A Lesson in Character Development

Hello my friends,

I hope you guys have been having an awesome week. My week was actually fairly boring. I spent the week doing my normal routine and working on my various projects. I’ve been making progress on these different projects and am excited by the direction they are going. I’m hoping that these projects are go well. There are only a few of my projects that I’m worried for and the path they are going on. These projects are hitting road bumps that are making the process a bit more difficult. I have faith in these projects and I’m hoping that we can steer them towards the right path. I’m very hopeful for all of my projects. I’m looking forward to seeing how each project pans out.

I fought for this week I’d talk a little bit about character development and how important it is. Yesterday was the fourth episode of season eight of Game of Thrones. The episode has been hit with some major criticism, I even read an article from Buzzfeed stating that it was the worst episode of the show ever. I strongly disagree with that article, the episode was not the worst of the show and in my opinion not the worst of the season so far. The episode did suffer though from poor pacing. The biggest thing that could’ve helped solve this would have been more scenes involving character development. I will warn this may contain slight spoilers but I won’t talk about key points. Two scenes that would’ve helped are small scenes. The first has become a huge point of contention as of late and that would’ve been a scene of Jon saying good bye to Ghost. Another would’ve been a scene of Daenerys with the bones of Viserion. I feel that both these scenes would have reminded us of the humanity in both of these characters and may have helped with pacing. The important thing about character development is to remember it’s not always the big details but the small ones. Every little detail can lead to expansion of a character and the connection to the audience. These can also help with providing meaningful filler to help jump gaps. Please let me know what you think and I’d love to discuss with you about this.

Well till next time you guys. I hope you have an awesome week and I hope to have more news for you soon.

Game Writing a Unique Type of Writing

Hello everybody,

I hope you all have had a great week and that it was filled with excitement. My week was pretty good. I continued with making steps towards finishing a side project. I’ve been making progress on my story bible, sadly not as much as I’d like. I also have decided to sell a bunch of my old trading cards. I’ve never actually sold trading cards before with the mindset of actually making some amount of money. It’s weird to go through the process as I’m also not sure what the best way is to sell them. I’ve been told eBay but I’m not well versed in selling on eBay. I was also looking into TCGPlayer but they were a bit more convoluted. I decided to sell my more expensive cards on eBay while seeing if I can sell my cheaper cards at a card store for good money. I felt the need to get rid of my cards so I can clear space and maybe someday I can start a new collection. I’m keeping some cards for sentimental reasons, plus I have some cards that are hidden somewhere that I’ll have to find.

I had fun last week talking about story bibles so this week I thought I’d talk about how game writing differs from screenplay, animation, and prose. Game writing’s key point of difference is the way it is consumed by the audience. With game writing the audience is a part of the story unlike almost all other forms of writing. This means that often game writing is more in depth as you have to account for the different possibilities that a player might come up with. It also is very heavily influenced by the form of game you are writing for. In a more linear game like a Call of Duty your story will be very straightforward with very few extra story moments. While a game like Fallout is very expansive and will often have a much longer story or expansive story. This isn’t always the case but it tends to be like that. You also have to create what are called barks. These are the various random bits of dialogue that a character might say. These can be exclamations of pain or a joke or a ‘hello’. These are the simplified ways that define game writing versus other forms of writing.

Well till next week you guys. I hope that you have a great week and that I have some good news next week. I also like giving these little lessons on writing, and I hope you guys are enjoying them to.

The Purpose of a Story Bible

Hello my friends!

I hope your past week went very well. Mine was busy but relatively uneventful. I spent time doing my usual routine and had a dentist appointment. The most eventful thing was a meeting I had with two recruiters that work for a technology staffing company. It was very interesting chatting with them and discussing with them what my goals are. They also told me of various services they offer in order to help new graduates find a job. There was one issue though. Their company doesn’t typically work in the gaming fields, however, they said that they do have some connections. They also said they’re still willing to help me with my resume and various other things. Which I am very thankful for and I look forward to any help they can provide.

Now for the other aspects of my week. I’ve been spending a part of my free time on a side project that is a story bible for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I’ll be uploading an updated version of it today, so you can see the progress I have made on it. Now some of you may be wondering what a story bible is. A story bible is a long document that explains the world of whatever project you are working on, if you are familiar with the Silmarillion that is very close to a story bible. This is something that is used to document and record the different aspects of your world and it will help you when creating stories and concepts while within this world. The length will also depend on the project. For example with a historical fiction based in World War II where a team of highly trained Jewish Soldiers are on a mission to kill as many Nazi’s as possible your story bible would be relatively short. You are only changing small portions of world history to create a more interesting story, but if you continue the world after it your story bible will only get longer. In something like my story bible I am building the world from the ground up. I am taking various aspects of preexisting Dungeons and Dragons worlds then reworking them. This can be seen in how the gods come to be in my version. Ultimately the story bible can be used to ensure consistency and provide a more expansive story. This can also make your world feel more alive and make people want to delve even further into your story, sometimes making stories of their own for your world. Another important aspect is that you stick to whatever your story bible says happens or can happen. If you don’t stick to it this creates inconsistencies that can make a story difficult to attach to. This is why a story bible is necessary as it serves as a fantastic way to ensure you have a consistent story line and can answer questions that may come up. This is why I have been spending time creating this story bible. I love creating worlds and the little intricacies of them. They require a lot of research and time, but the pay off is great. I love the idea of providing my players with and exciting in-depth experience that they can explore and grow as they please.

Well I hope you guys have a wonderful week and enjoyed my sort of mini-lesson! I hope to have exciting news for you next week!