Script Lock

We've got Kelsey (game writer and narrative designer on Outer Wilds with Mobius Digital, along with Stormland for Insomniac, and wrote the unreleased Tales from the Minus Lab for USC’s Interactive Media & Games Division) and Olivia (script writer and narrative designer at Ubisoft Montreal on Far Cry 5 and Far Cry: New Dawn, and previously a scriptwriter at Ubisoft Quebec on Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and its DLC) in this month to talk about the hardest parts of working with nonlinear storytelling, stress, taking feedback, nonlinear murder mysteries, quantifying values that are hard to quantify, assuming that players are smart, tracking all the permutations in branching narratives, player assumptions when it comes to knowledge of the story and vice versa, letting players pull in information instead of pushing it on them, what makes a good opening and ending, DnD, and more.Our Guests on the InternetKelsey's Twitter and Website.Olivia's Twitter.Stuff We Talked AboutOuter WildsTwineGDC 2019: Technical Tools for Authoring Branching Dialogue by Carrie Patel and SzymczykSteven UniverseOverqualified by Joey ComeauOur theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita. 

Calling in from the far reaches of Los Angeles AND Toronto, Kait (currently the Team Lead Narrative Designer on Watch Dogs: Legion at Ubisoft Toronto, and formerly the Lead Writer on A Mortician’s Tale for Laundry Bear Games. She’s also written the book Ain’t No Place for a Hero: Borderlands, and is the co-director of Dames Making Games) and Sam (currently a Senior Writer at Insomniac Games, where she recently worked on the Turf Wars DLC for Marvel’s Spider-Man, and formerly an Associate Writer at Bioware on Anthem. She’s also an author of books like Girl Squads and Wonder Women, and has written for comics like Captain Marvel, Star Trek, and Jem & the Holograms) join us to talk writing tests, how to give good feedback, important soft skills to have, writing processes and "muses," staying organized, things that tap and sap their creativity, what makes a good video game opening/ending, NPCs, storytelling quagmires, diverse dev teams, whether there's anything in their work that takes forever that people wouldn't expect, work/life balances, what they're consuming that isn't video games, why writing WWE fanfiction can be helpful for your game writing, major influences, and MOREEEEE! Our Guests on the Internet Kait's Twitter and Instagram, and you should follow all of the rad Watch Dogs: Legion writers and narrative designers on twitter! Sam's Twitter, Instagram, and Website, and you should check out Captain Marvel and preorder The Unstoppable Wasp. Also you should follow all of the good folks at Insomniac Games on twitter! Stuff We Talked About ASMR Hair Treatment | Mic ON Brush | Oils & Crinkle Cap What Makes a Good Video Game Ending? by Kait Tremblay Mass Effect 2 Borderlands Portal 2 God of War Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Bioshock Hellblade Observation Dames Making Games The 18-month fence hop, the six-day chair, and why video games are so hard to make by Blake Hester Chernobyl Fleabag The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss Stargate SG-1 Cleopatra 2525 Farscape Andromeda seaquest DSV Star Trek: Voyager Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

It's localization month, baby, and we've got Lola (producer at SEGA where she’s worked on Sonic Mania, and Sonic Mania Plus. She’s also a gaming consultant and has previously worked in development support at Kojima Productions LA on Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain, PR at Square Enix on games including Sleeping Dogs, Final Fantasy 13, and Kingdom Hearts, and has also worked in localization and QA at Activision Blizzard) and Scott (Localization Producer at SEGA of America, where he just finished working on Judgement, and before that worked on Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6. Was also an Associate Producer on Yakuza 0, a Senior Copyrighter and Associate Product Manager at Square Enix, a Product Manager at Level 5, and Project Lead and Editor at ATLUS) in to talk about why localization is not another word for translation, balancing standards/concepts that exist in one culture that don’t really exist in the other, mahjong, localizing tropes and archetypes that have no analogue in Western media, tone shifting differences in the East vs West, deviating from the script, the difference between a good localization and a great one, dialects, lip flaps, why your localization team should be integrated early in the process, work/life balance, and using editors in addition to translators. Our Guests on the Internet Lola's Twitter Scott's Twitter Stuff We Talked About The bizarre, true story of Metal Gear Solid's English translation by Jeremy Blaustein The Yakuza series Judgment Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. SPIKES FOOTBALL That's right! We made it to FIFTY episodes, and to help celebrate such a monumental achievement in podcasting, we snuck a couple of past guests in through the back door for a victory lap. Which guests, you ask? How about takes a somewhat deep breath, Carrie Patel, Tyler J. Hutchison, Laura Michet, Richard Lemarchand, Sarah Elmaleh, Jon Paquette, Brendon Chung, Cat Manning, Kate Dollarhyde, Eric Stirpe, Janina Gavankar, Ben Esposito, Claire Hummel, Graham Reznick, Ryan Benno, AND Molly Maloney? So what, you say? Well, what if I told you we talked with them about the main things students should know about interactive storytelling, how it's OK to be silly, storytelling confessions, extreme programming, whether game stories can be apolitical, what the differences between a good collaborator and a great one are (and how to work with a bad one), favorite underappreciated bits in games, anything they'd do differently with their past work, things you might not need to worry about with your storytelling, major influences, the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, auteurism in games, the greatness of Yakuza 0, stuff they've worked on that they wish people appreciated more, and so! Much! More! I mean, do you see how long this episode is?! ROUND ONE Our guests on the Internet Laura's Twitter and Website, and you should check out Pathologic 2 Carrie's Twitter, and you should check out The Outer Worlds Tyler's Twitter Richard's Twitter and Website Stuff We Talked About Ep 45: Molly Maloney & Eric Stirpe Mass Effect 2 Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton The Doves Type® Revival Doom (2016) Mario is Missing! The Trust Equation ROUND TWO (begins at 49:35) Our guests on the Internet Sarah's Twitter, and you should check out Afterparty and GamDev.World Jon's Twitter Brendon's Twitter, Website, and you should check out Skin Deep Cat's Twitter, Website, and you should check out Pathologic 2 Stuff We Talked About The Sims 2 Alien: Isolation The Curse of Monkey Island Oxenfree Super Mario Odyssey Civilization VI Ico The menu from Medal of Honor (1999) Honeysuckle by Cat Manning Collaborative Approaches to Getting Great VO Performances (if you have GDC vault access, you can find it there!) Where the Water Tastes Like Wine ROUND THREE (begins at 1:42:12) Our guests on the Internet Eric's Twitter Janina's Twitter, and you should check out Stucco Kate's Twitter Ben's Twitter, Website, and you should check out Donut County Stuff We Talked About Joanna Newsom mewithoutYou Samuel R. Delany Jeff VanderMeer The Secret of Monkey Island Van Cliburn Portal 2 The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen ROUND FOUR (begins at 2:36:27) Our guests on the Internet Ryan's Twitter, and you should check out The Environment Art Podcast Claire's Twitter, Website, and you should check out In the Valley of the Gods Molly's Twitter, and you should check out Yakuza 0 and Return of the Obra Dinn Graham's Twitter, and you should check out Deadwax and Visitations with Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah Stuff We Talked About Red Dead Redemption 2 Yakuza 0 Undertale Firewatch Mother 3 The Walking Dead Season 1 Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series Until Dawn Westworld VR Experience Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

We're all avoiding our deadlines to bring you this episode with Olivia (writer, narrative designer, and editor and currently works at Failbetter Games where she’s worked on Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Sea: Zubmariner, and Sunless Skies. She’s also worked on Lethophobia, The Mystery of Kalkomey Isle, Cheaper Than Therapy, and Where the Water Tastes Like Wine) and Jessica (former Lead Writer at Telltale Games where she worked on Batman, The Walking Dead, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Wolf Among Us: Season 2, and since then has written for WB Games San Francisco, and is currently working with Bad Robot Studios and Google Stadia), who are here to talk about writing meaningful choices, their personal favorite choices in games, what makes a good NPC, what takes you out of a game’s story, storytelling quagmires, getting through rewrite fatigue, when do you know you’re done with a script (apart from deadlines), maintaining a healthy work/life balance, time management, and what’s inspiring them outside of games. Our Guests on the Internet Olivia's Twitter. Jessica's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Heaven’s Vault Gris Transistor A Burglar’s Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh The Chrestomanci Series by Diana Wynne Jones Alice Diamond and the Forty Elephants by Brian McDonald The Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita

NARRATIVE DESIGN! WHAT IS IT? Today we're super lucky to have Rosa (narrative designer at Criterion Games, previously an audio designer there, and her credits include Battlefield 1, Star Wars Battlefront: Rogue One X-Wing VR Mission, Star Wars Battlefront 2, and Battlefield 5's Firestorm mode) and Ben (writer at Insomniac Games, where he worked on last year's Spider-Man, and he's also a writer and director of film and TV) joining us to answer answer one of the most perplexing questions of our times, plus chat about going from audio to narrative design, building narrative teams, enthusiasm being undervalued, how to sustain yourself through dark periods, how to nail the voices of established characters/IPs, the greatness of Yuri Lowenthal, methods for getting the best possible performances from your actors, whether directing has impacted their storytelling processes, storytelling quagmires they've found themselves in, how do you know when you're done with something (especially when you don't have a deadline), do they feel obligated to play other games to stay up to date with the state of storytelling, games that impressed them recently, stuff that takes them out of a game's story, things they want changed in game development, and one or two more things! Our Guests on the Internet Rosa's Twitter. Ben's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Writing and Narrative Design: A Relationship by Eric Stirpe and Molly Maloney Return of the Obra Dinn Brawl Stars Mortal Kombat 11 Spider-Man Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: X-wing VR Mission God of War Detroit: Become Human Another Case Solved Guildmaster Story Alto's Odyssey Celeste Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

This episode is NSFW as we've got Kim (studio manager at Defiant Development, where she’s worked on Hand of Fate, Hand of Fate 2, and Ski Safari: Adventure time. Also the co-founder of Blushbox Collective, a group of game developers exploring and promoting love and sexuality in video games, and the Heartbeat conference and game jam) and Kate (currently the narrative director at KO_OP and writer of the sex games column for Kotaku, previously a games journalist, video producer, on-camera host, scriptwriter, streamer, and community manager at companies ranging from Gamespot to Xbox) in to talk about sex, intimacy, and how they're used in game stories. Other topics include why it’s important to talk about sex now, becoming a stronger communicator, sexual values being good life values, exploring taboo subjects in games, how sex is portrayed in indie games vs big budget games, wanting better consensual content, the lack of funding for intimate interactive experiences, whether there are any aspects of relationships that are hard to translate to gameplay, VR porn, win states in sex games, how to make interactive relationships engaging, and the sexiest games. Our Guests on the Internet Kim's Twitter and Blush Box's website. Kate's Twitter and column. Stuff We Talked About Lyst Summit Heartbeat Symposium Ladykiller in a Bind Cibele Dragon Age: Inquisition Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator One Night Stand Mirror Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Awards season has ARRIVED, and to mark the occasion we've invited two writers representing two of the games nominated by the WGA this year for Best Game Writing : Jon Paquette (Lead Writer on Marvel’s Spider-Man, Sunset Overdrive, and Resistance 3, and formerly a Creative Director at EA, writer on Medal of Honor, and Medal of Honor: Airborne, and QA Lead on Jurassic Park: Trespasser) and returning guest Mel MacCoubrey (Narrative Director on Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, and formerly the Assistant Director of Narrative Design on Assassin's Creed Syndicate, scriptwriter on Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry, and scriptwriting intern on Far Cry 4)! Incredible topics discussed include Jurassic Park Trespasser, writing internships at Ubisoft and Insomniac, whether the core pillars of Assassin's Creed: Odyssey and Spider-Man stayed consistent throughout development, scoping challenges, game length, making big changes to the story once you have a playable build, preventing problems before they happen, always putting your best ideas forward, hardest part about writing for an open world, the worst professional advice they've ever gotten, maintaining a healthy work/life balance, underrated people working with game narratives, the value of voice actors, if there's anything they would change about game development, AAA games that don't have combat as main mechanic, the importance of Farming Simulator 19 as an esport, and moreeeeeeeeee. Our Guests on the Internet Jon's Twitter. Mel's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Jurassic Park Trespasser What Remains of Edith Finch Florence Brie Code Return of the Obra Dinn Gris Inside Farming Simular 19 Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

It's 2019 and we've got Molly (Lead Narrative Designer at Bad Robot Games, and previously Lead Gameplay Designer at Telltale on Guardians fo the Galaxy, Minecraft: Story Mode, Walking Dead: Season 3, Tales from the Borderlands) and Eric (Writer on Fortnite, interactive consultant for Eko, and previously a staff writer for Netflix's Trash Truck, and a writer at Telltale on Walking Dead: Season 2, Tales from the Borderlands, Minecraft: Story Mode seasons 1 & 2, and Batman: The Telltale Series) here to talk about how choose your own adventure is the dominant influence on interactive narrative at the moment, choice timers, the marriage of writing and narrative design, working relationships, players forgiving bad writing more than bad narrative design, what made Telltale work, finishing a project and feeling like you just spent a lot of time making an asset for somebody else, Bandersnatch (SPOILERS), the problem of having “good” and “bad” endings in branching narratives, fail states, making people feel like their choices matter, obfuscating branches from players, and what makes a good choice. Our Guests on the Internet Molly's Twitter. Eric's Twitter. Stuff We Talked About Writing and Narrative Design: A Relationship by Eric Stirpe and Molly Maloney Still The Smartest Guy On The Hill 30 Years After Sex, Lies & Videotape: Steven Soderbergh Unravels Hollywood Chaos by Mike Fleming Jr. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters Until Dawn Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

Happy holidays! We're sneaking in right before Christmas to give all of you the very special gift of Rhianna Pratchett (game writer, narrative designer, comic book writer, and former journalist. She's written on such titles as Heavenly Sword, the Overlord series, Mirror's Edge, the Mirror’s Edge comic series, the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, the sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, and the Tomb Raider: The Beginning comic series) AND Jill Murray (Lead Writer and Narrative Designer for AAA games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Assassin's Creed Liberation, and AC Freedom Cry, winner of the WGA award for game writing in 2013, and previously published two YA novels with Random House of Canada. She is currently the Narrative Director for an unannounced indie project, as well as working on Boyfriend Dungeon with Kitfox Games, and writing an episode of Later Daters for Bloom Digital) AND Cara Ellison (former games journalist and current game writer, narrative designer, and screenwriter. She served as a narrative consultant on Dishonored 2, produced and designed the TV show Last Commanders for CBBC, and is currently a narrative designer on Media Molecule's Dreams, and Void Bastards by BlueManchu Games), who've joined us to talk prime writing hours, freelancing advice, how to network (and how NOT to), game writing agents, negotiating for yourself, being a narrative paramedic, red flags to watch out for on potential jobs, what they wish more people knew about the kind of work they do, skills to have that are unique for working in AAA, how to handle when people are constantly telling you that your work isn't good, being aware of studio politics, writing mistakes/failures that they've learned from, the state of the industry, worldbuilding, and a few other things that you'll just have to find out yourself! Our Guests on the Internet Rhianna's Twitter and Website. Jill's Twitter, Website, and Instagram. Cara's Twitter, Facebook, and Website. Stuff We Talked About Kitfox Games Writing for Videogames - Writers' Guild of Great Britain Game Workers Unite UK Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.