Tag: Game Development
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What Do You Even Mean By Branching Narrative?
There’s a conversation I’ve had more times than I can count, and it usually starts the same way. Someone — a writer, a designer, sometimes an executive — says they want a “branching narrative” for their game. Everyone in the room nods. Everyone thinks they understand what that means. And then, about three meetings later,…
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You Feel Nothing: The Problem with Second Person Storytelling in Games
There’s a book I used to keep on my desk in the office. Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney. Every time someone came to me with a design concept that had a particular problem baked into it, I’d hand them the book, tell them to read the first chapter, and let them figure out…
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Less Is More: A Framework for Game VO That Players Actually Listen To
There’s a version of this post that starts with a rant about Claptrap. We’ll get there. But first, a principle. Good game VO — the kind that actually lands, the kind players remember years later — isn’t really a writing problem. It’s an attention problem. And attention, it turns out, is one of the most…
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The Hypothetical Cost Of A Hypothetical Game
There’s been no shortage of conversation online in recent years about game revenue — new monetization models, rising prices, season passes, microtransactions, the economics of live service. What’s talked about considerably less is the other side of that equation: what it actually costs to make a game in the first place. Most publishers stay quiet…
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Sound High Level Thoughts
A few months back I was given the opportunity to put together and present a talk to the whole studio about game audio. Keeping it under twenty minutes meant staying deliberately high level — which was harder than it sounds, because audio is one of those topics where every thread you pull leads to three…
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Staring At The Summit
(Blogtober Day 12) One of my favorite books that delves into the history of game development is Ken William’s “Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings: The Rise And Fall Of Sierra On-Line.” Despite the rather long name and somewhat busy cover, this book was a pretty fun and interesting read. Ken Williams and his…
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Momentary Stars
(Blogtober Day 11) Something that took me a while to really understand in sound design and mixing is how to find the restraint that is sometimes needed to not make everything loud all the time. It’s a super easy trap to fall into, and boy did I ever fall into it early in my career.…
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Applying Vonnegut To Gaming Pt. 2
(Blogtober Day 10) So picking up from yesterday’s Blogtober entry applying some creative writing tips from the late author Kurt Vonnegut and seeing if I can apply them to game development… “Start as close to the end as possible.” This is an interesting one to try to apply to game development as there can be…
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Applying Vonnegut To Gaming Pt. 1
(Blogtober Day 9) Something I maybe have a bad habit of doing is finding a concept, opinion, or soft guideline talked about in one creative industry and considering how it might be applicable to game design and development. I’ve done this almost subconsciously for a while and I tend to keep it to myself these…
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A Few Approaches To Directing Actors
(Blogtober Day 8) Directing actors is a skill on it’s own. Although admittedly it can often seem simple particularly if your only experience witnessing the skill in action is in a professional studio, with well experienced actors, and a talented director who has been working with them on various projects over several years. That is…