Writing for Games

Lynne Hall, Susan Jones

What we will look @

1. Game Genres1. Game Genres

2. Game Design Cycle 2. Game Design Cycle

3. Early Days Techniques3. Early Days Techniques

4. Your Game 4. Your Game

Game Genres

Simulation Strategy Puzzle Action

SIMS 2 Ages of Empire

Tetris World of Warcraft

Game Design Cycle

Testing

IdeasResearch

Graphics

Programming

Ideas & Research (Writer)

Very first ideas about what the game will be. Action? Strategy? Life-like? Sports …

Research Has it been done before? Intuitively is it going to work?

Concept Design (Graphic designer)

Ideas turned into pictures “Concept Art”

Modelling/Texturing (Graphic Designer)

Levels and Characters modelled in 3D

Pictures put on the models to make them more detailed.

Programming (coders)

Programmers (coders) write the software to make the graphics work together

Testing (players)

Testers play the game Look for problems (bugs) Make sure the game isn’t too easy or too

hard

Starting to create games

Beginning to write

Generating Ideas

Who?Using what?About what?

Morphological Analysis Sticky Notes Activity

Creating Objectives

Objective is always to create an enjoyable game that players want to play…

What does winning mean?

NeedsApproachBenefitsCompetition

Game Value Proposition Sticky Notes Activity

Creating Worlds

Set the scene… What are the key features of the world?

Weather Geography Political Systems

What happens in this world? War, chaos, harvesting crops, building cities…

Who lives there? Personas

What do they look like Creating models / diagrams / figures Why do they look like that?

Examples of design

Creating Storyboards

Just like a comic stripFrames depicting

What is happening in the game Main tasks and activities What players can do

Does not have to be 2D…Link frames if part of a story line

Storyboarding Activity

Next Steps

Work on your game ideasProvide them in a way that other

people can understandTry your ideas out with players

If they like it, keep going If they don’t work out why…

Play games