After chatting on Twitter with the wonderful Amelia Tyler about dialogue and recording, I felt inspired to write a post.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot that needs to happen in order for great dialogue to appear in a game.\u00a0 Not all of it is down to the writer, of course, so here\u2019s a list of things writers and other development people might like to take on board as part of the delivery process.<\/p>\n
As the title suggests, it is<\/strong> a wish list and I\u2019d love all this to happen on every project on which I work, but that isn\u2019t the case, sadly.\u00a0 One day…<\/p>\n There is likely to be plenty I\u2019ve missed out and much of what I\u2019ve written has been brief, but it\u2019s easy to take this wish list and expand on it with the team you work with.\u00a0 If you have ideas or suggestions for what could have been included, please feel free to let me know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After chatting on Twitter with the wonderful Amelia Tyler about dialogue and recording, I felt inspired to write a post.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot that needs to happen in order for great dialogue to appear in a game.\u00a0 Not all of it is down to the writer, of course, so here\u2019s a list of things writers … <\/p>\n\n
\nWhatever medium you write for, good dialogue always works best when you\u2019ve defined your characters well and outlined how they relate to one-another.\u00a0 When a writer knows the characters the dialogue will come much more naturally.<\/li>\n
\nWriting dialogue that\u2019s true to the characters makes it easier to see when the lines miss the mark.\u00a0 There is a direct connection between making it true and clearly defined characters.\u00a0 True dialogue helps reveal the characters\u2019 real natures.<\/li>\n
\nDon\u2019t make the characters speak in unnatural voices or a stylised manner for the sake of it.\u00a0 It may be fun to write and allow you to explore your craft, but game players rarely have the time to appreciate such things and think about the richness of your lines due to the needs of the gameplay and the attention given to it.\u00a0 Bear in mind, too, that actors will speak your lines and must be able to do so fluidly without fumbling over them.<\/li>\n
\nWith many hours of play time, video games have the potential for an awful lot of lines, so don\u2019t add to the count unnecessarily by allowing characters to ramble or repeat.\u00a0 Don\u2019t let it become tedious and give players the excuse they\u2019re looking for to skip your dialogue.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>The best dialogue flows through a scene in a natural and enhancing way.\u00a0 Unfortunately, game dialogue systems don\u2019t always deliver the lines in the best way in spite of the writer\u2019s best intentions.\u00a0 Scripting systems and dialogue engines ought to allow for flexible delivery of speech and even enable lines to overlap for interruptions and pace.<\/li>\n
\nYou\u2019re not writing a film, a novel or a stage play.\u00a0 Every line of dialogue needs to bear in mind the nature of the medium and the nature of the players.\u00a0 If a question is asked of the player character, it\u2019s usually wrong to give the player just one option from which to choose an answer.
\nDialogue should be part of the gameplay.\u00a0 If you\u2019re writing for an investigative game in particular, you should ask yourself if the style and structure of the dialogue add to the interactive experience in the best possible way.\u00a0 If not, does the writer need to do more or does the game need more from the engine and mechanics.<\/li>\n
\nIf a scene is triggered automatically, question why that is so.\u00a0 Why isn\u2019t it being triggered by the actions of the player?\u00a0 Write with this in mind at all times.<\/li>\n
\nI wrote a piece for Develop<\/a> on this subject.\u00a0 Dialogue trees are a clunky and restrictive way to write speech.<\/li>\n
\nConversations with other characters should never be about triggering a series of small monologues.\u00a0 Admittedly, much of the problem lies in many games\u2019 interface styles and the way dialogue responses are presented and chosen, but monologues always give an artificial feeling to dialogue that no amount of good acting will overcome.\u00a0 Plead with the dev team to create a better system.\u00a0 Bribe them.<\/li>\n
\nWe have great graphics at great resolutions \u2013 there should be no need whatsoever to use a line like, \u201cIt\u2019s a wooden door.\u201d\u00a0 We can see the damn door.\u00a0 If the graphics are good, we can also see that it\u2019s wooden.\u00a0 Such descriptions are a hangover from the old days of text adventures when everything had to be described.\u00a0 Door descriptions are more than 20 years out of date.\u00a0 Do any of you walk around the world describing the doors you pass?<\/li>\n
\nThere is nothing worse than NPCs volunteering information at the drop of a hat, particularly if there has been no interaction.\u00a0 People are naturally suspicious of strangers in the real world, why would they be any different in the game world.\u00a0 The worst instance of volunteering information is when your character walks past an NPC and suddenly hears the woman say, \u201cNo one\u2019s seen the King for two months.\u201d\u00a0 What?!\u00a0 When I walk through the town centre on Market day the most I might get from a passing stranger is, \u201cGood morning.\u201d\u00a0 Make it real.\u00a0 Talk to the game designers\/developers.
\nIf the player character is not made to work for information, there is no expectation gap within the conversation and the potential for drama is lost.\u00a0 More importantly, there is no opportunity for gameplay.<\/li>\n
\nIt may seem, at first glance, that your world is alive because every village is filled with NPCs wandering around.\u00a0 However, if they\u2019re generic characters spouting automated responses it quickly feels like we\u2019re dealing with the Stepford Wives.\u00a0 It\u2019s far better to have quality than quantity.<\/li>\n
\nSometimes it seems that game writers are desperate to reference pop culture, particularly other games.\u00a0 Even if it\u2019s done in a tongue-in-cheek way it\u2019s rarely as good or as funny as the writer thinks and will often make the player cringe.\u00a0 Writers, if the designers put this stuff in, try to explain why you need to re-write it.\u00a0 Designers, think bigger.<\/li>\n
\n<\/strong>If you want to write comedy make sure it\u2019s funny and not just some in-house jokes that no one will get.\u00a0 Great comedy comes from interactions between great characters.\u00a0 Don\u2019t force jokes onto characters that conflict with their natures.<\/li>\n
\nThis isn\u2019t just about getting someone who knows how to direct actors, it\u2019s about finding a director who understands and plays games and who understands how game dialogue works within a game.\u00a0 Find a voiceover studio that specialises in game recording and work with the director to find the best way to deliver the maximum quality.\u00a0 Find a director who loves your game script.<\/li>\n
\nThe earlier the casting, the better the opportunities to establish the voices of the characters and maintain consistency, particularly if the project is large and uses multiple writers.\u00a0 You can also get interesting character developments from the way that actors play the parts.<\/li>\n
\nMany a game has care and attention poured into the engine, art, animation, gameplay, etc. only to have it all undermined by the use of second or third-rate actors.\u00a0 Recorded dialogue is such an up-front part of a game that poor acting can have an immediate negative effect.\u00a0 It will reduce review scores almost every time.<\/li>\n
\nA week before recording starts, spend a day with the main actors rehearsing key scenes.\u00a0 This gives the actors the opportunity to explore the characters and their relationships before standing in front of the microphones and committing their performances to a final form.<\/li>\n
\nThe best actor performances happen when they are able to record at the same time as the other actors in the scene.\u00a0 Firing off each other can deliver a spark that would never exist otherwise.\u00a0 Admittedly, it takes serious scheduling to maximise everyone\u2019s time, but the results will be so much better.<\/li>\n
\nIt always surprises me how, even when things are going swimmingly, an actor finds a line that reads like utter gibberish even though it seemed perfectly fine on the computer screen back in my office.\u00a0 No matter how good we\u2019d like to think we are, none of us are infallible and when you work with scripts consisting of thousands of lines the occasional blunder is to be expected.\u00a0 When a writer is present, they are not only able to ensure that such lines are dealt with, they also provide the valuable scene context that enables the actors to deliver the line with the right tone and feeling.\u00a0 Even lines like, \u201cIt\u2019s a wooden door.\u201d<\/li>\n
\nThis is obviously a post-processing task that studios are well set up to deliver, but it still happens that voice samples are inconsistent or haven\u2019t been properly maximised.\u00a0 Listen hard to the samples and have them fixed if necessary.<\/li>\n
\nThe final test for game dialogue is when played in the game.\u00a0 If the voices pick you up and carry you along with their majesty, drama, fun, excitement and tenderness, then the team has done its job.\u00a0 If it didn\u2019t quite hit the mark in one or two small areas, make a note of how to make it better next time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n