Digital Marketing

How to write a video game script

Writing a video game script offers a challenge that goes far beyond the normal scope of writing. But it’s also something that can be tremendously rewarding in terms of your creativity. Here are some guidelines and tips for writing a video game script.

Today’s video games are based on complex worlds and tell stories. A player no longer simply progresses through repetitive screens killing goblins and ghouls in a quest to the goal. A player now hopes to progress in a world where there is a rich history and a large number of decisions to be made. This adds to the complexity of writing a video game script and also adds to the richness of creativity involved.

The first thing to think about is that writing a video game script is not the same as writing a movie script. The two processes are similar and you write a movie-like script for your video game, but that’s only part of the process. There are a lot of accompanying materials that you should write for your game script. Here is an overview of what you need to write and why.

Write an executive overview of the prose story

This is the most important part of the script in your game and this is what will sink or float your script. This overview should tell a unique and compelling story and should tell the full story from the opening scene of the game through the main steps to the completion of the game. An overview like this can be almost any size and it would be very easy to have ten or more written pages. Remember that video games today are very complex and stories can be very complex. This overview is also the most important part of the script. I would buy this from game developers to see if they are interested in developing it into a game.

Write a story and a background to the world.

Video games are whole worlds and game designers need to know what the world is like and what kind of story it has. This will help designers visualize what the world will be like.

Create a flow chart for the entire game

Your game will be very complex and there will be many decisions that the player will have to make and each decision opens up a whole new path for the player to make. Creating a flow chart is the best way to keep track of all the possible paths through the game.

Create sub-missions and write a prose summary of each mission.

The side missions can be simple or complex, but each one is a story in itself and you must tell these stories.

Create character descriptions and biographies for all the main characters in the game.

Game designers need a complete picture of the characters in the game. Many of the non-player characters you create will appear over and over again. And his story is deeply woven into the fabric of his world. You must describe this relationship in detail to the game designers.

Write interactions with non-player characters.

Your game will likely involve interaction with non-player characters (NPCs). You must write the dialogue and the flow chart of the choices that the game player can make. These interactions are often story critical and can lead the player down very different paths towards the conclusion of the game.

Write cut scenes

Cut scenes are short animations or movies that appear before or after the main plot points of your story. A cut scene should always be written to enhance or describe the story. A cutscene is also a reward given to the player for achieving an important milestone in the game.

Write the actual storyboard script

This is the final step in the entire video game script writing process and is the most detailed. Do this last step because you need all the supporting materials to understand and describe this correctly. This part is very similar to that of a movie script. You advance through each scene in your story and detail all the necessary information. Here is an example:

Scene 1:

Rental: A dark cathedral with stained glass. An NPC is kneeling before a stone coffin in the center of the main room.

Music: The background music of a playing organ introduces the scene but disappears.

Characters: Main player, NPC named Thomas, seven were creatures

Player objective: discover the location of the underground lair

Action: The player must initiate the discussion with Thomas, in the first contact we activate the cut scene (1) where Thomas transforms into a creature-man and summons his minions-men. The main character must fight the minion-men and then restart the discussion with Thomas.

Flowchart: No decisions are made at this point – if the battle is complete, Thomas reveals the entrance to the underground lair and the player advances to that level. If the player is defeated in battle, return to the death cutscene (11) and move around to try again on the screen.

Notes: The player is locked in the cathedral and there is no way out. The only viable way out is to initiate contact with Thomas. Random man-creatures can be activated if the player explores the cathedral before talking to the NPC.

End of the scene

When writing a video game script, you need to remember that your primary audience is not the game player, but the game developer, and what the developer needs is a complete picture of what their game is about. This means that you are not only writing a story, but you are creating a world complete with a tone, sounds, characters, story, plot and subplots. To communicate this successfully to the developer you need to use a full set of creative tools and this is where video game scripts depart from normal scripts and open up a whole realm of creative possibilities.

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