Writing for video Games - Book Review
Gordon Aplin, over at the Quandary games site, has published a review of my book, Writing for Video Games. I enjoyed reading it and it feels good to get such a positive review. Thanks Gordon.
"Ince has distilled his own knowledge and experience of the industry into a highly readable volume"
"It could easily become recommended reading for the many courses that are springing up covering aspects of game design and development."
"Ince has distilled his own knowledge and experience of the industry into a highly readable volume"
"It could easily become recommended reading for the many courses that are springing up covering aspects of game design and development."
posted by Steve | 12:22 PM
6 Comments:
I got the book for Christmas and just finished reading it today, it was a very inspirational read that made the world of writing for video games seem both highly accesible and quite daunting.
I have very strong opinions about where I would like to see video games go in the future, and am hoping to try and develop my skills in order to try and scrabble to some sort of position in the gaming world, well, fingers crossed anyway.
Anyway, it's a great book!
Owain.
P.S. Broken Sword 1 & 2 are absolutely near perfect games, I'd just like to say thanks for them and how much they've influenced me; I can't even begin to list the ammount of times me, or my good friend Carl, has been in a situation and thought "This is right out of the Broken Sword universe." Though, a dissapointing lack of Neo Templars and Mayan Gods so far.
Owain, I'm so pleased you took the time to write such a positive comment. To know that it's hit the mark as I intended is very gratifying. Many thanks.
Good luck with developing your own skills and be sure to keep me informed on your progress.
One of the things I enjoy about good films is the cleverness of some of them. Being John Malkovich, Fight Club and Memento are just a few. One of the reasons they are so clever is that the creative team uses the medium so well to portray what they want. The interactive nature of games makes that so much more difficult.
However, I had an idea for how it could work but it's going to take some time to work out the details. I don't want to end up with just an interactive drama; I really want it to be a proper game.
I remember being really excited when I saw "Psychic Detecetive" released for the Playstation, I was duped by the term 'interactive movie'!
I was waiting for an audition yesterday with your book on the table in front of me, someone else asked me if it was any good - naturally I said yes - but then I began rambling on at them for quite an unfortunate ammount of time about my grand dreams for blurring the lines a bit more between video games and films, my pipe-dreams about reaching helping games reach a new audience. Over the Christmas period I was asking everybody and anybody if they liked video games, if not why not, and trying to work out - psychologically maybe - why some people seem quite 'anti-video games' and don't yet see them as a potential "art form" in the same way as they may regard a film or book, though I still think cinema still has some way to go to be truly regarded as an "art form" by some.
At the moment, as I get my steady stream of rejection letters, I'm developing an installment of a point and click, kind of like a "showreel" in a way. I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but I enjoy it and if it turns out well I may try and offer it as a download online.
Anyway, rambled on a bit, my girlfriend isn't too interested in my structural deconstruction of 'Stubbs the Zombie' and why it needed a better writer (me, haha), so I have quite a bit of pent up pop-culture nonsense at the moment.
Regards,
Owain
Interactive Movie sounds like such a grand term, but it always strikes me as something that's neither film nor game. In the same way, I was never a fan of the Fighting Fantasy books, even though they were pretty popular at the time and both Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone have been incredibly successful. They never seemed like novels and never felt like a game.
Rambling for long periods is always a consequence of feeling passionately about something. If we don't feel passionately about what we do it's difficult to push yourself to do the best you can. Yes, you may run the risk of boring a lot of people along the way, but there's also the great chance that you may find someone who appreciates your passion and gives you the break you need.
I must take a look at Stubbs the Zombie at some point.
Ah, Fighting Fantasy novels, my Junior School library had quite a collection which I devoured, though I was never interested in the dice-throwing, note-keeping aspects, I just wanted to read about monsters and they didn't usually let you watch Ray Harryhausen films in schooltime.
I actually feel that Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is the closest that I have found a game to be to a film, the depth of its plot, the wonderful characterisation and excellent performances, the look and design were all just top notch, and Barrington Pheloung's subtle yet beautiful score; it all had a classic feel, like 'North by Northwest'. Unfortunately any of the games I tried after that in the hopes of finding an equally well-crafted film-game experience were rather, well, a let down, games like Toonstruck, games that I feel have grand intentions but don't seem to know how to channel them into something both satisfying as a game and a story, which is why I feel Tribeca's '9: The Last Resort' was such a failure despite looking very rich.
'Stubbs the Zombie' is the perfect example of a game that needed better writing, it's a fine game, but I don't feel any real desire to play it as the story seems to have been neglected and the actual play itself can sometimes be a tad repetitive. It's a shame as the plot outline is extremely intriguing and if it had been handled differently I am sure this game could've been a classic, one that balanced humour and gameplay as well as 'Day of the Tentacle', 'Grim Fandango' or 'Neverhood'. But the story seems unimportant to the game's designers, which - for me - takes so much out of the experience and my enjoyment. I wonder if they'd consider remaking it?! Or, failing that, it'd make a great movie.
Owain
If I'd had the chance to read Fighting Fantasy books in school I'd have probably done the same. :)
I think that the problem I had with the books was they way they didn't respond to my decisions. I knew that I was just joining the dots of what was already printed in the book. Even video games that are completely on rails give the impression that they are responding to what you do.
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