Thread: Help for a complete amateur

I hope I'm posting in the right place. Obviously, I'm very new here so any help will be tremendously appreciated.

Some friends and I have been working on a story-driven video game for some time now. The game engine itself is on schedule, but the story hardly a skeleton. I have been tasked with writing/scripting the story, and although I'm honored I'm pretty overwhelmed with the task. I haven't written anything long in several years (since I graduated), and as a result I'm pretty rusty. I'm certainly not the world's worst writer, but I can't remember writing anything terribly impressive, either. Now is the time for me to develop what skills I do have into something others would enjoy experiencing.

I figured a good starting point would be with the protagonist. By developing a general sense of the person who the player will experience the world vicariously through I figure I can start to think on the necessary supporting characters and themes that will drive the story. I'm very much leaning towards a complete anti-hero as protagonist. A character who is (almost) his own worst enemy. Lazy, weak, narcissistic and apathetic. He/she has absolutely nothing going for them, but he can't be bothered to care. Needing *some* kind of income, but lacking any real skills, he joined the military. Being seen as ineffectual and unteachable, he was given the position of lowly courier (mainly to get him away from the other troops and out from under his superiors). He prefers it this way; no superiors breathing down his neck while he's on the road, and no peers to jibe him for his lack of ambition. Is this a workable character? I understand that it can be difficult to make an anti-hero an engaging protagonist, but I want the player to enjoy a character who is as infuriating and stupefying as he is hilarious, pitiable and at the end of the day very memorable.

So let's have it: what would you all suggest I do, to work on my writing chops? Is there anyone here with experience creating script for interactive media? Any pros/cons to anti-hero protagonists? Good ideas for making him engaging and interesting? I will consider and appreciate all input. Thanks!

Tsk.... people who post on internet writing forums wanting for members of the forum to help them either do their homework or their job.

Here's my input: Good luck! xoxo

Originally Posted by Scarlett_156

Tsk.... people who post on internet writing forums wanting for members of the forum to help them either do their homework or their job.

Here's my input: Good luck! xoxo

That's strange...I certainly didn't want to come across that way. And no, this isn't for school (graduated ten years ago) or for work (this is a hobby project). I'd just like input, especially if someone has prior experience in this field and would like to offer advice. As I said, I'm pretty much starting from scratch and any *constructive* advice would be greatly appreciated.

If done well, your "anti-hero" could be very intriguing simply because it is so opposite the norms, epsecially in the video game genre.

Could you give me more information about your game design? What genre is it? If it is an RPG then a good story will be a lot more important than a conventional FPS. What is the setting? What is the player character trying to accomplish? You might want to take a look at this website. It's chock full of advice related to game design and the game design profession in generall some of the articles are applicable to your situation.

Thank you very much for the link and advice, Cambyses. I'd like very much to get reference novels to read as well. I'm sure authors have made great use of anti-heroes and I'd like to see how they did it.

The game will be an RPG, and as you say it should concentrate on a good story. That's why I'm worried; an FPS can make it on great action and poor storytelling but an RPG lives and dies by its ability to tell an engrossing story. The setting is going to change as the story progresses, but will begin in a rural, agrarian society reminiscent of your old "Final Fantasy" series and progress into something distinctly more like "Star Ocean." A good in-between example setting would be "Septerra Core," which also portrays the post-industrialised world the player will find himself in. I want players to dread the protagonist. I want them to feel like they'd have chosen *any* other character to play, at least at first. However, as the game progresses I'd like to help them understand that the protagonists greatest flaw - his own immutable, almost sociopathic apathy - is also his greatest asset. I want to create a brilliant fool; a character whose unflappable nature and natural cunning (which has enabled him to be the weak, lazy bag of wind he is today) makes him a natural leader in spite of himself. Eventually, I want to make the player love the character they love to hate. A tall order, but it never hurts to try right?

I got some more inspiration on another forum - how about a parody? Instead of an unwitting hero or a brilliant fool, how about a character the player can love to hate? One that cowers under his dead mates, surrenders to the enemy at the first sign of trouble, and runs before the threat is even sized up? How about a story that concentrates on the ridiculous and wallows in its own shamelessness, to the point of breaking down the fourth wall just for the hell of giving the player a chuckle? A game not about saving the world, or meting out justice, or gaining fame or glory...but just saving your own skin in whatever shameful, crooked and (hopefully) hilarious ways possible?

Anyone have opinions on that?

When you are designing a game, you have to remember that it is a game first and a story second. You are you going to have to meld your story with game mechanics meaning that you cannot get ahead of the programming skills of your friends that are implementing the game. It sounds like you have a good idea of the protagonist. I would suggest doing more work on the setting(s) and the overarching conflict that drives the story. Remember, your story is going to have to be revealed mostly through dialog and cutscenes so try not to get ahead of yourself too much without knowing what the artists, animators, and programmers that you are working with are capable of.

As to your parody idea, I don't know how I would feel playing that game. It is certainly a unique idea, but is running away from the battlefield and generally acting in a shameful manner really something that you want to do in your free time when you are playing the game? That sounds like a great idea for a story in novel format but I am not sure how well it could actually be implemented in a game. The chronically apathetic character accidentally becoming a leader and hero seems much more preferable, at least to me.

I understand what you're saying, Cambyses. I know that my limits will frequently be set by the logistics of creating an engaging game that is fun to play which will be touched and melded by others who have their own sets of priorities and limitations. However, I can't help but think about the possibilities of a game that goes to great lengths to not take itself very seriously at all. I take what you have to say to heart; I'm sure my cohorts in crime will have varying opinions of this "parody" idea, and with a little luck we should be able to take away some great ideas that will fit into the grand scheme of the game.

Originally Posted by clchildres

Anyone have opinions on that?

What you're describing kind of reminds me of Archer. It's a cartoon series on FX. Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy set at the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), a spy agency where espionage and global crises are merely opportunities for its highly trained employees to confuse, undermine, betray and royally screw each other.

Perhaps it could give you some ideas.

Originally Posted by S1E9A8N5

What you're describing kind of reminds me of Archer. It's a cartoon series on FX. Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy set at the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS), a spy agency where espionage and global crises are merely opportunities for its highly trained employees to confuse, undermine, betray and royally screw each other.

Perhaps it could give you some ideas.

Yes, actually. I'll have to check that out; that's just the kind of mayhem I'm hoping will ensue.

Speaking from the point of view of a gamer...
I wouldn't even worry about the hero first. To be honest, that'll be the easiest character because it's what the player will be handling. Effectively making the character no longer yours. A general background is fine, the player will know where they're coming from, but the personality of the hero is going to be up to the player. There may be specific choices in the game that will affect how the rest of the game progresses, but again, that is up to the player. You only need to worry about what affect a specific choice will have on the rest of the game - if it even has an affect other than dialog.

Speaking as someone who's run table-top games for my friends for years, coming up with adventures for their heroes to try to solve...
I'd start with the primary villain of the game. The Big Boss or Arch-Villain who is the primary problem for the hero. Start with him/her, come up with the layout of their social involvement with the various aspects of the world (business, law, politics, underworld, etc.), the contacts they have, the followers, henchmen, etc. Keep it all loose and fluid so when the developers of the game mechanics say "we can't put that into the game" You'll be able to say, "no problem" and make one or two minor changes that won't affect anything else for the game.

@RHSexton: That's an interesting (and very valid) point of view. I'll have to run that by the guys the next time we meet and get some more input.

Your protagonist depends entirely on how open you want the game to be. In a game like Arcanum the playable character has no predefined identity because the player has the freedom to go about the story however he wishes, in a game like the Final Fantasy series you have a fixed personality for the protagonists that the player merely observes and experiences. Both techniques can be equally engaging but I believe you are focusing on the latter.

The comic twist can work if you integrate it into the gameplay. Giving your character the ability to pick up corpses as cover, or even grabbing live soldiers or allies as human shields could be great, but as mentioned before it's up to your programmers to see if it can be done. This same character choice would go well with a more Rockstar Games kind of feeling, with a bit of the blackest fallout humor. You could have this character not only cower but also masquerade as foes, lie about his loyalties, even sell out his allies. He could sabotage, poison and even just quite literally push people of roofs or into the line of fire. However, I don't see this character getting much more action then self-defense and running away.

Your initial idea, a cold, indifferent character with nothing to loose could be portrayed through dialogue and cut-scenes and it could give the story a much more serious twist. This could be his strength if you place him in situations where the average person looses his cool. You could have him unravel a conspiracy or mystery by having him notice things that others overlook because of overwhelming emotions. You could have him act fearlessly because he doesn't have anything to hold on to. You could even have him sacrifice others for a greater or egoistic purpose to achieve his goals. This character would be able to fight if necessary, he would basically be an "I don't give a f***" kind of character, which works as much for the brawler type as it does for the hit-and-run character. This could allow a wider range of optional character skills. The thing you need to figure out with a character like this is what motivates him to succeed in the first place.

What ever you chose just remember, the most involving character in an RPG is the one that has a range of skills and abilities that lines up with his character. Do not make an antisocial antihero lowlife with the skillbase of a regular paladin. Have him sneak, backstab, run really fast, pickpocket, lockpick etc. Or give him mental abillities like persuasion and deceit. As an outsider perhaps he is more of an observer, weave that into the story as he spots things in people, weaknesses, oddities, emotional state. Every time you give him a personality trait, figure out what set of skills such a character would have. There's a reason why Tifa(FF7), Rinoa(FF, and Garnet(FF9) have vastly different skills even if they look like they were all cloned from the same cell.

Other questions are:
What kicks off the adventure, and how will his challenge evolve? What is the objective or what are the series of objectives from start to finish?(only main plot, not sidequests)
What motivates the protagonist to go on through out the game?
Will there be NPC's joining up with the protagonist or does he go solo?
Is there a main antagonist and in that case who? If not, who/what opposes him?
Is the combat turnbased or realtime?
Will the characters personality evolve or will he acquire something during the story? He starts off apathetic, does he get personally involved later?
And there's much much more but I cant think of it now.

just a note on narcissists. They hardly ever find themselves their own 'worst enemy' because well... in the mind of a narcissist, 'THEY'RE THE BEST!!!' but that would def. cause more problems with others involved, but having lived with one ... after being treated as an object of imperfection for so long you kind of stop caring. Just being like, 'yea, i get it you think i'm a piece of shit, but i make you feel like shit if i try to say so'. It pisses them off that you stop listening but really you stop caring about their ever so sensitive feelings and emotions.