![\"The](\"http:\/\/www.dashjump.com\/setup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/last_monster_master.png\")
\nWriting is hard. Writing interactive, multiple-choice games is harder.<\/p>\n
\nWriting is hard. Writing interactive, multiple-choice games is harder.<\/p>\n
Good at turning a phrase? Excellent \u2013 now turn seven of them, all equally-well written, that make sense in four different contexts, as\u00a0said by\u00a0three different characters. If nothing else, writing non-linear text game dialog and narrative is an exercise in constraints, creative reuse, and conviction.<\/p>\n
Say you\u2019ve got an outline for a text-based game. You know what the game\u2019s about, who the main characters are, the major events of each chapter, what the player\u2019s abilities are; all of the major\u00a0pieces. Now it\u2019s time to start writing \u2013 but you\u2019re stumped. How can you write a story where anything can happen? How do you set up the player\u2019s options? Where do you even start?<\/p>\n
I recently released my first full-length text game for Choice of Games<\/a>, titled The Last Monster Master<\/em><\/a> (clocking in at 250,000(!) words), and through the process I came up with a basic framework to help write\u00a0it chapter by chapter. I used the excellent (and free) Chat Mapper<\/a>\u00a0to write each non-linear chapter before bringing the final text into ChoiceScript, Choice of Games\u2019 own writer-friendly scripting language.<\/p>\n I broke the process down by taking six passes through each chapter, which helped significantly in retaining focus. What\u2019s more, Chat Mapper has a great feature that lets you change the color of each individual text node. To help track each text pass as I worked the chapters, I used this feature\u00a0to change the color of each node to mark it as finished for that pass (as in the screenshots below).<\/p>\n Pass \u00a01 \u2013 Stub Text (No Color)<\/strong><\/p>\n The first pass is all about laying down the structure for how the chapter will play out. Instead of writing any actual dialog or descriptions, use stub dialog as placeholders to indicate who will say what and when they\u2019ll say it, and what the player\u2019s options will be.<\/p>\n If there are different branches depending on stat values or other conditions, indicate the stat in question and describe the options in plain English. Don’t worry about writing any game logic yet; that’ll come later.<\/p>\n Avoid excessive revisions (or any, if you can help it) in this pass \u2013 its main purpose is to get the high-level structure of the chapter down into a readable format. When you\u2019re done here, you\u2019ll have a first draft of a roadmap for everything that comes next.<\/p>\n In the\u00a0below\u00a0sequence from The Last Monster Master<\/em>, one of the player’s monsters is stuck in a tree during an attack. The player must choose to use their Telepathy or Body Language detection skills to help the monster\u00a0withstand the\u00a0attack, or to run over and help directly.<\/p>\n Pass 2 \u2013 Stub Text Revision (Yellow)<\/strong><\/p>\n In the next pass, focus only on revising the structure you just created. You\u2019re looking only at the placement of things \u2013 don\u2019t worry about misspellings or anything related to the text, since everything you’ve written will be replaced in revisions.<\/p>\n You\u2019re primarily looking for choices or option branches that don\u2019t make sense or are inconsistent with the story, edge cases that can lead to problems later, and dead ends that don\u2019t link back to the main narrative flow.<\/p>\n Secondarily, you\u2019re making sure that the structure so far makes use of all of the player stats or ability options you’ve planned to use in this chapter. If it turns out that you haven\u2019t implemented as many as you would’ve liked, make a conscious decision to either amend your original plan, create new sequences or options that use these stats or make a note to utilize the forgotten stats in future chapters.<\/p>\n Pass 3 \u2013 First-Pass Text (Orange)<\/strong><\/p>\n With the structure organized and refined, now it\u2019s time to write the actual text the player will see. This is a fairly straightforward pass, but just as before, maintaining your focus is key.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry about setting values for variables, structuring transitions, or anything else that isn\u2019t pure writing. And just like most pure writing, this is both the most fun and the most time-intensive\u00a0part.<\/p>\n![\"stub_text\"](\"http:\/\/www.dashjump.com\/setup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/stub_text.png\")
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![\"first_text_pass\"](\"http:\/\/www.dashjump.com\/setup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/first_text_pass.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"variable_pass\"](\"http:\/\/www.dashjump.com\/setup\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/variable_pass.png\")
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