/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15635864]

anyone ever written for video games? what's the difference in writing for games in hollywood or any movie studio and writing for Blizzard or Rock Star? any stories? any stories about clients?

[Anonymous No.15636439]

I like that gif.

[Anonymous No.15636547]

>>15635864
i can only imagine a writer must feel utterly pathetic to only have bing bing wahoo as an outlet

[Anonymous No.15636578]

>>15636547
Not really, video games don't have producers that change everything however seems most profitable and popular.

[Anonymous No.15636604]

>>15635864
yeah, I helped write FNV. Writing games is easy since the standard is so low and most of the people in the industry are hacks.

[Anonymous No.15636614]

>>15636604
>yeah, I helped write FNV
in what capacity anon? any particular stuff in the final product you can mention?

[Anonymous No.15636661]

>>15636614
I did a lot of stuff with the NCR, for example the 1st recon at camp macarran and camp golf for example. I think a lot of people didn't pay much attention to what was going on with the NCR in freeside, the NCR have all the problems of the old and current day USA if you pay any attention. It always annoys me when I see people argue which endings are the 'best' or 'right' choice and talk about yes man. He's mainly there so the main quest can't be failed and is 'overpowered' since you can headcanon your courier as being whatever you want or perfect. I think Boone is a pretty overrated character, would have been nice to have more time, there's a lot of potential with him.

[Anonymous No.15636890]

>>15636661
Did you write any of Chief Hanlon? He's always been one of my favourite parts of the NCR.

I've always liked New Vegas but I've always felt like the worldbuilding took precedence over the "role playing" aspect when it came to the writing. The "personalities" of my characters, as expressed through dialogue or quest decisions, have never felt very distinct. It's a very passive experience overall (which I think is incorporated into the game logic pretty well by having the player be a courier and someone with a score to settle etc.). One moment that I always think of is when Beatrice, the cowgirl ghoul, confesses her interest in sadomasochism to the player character. There's only two replies you can give, both of which express a kind of wry, cosmopolitan tolerance. I've always felt there should have been an option to express moralistic revulsion, or whatever - especially in a game where you can belong to so many different factions with such different outlooks on the world. (Hope I'm not committing a faux pas here lol, I'm only saying this shit cause I've played and loved the game so much, more than any other RPG. I first played it when I was 12 and now I'm 22. what the hell).

Obviously that's a problem endemic to computer (as opposed to pen and paper) RPGs in general, and has to do with resources, you can't voice a million lines and add a million questline branches for every possible reaction someone could have to something. Did this come up as a problem while you were writing New Vegas? Are there any computer RPGs you think succeed at doing this? Overall I think it's better to have an interesting world for the player to interact with in a few limited but crucial ways than a boring one you can interact many ways, but it's a less than ideal tradeoff - the asymmetry of which seems to be expanding the more that good voice acting and sophisticated character animations come to be expected of RPGs.

Don't mean to rope you into a big discussion if you don't have the time. Ended up writing more than I meant to. Anyway, interesting to see someone from the dev team posting on /lit/. What are you reading at the moment anon?

[Anonymous No.15637020]

>>15636890
there definitely could have been more options, like you say it's only time, effort etc that holds that back.

I think you undersell the roleplaying possibilities in the game though. Taking beatrice for an example if I remember right you can talk her into having sex with you/becoming a employee at the wranger with a barter check, speech check or giving her alchohol. That's nothing amazing but a lot of the quests like beyond the beef have a ton of different ways of playing out.

A quest I think works great is the silver rush one where you are hired as a guard, there's so much choice there, you can spaz out and shoot a customer, you can intentionally let the guy with explosives in and blow it up if you want to get revenger on the van graffs, you can even just walk away.

In terms of the dialogue though you are right, there could definitely be more options (though there would become a point it would be overwhelming.) But you can always just imagine/pretend your responses. I don't know how it works for you but if I'm playing a game and an npc is being annoying, the dialogue your character says and what he really says isn't the same thing. the line might be "I'll check it out" but you think or say to yourself "this better be worth it", idk.

Overall your character is pretty neutral, definitely a rational person dialogue wise, absolutely a bit of a blank slate (though you are still forced into having been a courier.) I can't think of games that do it better than FNV, mass effect was pretty good, do note I have yet to play disco elysium. Most "roleplaying games" are actually pretty crap at letting you roleplay. Fallout at least lets you play as a crazy drunk, sniper, legion assassin, lucky gambler ladies man and so on. Though a lot of that is the PLAYER making the story for themselves in how they interact with the world and what skills they take and the little fun games and stories they make themselves.

Right now I'm reading "Christ's Samurai. The true story of the Shimabara Rebellion."

[Anonymous No.15637123]

>>15637020
You're right. I did undersell it. Spoiled from so many playthroughs. Going back and playing Fallout 3 I found myself bored to death. I still cannot finish that game. I remember when NV came out some people complained that the Mojave Wasteland felt "empty", which struck me as weird because I had the exact opposite feeling, that it was super alive and dynamic, almost over-populated.

I think another issue is that in pen and paper games players tend to "self-regulate" and play their part autonomously, whereas in a PC game, where there's no other real people to play off and riff with, you kind of need the game mechanics to acknowledge your decisions, take things into account. It's always felt a little "cheap" for me when I just have some headcanon explanation for what's "really happening". Like it's cool when I have my own idea of my character's motivations and so on, things that make sense to be internal, but if it gets *too* divorced from the actual game logic, if the player has to carry too much of the role-playing baggage, the immersion unravels a bit and you feel like an idiot manchild playing with toys and creating voices for them like a kid, instead of someone interacting with a living responsive world.

At least, that's how it is for me, especially with mega-detailed game worlds like New Vegas'. With really barebones minimalist games like Kenshi the effect is less pronounced (at least until you start running up against situations where NPCs can do stuff that you can't). Some people thrive off that kinda thing, and enjoy the challenge of trying to stay in character to ridiculous lengths, like playing mega-dweeby scientists who can't use guns and have OCD and stuff and extrapolating that to their behaviour in the game world.

>Right now I'm reading "Christ's Samurai. The true story of the Shimabara Rebellion."
Nice. I find Japanese Christianity pretty interesting. An old Catholic lady gave me a history book about Christians in Nagasaki as a present a few years ago, which I still haven't gotten around to reading. Have you read Shusaku Endo's Silence?

[Anonymous No.15637180]

>>15637123
I agree, very well written.

Yes I find it fascinating, I wrote a letter to the archbishop of nagasaki cathedral asking him why Amakusa Shirou Tokisada wasn't a saint and I think it caused a political issue in the church since he was basically a Christian terrorist. He or his spokesman replied first and basically said "yeah, nah he was violent and has no post death miracles" Then a couple days later they said "actually idk we are looking into it. My assumption is that it would have been a contentious local issue that nobody has actually raised, but you can't start the process of making someone a saint unless someone asks.

I haven't seen or watched silence since I think it's anti-christian propaganda, it encourages people to deny Christ and was made by Scorcese who is a cultural catholic.

[Anonymous No.15637250]

>>15637180
Cheers. Thanks for talking in such depth about it.

That's pretty interesting. Did you write to the archbishop in English or Japanese?

Can't speak for the movie, but I think the novel shouldn't be written off as anti-Christian (though take my opinion with a grain of salt, since I'm lapsed). Shusaku Endo was a believing, practising Roman Catholic. Even if the message is misguided, it unquestionably comes from a place of sincere, tortured devotion. imo I'd say it's uncomfortable in the same way that Job or Ecclesiastes or some of the Psalms can be uncomfortable. I haven't seen Scorcese's adaptation. I've heard mixed things about it - some people say that the 1971 Japanese one is better. They're probably right.

[Anonymous No.15637269]

>>15637250
Japanese, I have a friend who speaks it so he translated it, had to be all old fashioned and formal writing apparently.

I might check it out anyway, but my backlog is ridiculous right now, got about 15 books to read, swore I wouldn't buy anymore until I finish.

[Anonymous No.15637347]

>>15637269
lol your backlog is more manageable than mine. My shelves got out of control for a while. I've managed to cut down on buying books for the meantime but I still do it when I see something rare for a good price. Nice talking though man. Cool to see someone who worked on NV on /lit/.