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Asherons Call: Austin Game Writer's Conference
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A quick filling room of strangers gathering to hear a single man speak. Some tables embarrassed in their silence, listen enviously to the gregariously active tables nearby. From Australia to British Columbia they came to sit in this cold room, and it's an interestingly testosterone dominated audience.
The microphone hummed as the seating filled and the event became standing room only. The crowd sized up the man who had just stepped onto the temporary stage, as he cleared his throat and took a deep breath before introducing himself. His name was Marc Laidlaw.
We learned of his background as an author & legal assistant and how the tried and true method of 'right time right place' was to play an interesting role in his life. He joked about how his literary muse mocked his wonderings of the gaming industry, spurred on by the addictively immersive world of Myst. It was interesting to learn how his perspective on the world drastically changed from "how can I turn this experience into a story" to "how can I turn this experience into a GAME".
After several twist and turns he found himself designing levels, until someone said to him "you seem to be a pretty decent writer, maybe we could use you in that department".
And a Game Writer was born.
His muse, who had come along for the ride, found new ways to inspire him and in turn, his colleagues.
In a time when the job of writing for a game is something of a mystery and sadly often considered a luxury, there are a few who shine and anyone who's imitated the words "..in the Test Chamber..." has seen exactly what a writer can bring to a game.
At an end-of-the-day Game Writing workshop, a larger than expected group gathered to brainstorm solutions to common game writing challenges. While some players want a deeply rich immersive story with beautiful movies and volumes of text to explore and expand on, others want to skip the cut scenes and auto-complete the npc chit chat. So how do you make a game that meets both these desires? Some of the solutions presented were to allow the player to select their 'level of detail' when it comes to interaction on the game. Just how much story DO YOU want? Another thought was to draw the player into wanting to read the details, so that they would better understand what's ahead of them. Doing so could mean disaster for the player who clicked through the entire scene. And really, how much story do you need? Doom didn't have volumes of lore to explore, it honestly didn't need it, much as actors whine about their character's motivations, most gamers motivations are naturally, to blow things up. And in a straightforward shooter, that's perfectly acceptable. But take a game like Morrowind that had so much depth you could fall for a very long time, and you start to ask, is there such a thing as too much story?
It was mentioned that it's very difficult to write a game that guides the player while making the player believe they are guiding the game. Beyond the nods of agreement, this concept was not expanded on, except to ensure that the player never really feels the gentle nudge to move forward, or sees the red arrow flashing the words 'this way' - but that they come to make those moves and decisions on their own, at least so they think!
It was touched on that the history of using Hollywood writers has failed in the past, in the game writing industry. Is it because a three act skit doesn't translate well over a 50 hour play period? The tendency to treat game writing as a movie has backfired, so it was discussed that perhaps a more television approach would better suit a genre that gets played in so many different ways. Some people play it as if watching a single episode, while others will park themselves down to enjoy the entire season on DVD at once. BOTH players and all in between need to come away from their experience wanting more.
And so the day ended, we each walked away with some interesting ideas, a handful of business cards and more questions for next year.
Special thanks to Susan O'Connor, Conference Chair, as well as the advisory board, Hal Barwood, Dana Fos, Clint Hocking, and Patricia Pizer.
Personal thanks to Marc Laidlaw, for, in sharing his memories, he reminding me how much I enjoyed every step of the way, from Myst to Half Life 2 and everything in between.
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