come up with 30 legally distinct names for various fire arms that fit the tone and lore of our game (lore: it’s near modern day and military).
Thinking about this one non-stop while playing Infinity Nikki. I love imagining the people working on dozens of INTENSELY on-theme eyebrow customization options and I sometimes wish I were one of those people.
THREE: Write a script for an NPC meant to help guide players through a tutorial. The NPC needs to be hilarious, not break the fourth wall, and also instruct the player on these subjects: how to fish, do a backflip, and change their graphics settings.
FOUR: This NPC will ask the player to kill 40 forest wolves, 9 times. Write a short blurb that explains why this NPC needs the player to kill 360 forest wolves for some reason. Make it heartwarming, bleak, and memorable, but also keep in mind 98% of players won't read it.
"My missus left me for a wolf. Least that's what my granddaughter told me. I think. Anyway, I hates the buggers. If you could please kill 40 for me, one for every year we was married. "...but when you go back he doesn't remember it and asks you again and again.
FIVE: We have a level. It's already fully complete with final art. It's an island with a volcano made out of literal donuts. Please write the intro VO a NPC will speak to the player which explains volcano donut island. No, it can't be funny. This game is extremely serious in tone
"There it is... Donut Island... The volcano has always been somewhat active but it hasn't erupted in hundreds of years...though the last time it did was disastrous.
Scary how something so innocent looking could take so many lives. I still shiver in fear hearing about the fossilized remains..."
Depends on what explaining means in this context. Is it the lore of why it's a volcano made out of donuts, or just lore of the volcano, that just happens to be made out of donuts? Do you just need to write well enough that people don't even question walking on donut art, or is it food in-universe?
Whether we wanted it or not we’ve stepped into a war with the Syndicate on Hard Crack Island. So let’s get to taking out their leadership one by one. Bolus Insularis. He commands the Croissants from an Iced Cake Donut just outside of Mapleglaze. He’s well protected, but with the right team, we can…
Tempted to save this thread and use it as a test assignment for potential hires.
(actual use case from my basket: there is a branching quest. It has 15 steps total. Give each step a descriptive, unique header that can't be more than 20 characters)
Honestly this feels like a good writing exercise just generally.
Being able to properly treat a ridiculous situation dead serious both A: is a genuine skill, and B: has been what's led to some of the best things that I have ever seen.
“legend tells it that The Baker either couldn’t count or wouldn’t be limited to just a dozen. The Candlestick Maker, sick of tripping on donuts, traded wax for magma and, well, i’ll let you figure out the rest. we’ve got a long climb ahead of us if we’re to stop it from erupting.”
NARRATOR: The Hole in the World. If you needed proof that god's got a sick sense of humour, this is the place to visit. No one knows how it came to be. Cosmic joke? Psychic manifestation? Whatever the cause, no one laughs when molten sugar rains down on their face. Pray the volcano stays dormant.
SIX: Write a scenario about Jeff the blind gunslinger and how he returns to his hometown and foolishly falls in love with his childhood friend who betrayed him. Now rewrite the scenario so that it makes sense now that Jeff has been entirely cut from the game. You must only use existing assets.
Closest thing I had to this was writing the script for Heroes Reborn: Enigma (mobile room puzzler) and I had 10 casual VO nags per step. The embedded producer (from the TV show company) Salieri'd me with "Too Many Nags!" Then right before ship was all "uh we need more nag variety"🤦
1: "The farmers near Heavestead are complaining about wolves taking their sheep. Normally, I go and put a few down until the rest get the message, but I just... I can't bring myself to hurt one more of those beautiful creatures."
2: "The farms near Arvendale heard about your fine work. If you could find it in your heart to go help there as well, I'm sure I could find some more gold."
"I sure hope the farmers appreciate all that you're doing for them. 175 gold, as promised."
NPC: I'm the worst tailor in the world, I know. I tear up everything I sew. My sister always made fun of me for it. But I'm determined to make a wolf fur coat. My sister, she always wanted one... and, even though she's gone, I want to prove that I could. I know I'm asking a lot, but can you ...
NPC: Ow! Well, we've found your fishing rod. Guess I'm your first catch. I'm having trouble seeing in here! How's your night vision? Can you make anything out? Take a moment, and let your eyes adjust."
SCREEN PROMPT: Press X to open graphics settings. Adjust brightness until ...
Feels like dealing with a boss who would sooner fire you than answer a question such as "How is that a character personality?" or "When does she say these lines?" or "Why do you want her to have 20 things to spout DURING GAMEPLAY if you don't also see those 20 things as PART OF THE gameplay?"
Prompts provided give me a *slight* vibe of "More of game writing than you realize is dealing with unreasonable demands and with other people's poor decisions."
The fact that you called out branching - and still me knowing how many writers are like AUGH WHAT NO WHAT NOOOO at branching - and it being SO MUCH LESS COMMON than those examples is just
In my experience almost any game would have some amount of this, depending on the size of game. Exceptions would possibly be a tight linear story game with explicit narrative focus like Disco Elysium, but even they have item blurbs that need filling out
Intriguing. I have been curious what game dialogue scripts look like.
I've wondered if, for games like Assassin's Creed (back when I was wanting to do audio editing for funsies) they had Major Character/Scenes scripts and NPC scripts both in seperate books from eachother.
And, someone will expect there to be a fully populated fan wiki for internal use instantly available that answers questions to things the game does not yet explore.
SIX: Write a heart-wrenching emotional sendoff for a beloved NPC (that assumes the player has skipped every cutscene thus far and will only hear this because it's in-game dialog)
SIX a: Hey we loved your heart wrenching emotional sendoff. It's definitely going to hit. Can you rewrite so when this scene gets posted to youtube there won't be spoilers.
Comments
they are not happy tears
Was looking for the Free Guy rip off answer here:
‘Catchphrase’
‘TBD’
‘Third One Here’
1. "hot!"
2. "Valkyrieeee"
3. "with with with"
4. "aaaaaa"
5. "katanaaaaaaaaa"
I'm just to die for
You look better in pieces
Slash of the Heavens
Sisters protect us
World tree's grace
By baulder's will
Fang of Fenrir (Could double as a skin)
Who taught you to hunt? YOU RUINED THE PELTS! Now I need double before next week. Help me out if ya could.
That's better, but now I need triple to pay for my daughter's medicine.
etc..
*Cue alpha wolf encounter outside of town*
Kid, I had no idea there was an alpha out there. Now the packs gonna be riled up. May want to clear em out.
Scary how something so innocent looking could take so many lives. I still shiver in fear hearing about the fossilized remains..."
(actual use case from my basket: there is a branching quest. It has 15 steps total. Give each step a descriptive, unique header that can't be more than 20 characters)
Being able to properly treat a ridiculous situation dead serious both A: is a genuine skill, and B: has been what's led to some of the best things that I have ever seen.
“legend tells it that The Baker either couldn’t count or wouldn’t be limited to just a dozen. The Candlestick Maker, sick of tripping on donuts, traded wax for magma and, well, i’ll let you figure out the rest. we’ve got a long climb ahead of us if we’re to stop it from erupting.”
Closest thing I had to this was writing the script for Heroes Reborn: Enigma (mobile room puzzler) and I had 10 casual VO nags per step. The embedded producer (from the TV show company) Salieri'd me with "Too Many Nags!" Then right before ship was all "uh we need more nag variety"🤦
1: "The farmers near Heavestead are complaining about wolves taking their sheep. Normally, I go and put a few down until the rest get the message, but I just... I can't bring myself to hurt one more of those beautiful creatures."
"Thank you stranger. 200 gold is yours."
"I sure hope the farmers appreciate all that you're doing for them. 175 gold, as promised."
"Didn't plan for that now did you adventurer? My clan shall be avenged!"
[WORLD BOSS HAS AWOKEN!]
NPC's name was Havoc. They should've known. Fr fr
NPC: Ow! Well, we've found your fishing rod. Guess I'm your first catch. I'm having trouble seeing in here! How's your night vision? Can you make anything out? Take a moment, and let your eyes adjust."
SCREEN PROMPT: Press X to open graphics settings. Adjust brightness until ...
Take the lead with the [name], ...
Polaris Night Racer (Black)
So fast you'll never be seen. ...
Polaris Street Racer Turbo (Red to scarlet gradient)
You want fast? Try the bleeding edge ...
Polaris Messenger (Mint)
Deliver smarter ...
Polaris Courier
Understated. ...
"Taste Valhalla's edge!"
"Join the Allfather!"
"Götterdämmerung!"
"Die with a sword in your hand!"
"Come, ride with me!"
"Taste Valhalla's sakura!"
"Join Allfather-sama!"
...Okay, the cool-sounding German word already fits.
"Mjolnir? I hardly knew her!"
"That's BRUNHILD to you!"
"Take that back to Jotenheim and smoke it!"
"Nibelung on THIS!"
Fucking OUCH
:-)
I've wondered if, for games like Assassin's Creed (back when I was wanting to do audio editing for funsies) they had Major Character/Scenes scripts and NPC scripts both in seperate books from eachother.
I like the motorcycles I came up with, though.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lRb7TXS3wvvo-5fGK_NbahsoGZtOK8yXDDxtu6LCyBU/edit?tab=t.0
Even now, I could complete all five assignments in under an hour with a smile on my face.