How to write the plot for your game?

[whisperstorm]

I've heard of title like "narrative designer" and "interactive storyteller" to describe writing the "plot" for a game, but does anyone here have tips on how to go about it?

I have a vague idea based on the game mechanics of how to build the storyline, but how do you actually do it? I mean it it like building out a tree, or is it more of a traditional narrative? I am referring to the progression of the storyline along with the increased difficulty, etc.

Also, how do you edit something like this? Do you find friends to help find weak points?

I'm creating a game that is somewhat like an rpg, only there's a fairly linear storyline. I want to learn more about "narrative design" I guess.

[zoombapup]

Didnt Rhianna Pratchett write a book about this.

There are at least three books on the subject AFAIK. Try amazon?

[whisperstorm]

Thanks for the reply! I'll dig around amazon.

[Bad Sector]

You can design the storyline as a flowchart in a program such as OpenOffice Impress. Design the basic flow (begin, basic chapters, end) as a very simple chart. In each node of this simple chart (a "chapter node") add a link to a page dedicated to this node. This dedicated page will contain another chart from the beginning to the end of the chapter (with possible alternative routes, etc). Also it can contain some generic story text. Again this flowchart will contain nodes for each level which will be linked to other pages, one page for each level. The level pages will contain the full story (for that level), a possible flowchart for the level's progression, images for the level, etc.

Here is an example document i made in Impress (also in HTML and PDF, which are handy if you want to share the document with people without Impress, or -in PDF's case- print it). Note that the first nodes (because i only wrote so much :-) are clickable and go to the page for each node.

[lankoski]

My take on that is available at http://mlab.taik.fi/~plankosk/blog/?p=241
and http://mlab.taik.fi/~plankosk/blog/?p=105

I hope that these have some use to you.

[Reactor]

I'm always amazed at the amount of work that goes into those kinds of papers, lankoski. That said, after about a paragraph I feel like shooting myself. I guess that's just me, though

On a side note, on your game site's about page, shouldn't "In order to success" be written differently?

I mean it it like building out a tree, or is it more of a traditional narrative? I am referring to the progression of the storyline along with the increased difficulty, etc.

As a side note to this serious discussion, I tried paying attention to the details involved with writing a good storyline once. After a lot of interesting information I gave up and went back to writing stories the way I always have- having fun and from the hip! I have no idea if that's a good thing to do, but I found thinking too much about writing just sucked the joy out of it. Really getting into telling a good tale is more important than ticking all the boxes, because it'll carry you along.

Although, I am more of an artist than programmer, so...

[lankoski]

I'm always amazed at the amount of work that goes into those kinds of papers, lankoski. That said, after about a paragraph I feel like shooting myself. I guess that's just me, though

That's written for an academic conference, so the style is for that. Possibly certain kind of education can make you appreciate the style, and luckily I get paid to write I am working on writing a summary on those without academic argumentation in it.

On a side note, on your game site's about page, shouldn't "In order to success" be written differently?

You might be right, but I cannot figure out how so. By blindness to certain features of English language does not help to spotting spelling or grammar errors.

[Reactor]

Possibly education can make you appreciate the style

I guess that'd depend on the education

By blindness to certain features of English language does not help to spotting spelling or grammar errors.

No problem... I'd write it, "In order to achieve success..." and "use those secrets in your advantage" should have 'to' instead of 'in'.

[whisperstorm]

Thanks to everyone for the great comments! I'm impressed and humbled by the folks who frequent this list.

[lizardman]

A very interesting thread! I like the method described by Bad Sector, using flowcharts to lay out the raw plot outline. I'm in the process of writing a plot outline for main quest line which is meant to be used for a role-playing game and so far I've used Visio with flow charts for that. But I must admit that Visio is far from optimal to work on this in a streamlined manner and you cannot enter much information or linking to other pages easily so I was wondering if anyone knows any better tool for that?

I've already tried a few other tools like Smartdraw and Impress but they all lack at one point or the other. Basically a Swimlane type of Flowchart works very well in my opinion if it's adaptive enough.

I've also tried some typical writing tools like Writer's Cafe (Storylines) and Celtx but they all are intended more for a writing approach, not so much for an outlining approach where you want to move boxes (scenes) around easily and maybe have decisions that branch off into different ways. Well I guess such a tool has not even been written yet but it would be indeed very helpful especially for story-writing for games since these often are non-linear.

Here's a draft I've started on my plot outline, just so you get the idea how it could look. But this is of course everything but definitive ...
http://files.hexagonstar.com/images/...plot_chart.jpg

Either way, maybe anyone else knows any tools that are especially good for story outlining?

[Brice]

It may be too late, but I thought I'd throw out my thoughts...

In games I've worked on, I've found it helpful to write out the major plot points and "scenes" that I have in my head. I write each on a notecard (example: "Bad guy steals princess," "Get super-armor from goblin master"), and then I lay them out in linear order. Then I fill in the gaps with more notecards.

This allows me to just get everything on paper and in front of me, and then I can beef up parts that are weak, or change parts that don't fit.

Best of luck!

[Junkyard Sam]

Two ideas for creativity... Works with everything, but you can use it for plot development/storylines too.

1) I Ching.
Philip K. Dick wrote one of his most successful books (The Man in the High Tower) using the I Ching to guide the direction of the plot/story. It's an ancient Chinese divinity system where you end up with loosely worded cards that provoke you to think of solutions to your problems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching

2) Oblique Strategies
The cards are amazing. They are short one-line creative ideas... Draw them randomly or use them selectively to guide the creative direction of whatever you're working on.*

*There's are iPhone apps with the Oblique Strategies. They vary in quality - one in particular is really good.

[iggie]

Found an online Oblique Strategies:

I have a very loose storyline in my game, based around about 12 factions that the player can come in contact with (in a fairly arbitrary order)
I have drawn a simple timeline for each on a sheet of A4 so I can see when the main events are meant to happen. It would drive me nuts drawing all those flow charts - but I guess they are necessary if you need to communicate the design
to other people rather than just implimenting it straight off.