The Narrative Design Exploratorium™

This is a new NDE series featuring interviews with Game Writers in the Trenches™.  The game industry is riddled with the unsung heroes of interactive storytelling.  As game developers are increasingly looking to create meaningful virtual narrative experiences, listening to the real-world wisdom of these writers can help everyone on the development pipeline understand their trials, tribulations, and needs, in hopes of enabling them to do their job as they know best. Today's game writer is Haris Orkin.  His experience as writer runs the gamut of media types, with a most recent focus on games.  I'm hoping to see what we can learn from his knowledge and experience.

Stephen Erin Dinehart:  Haris thanks for taking the time to interview with the NDE. Your most recent project was Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, can you explain your role and duties?

Haris Orkin: I was hired to work with the team on the story for the game and write the script for the live action cinematics.   The story was collaboration between Mical Pedriana, who functioned as the narrative designer, Jason Torres, the lead game designer, Mike Verdu, head of EALA, and me.   We wanted the tone and the concept to be a continuation of Red Alert 2, which came out about seven years ago.  Mical was the audio lead on RA2 and wrote all the unit responses. I was a big fan of that game and the Command and Conquer series in general.  So I knew the tone and the story and the characters and was thrilled to be included.   A bare bones outline of the basic story was already in place by the time I was brought on board.   But I suggested some changes, fleshed out the existing characters, came up with some new ones, and created the relationships and conflicts and many of the specifics.   I also wrote and/or rewrote what we call the "Talking Heads"; live action head shots of various characters that appear in game that help steer the player in the right direction vis-à-vis game play.  I helped Mical on unit responses and co-op commander responses and barks as well.

SED: Is that a full-time or contract position?

HO: Contract.

SED: Was there a significant change in the format of your solely the cinematics versus writing for an entire game as you did on Call of Juarez?

HO: I wrote the cinematics for RA3 with Final Draft, a screenplay program.    But all the unit responses and barks were written in Excel.   COJ was written entirely in Excel.   While RA3 has clearly delineated cut scenes (and the talking heads), COJ has fewer cut scenes and more scripted events, so you're still within the game world.  (Much like Half Life 2.)  All the cut scenes used in COJ used Techland's proprietary graphic engine, so it was easier to keep a feeling of seamlessness between the game play and the story.  We also told a lot of the story with artwork and audio monologues while the levels were loading.   RA3 uses the same story-telling mechanic that Command and Conquer series has always used.  I think it still works for an RTS game, since we're cutting from live action scenes to a top down RTS view.   To cut from a live action scene with real actors to a first person view with CGI characters could be pretty jarring and possibly pull you out of the narrative.  RA3 does use CGI cut-scenes that show off the units and big story moments and I contributed ideas for those as well.

According to The Department of Defense a war game is "a simulation, by whatever means, of a military operation involving two or more opposing forces, using rules, data, and procedures designed to depict an actual or assumed real life situation."[1]  It seems that Russia, the European Union and the United States of America, are in a very real war-game about the future of new Europe.  Grabbing "living-space" for Russia in Georgia must be a move made with a greater strategy.  Certainly it must be part of a larger campaign, but what is the goal? 

Not long ago, 'total annihilation' had the United States and the former USSR both engaged in war-games to determine the outcome of such a scenario should it escalate to "World War III".  Thanks to war-game strategic studies by the likes of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), only three outcomes where determined to be possible in the confrontation between the two powers: "1. Loss of Command and Control 2. Unleashing Tactical Nuclear Weapons 3. Gas or Biological Attack". [2]

This is an ongoing NDE series featuring interviews with Masters of Narrative Design™. While a seemingly new term, the design of story experiences is nothing new. As game developers are increasingly looking to create meaningful virtual narrative experiences, looking at the lessons learned by these masters becomes increasingly valuable. Today's master is engineer, game creator and producer Scott Miller. As an early innovator in game development and marketing methodologies, Scott now has his focus on pioneering the future of games, storytelling, and cross-media entertainment experiences. I'm hoping to see what we can learn from his wealth of experience.

Stephen Erin Dinehart:  Scott, thank you for taking the time to interview with the NDE. Your approach to game development and marketing seems to be a symbiotic approach whereby the gameplay, system design, and story are interwoven to create a more rich experience for the player.  What drives you to create such concinnity within these game elements?

Scott Miller: The key is that I want to be involved with games that embrace good storytelling methods, as well as deliver a unique, fulfilling gameplay experience.  And of course I'm not referring to puzzle or arcade oriented games, but games like Max Payne, Bioshock, Half-Life 2, Assassins Creed, GTA4 and Call of Duty 4, that all represent a higher bar in terms of narrative delivery and impact.  These are the games pointing the way to our industry's future.  And they all deliver both on the story and gameplay fronts.

SED: Your most recent venture is with The Radar Group, can you explain what you do there?

SM: Radar Group is a new model for the industry, focused on original properties designed to be successful in both the game industry and linear entertainment, such as the film industry. Max Payne is our first film [See video clip to right], due out Oct. 17th, plus we have several games in progress.

SED:  Why is original IP important to video games?

SM: Several reasons.  Including these two:  It builds much more value within the game industry, and especially for independent studios (assuming they are owners or co-owners).  This value can be leveraged to create even more entirely original games.  For example, 3D Realms co-created Max Payne with a start-up indie studio, Remedy Entertainment.  This net result is that Remedy because a successful financially independent studio capable of created more original games, such as their current game-in-progress, Alan Wake.

The second reason is that licensed properties, in most cases, lack elements that make for compelling gameplay.  This is why, of the 10's of 1000's of films, novels and TV shows, less than a dozen have made a meaningful impact in the game industry.  The rare few that have been successful all have elements that translate into unique gameplay, such as Spider-Man (web-slinging), Star Wars (force powers, light saber dueling), and James Bond (gadgets).  Star Trek, by comparison, doesn't appear to have elements that translate into unique and compelling gameplay.  This is why most Star Trek games are doomed--they simply have nothing to offer, gameplay-wise, that we can't get from other games set in space.  I recently presented this view to a former executive of Activision, one of the guys who was originally involved with Activision's long-term signing of the Star Trek brand.  He fully agreed that, in hindsight, Star Trek doesn't have the unique ingredients to make great games.

As elected co-leads of the IGDA WSIG Tools Initiative Ron Toland and I are happy to announce the forging of a partnership between our special interest group and open-source writing toolmaker Celtx. Celtx was first point out by Tools Initiative facilitator Corvus Elrod and he was right, Celtx is exactly the partner we need to create this potentially wall shattering tool. As AAA titles grow in magnitude having standardization in the tools used for our industry is of dire importance. Game writing increasingly affects all parts of game design, from help text to NPC dialog and beyond. Game writing tools and systems tend to remain proprietary, and subsequently leads designer and writer alike to reinvent the wheel for every title. Seeing this as a barrier to entry for talent, developers, and publishers alike, the International Game Developers Associations Writers Special Interest Group has created the Tools Initiative to forge the creation of an Universal Open-Source Game Writing Tool. Based on the free open-source writing tool Celtx, the tool will be free and modular.

The play is a literary form that comes down to us from Ancient Greece intended for performance. Used as a production tool to create a perceived story space on stage, it consists of characters, dialog, action, and setting. It is a form that was adapted for motion pictures then called the "screenplay". While not particularly different than its stage play ancestor, the screenplay is intended for use on linear theatrical productions such as film and television. I chose to adapt it to games for purposes of strengthening game story. While games have their design documentation, often a 'bible' of information or a presentation intended to communicate a cohesive vision, the screenplay acts as a method to create a common story vision among widely disparate development pipelines within game development, with the aim of creating a better user experience. While not a concept I claim to originate. It is a form that I have forged wholly on my own, with attention to what makes a game screenplay unique.

Part 1: Cinematics

Linear cinematic segments, while potentially altered by the player, or selected in a meaningful non-linear fashion via gameplay, are no different than traditional screenplays. As the first screenplays did not veer too far from stage plays, with minimal sets, and high caliber, sometimes over-the-top, characters. So to the game screenplay is still akin to the screenplays of film. Example 1 (below) is from my first game screenplay for "Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts".

Example 1: Game Screenplay Cinematic Sequences