Hi everyone!

I'll be writing a script for a computer/video game this year during Script Frenzy.

The script makes out a big part of the game design document. Will anyone else be attempting this?

That's actually a pretty interesting concept. Is it going to be mostly the text and then how the story progresses (with the actual level designs in something else)?

I'm personally doing an "instructional video" of sorts. But good luck with the game!

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Terry, Screnzer/NaNoWrimist

Thanks Mutt_Dawg.

Yes the proper level designs will be done somewhere else, however the scripts will contain short descriptions of the areas. The scripts will be the noninteractive sequence and conditional dialogs.

Here's an example from Betrayal at Krondor:

74-A. EXT. ROAD TO KENTING RUSH - ENCOUNTER WITH NAVON DU SANDAU - DAY

The road is unremarkable, a meandering cow path showing only vague signs of a more recent, less bovine variety of traffic. Not far of its course, NAVON DU SANDAU leans up against a tree. Tall, attired in black with a white scarf around his neck and a diamond in his ear, he stands with a hand upon the hilt of his very deadly looking rapier. Without a doubt, more than one man has likely died on the point of his blade.

[IF (hasMetNevon=yes) THEN (74-B)]

NAVON:
So far from the Prince's court, I'm surprised any from your part of the world even knew Kenting Rush existed. Have you come for business or pleasure?

%LEAD:
Chance has had a greater.... and so forth


This was taken from Swords & Circuitry: A Designers Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games by Neal Hallford and Jana Hallford. The book is a great resource for aspiring game designers.

Good luck with the "instructional video"! (Haha I love your idea! Zombies rock!)

That's really neat!

I'm not coordinated enough to play video games (seriously... I've gone to counseling for this; but don't worry, I'm dealing with the issues), but it's true that they have evolved into art forms much bigger than the simple "game." A game script sounds like fun! I guess in a way it's like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, with all the different options and endings.

:) Criss.

Criss L. Cox
www.crisswrites.com
www.xanga.com/reinacristina

Heh. I thought about this, but I just don't have the time or expertise to create the game afterwards. Plus, my ideas wouldn't run anywhere near 100 pages...

Still, it's cool that you're doing this!

I am planning on making a game with RPGMaker XP so I've already started my script... planning... most of it is only outlined as of yet. I'll be working on the script throughout April but my main focus will be a screenplay.
I basically write a walkthrough for an outline first. Then I flesh it out with dialog. Then I add it to the game with all of the eventing. I don't add the eventing code until I'm ready to input it.
Are you planning on making a game from your script?

I'm glad to see another game developer here.

I work as a programmer for a game development company, but of course my dream is to rather design games. I find programming to be tough and rather unrewarding. Whereas with writing and designing there's this feeling of great accomplishment.

So I'll be creating the game design document and then later I'll build a short prototype demo with the hope to leave the programming field and enter either the designing or writing field. The design document plus the demo will be part of my CV.

It's but a dream... yet I hope to make it a reality.

You know I've actually been interested in game writing for a while but haven't come across any sort of guide to it. I suppose it's a lot like novel writing though in the aspect that a lot of is learning as you go.

But anyways, I know a lot of it has to do with flow charts. What software are you using/would recommend for doing this?

And how to deal with decisions made by the player, what parts of the game are written?

I'm sorry about my what I would suppose as silly questions but I want to do this right. :D Thanks for any help you can offer.

I'll be working on that type of script as well. A game I fell in love with and I can't wait to begin on it. Been writing notes for it for awhile now.

It's great to see more people working on a game script.

Justdavid, I'll post a detailed tutorial on how I write game scripts a bit later this week, probably over the weekend. I'll also look for some links to sites that may be able to help you.

Sounds great ty:)