The most important thing I learned writing a PC game

January 4, 10:24 PMPC Game ExaminerBryan Edge-Salois

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Westward III is a light-hearted RTS game set in the
California Gold Rush.

Westward III is a real-time strategy/town management game, and the third installment in the Westward series, by Sandlot Games.

Despite being classified as a 'casual game' it can be decidedly challenging, and will certainly suck away a few hours of your life if you're not careful -- especially if you try to find all the easter eggs and hidden/locked secrets in the game.

But I'm not here to really review it. Instead, I'm going to shamelessly pimp it (sort of) because I wrote it. (I don't get any money or royalties, sadly -- nor do I get paid to pimp it...but I can write about the experience.) Anyway, it really sucked NOT being able to talk about what I was doing (non-disclosure agreements and all that),  but now that Westward III is officially out, I can finally talk about it.

The most important thing I learned

Westward III is and was my first game writing job. I've written plenty about games in the last fifteen years or so, but before Westward III I'd never gotten to take a stab at actually writing the story for a video game. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch, and although I'm proud of the work I did, Westward III still represents my first effort as the writer for a video game -- so hopefully I'll only get better from here.  

The producer for the game offered me some good advice -- which I took to very much to heart -- when I expressed concern about the fact that I wasn't really sure what the programmers could do with the story and ideas I could write.

He said that for me to know the exact mechanics of how the game works might benefit the developers --  but at the same time it could stifle my creativity if I locked myself into thinking purely in terms of game mechanics.

In other words, don't write the game from the standpoint of a level designer or developer -- write the game as a fiction writer. He said that I could write more creatively and bring new ideas and direction to the game by NOT chaining myself to game mechanics.

I took that advice to heart -- so much so that it is now my driving philosophy behind writing for video games. Write the story first, unfettered by game-mechanic thinking. Then adjust the story as necessary to fit game mechanics later.

Another thing I learned

Writing for video games will challenge you in unusual ways.

For example -- try writing all of the one-liners that will be spoken -- 'command accept' voices like "yes sir!" and the like -- for all the units in an RTS game.  It sounds relatively easy at first -- but then you're told to keep it short (so as not to be annoying), make it clever, and try to be funny when possible. All in 5 words or less (generally speaking).

Oh, and now do it about a hundred times over, because you need 3-4 per unit for every command/audible uttered by the character. It was particularly challenging for Westward III because the developers wanted to:

• avoid pop-culture references (Star Wars jokes, for example)
• avoid anachronisms
• stay family-friendly and cater to their demographic (which is NOT 'hardcore' gamers).

Hopefully, as my skills and understanding grow, so will my opportunities. I'm already working on another game writing project, but I can't say anything about that project because of the NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Once the project ships I'll probably blab all over the Internet.

And now, a review

Westward III has been generally well-received by its intended audience, so I'll leave you with a link to a review of it from another source. No one is singing the praises of the writer, unfortunately, but one other thing I learned (or at least remembered): the play is the thing. I suspect that's especially true for casual games. (We don't need the Great American Novel to play Cake Mania, after all.)

Read Gamezebo.com's full review of Westward III (4/5 stars)
"Occasional rough edge aside, the stunningly rendered and sweeping Southwestern-flavored soundtrack bolstered Westward III promises countless hours of happy adventuring on the open range."

Download Westward III from Sandlot Games 
 

Interested in trying to 'break into' the game industry? Here are a few articles I wrote on the subject -- mostly based on the years I spent working for Sierra On-Line.

Tips for breaking into the game industry (part 1)

Tips for breaking into the game industry (part 2)

Tips for breaking into the game industry (part 3)