Writing plots for first-person shooters

[thewayne]

Back lots of years ago, you had Doom. Zero story. Move from room to room and shoot things. Then came Quake. Sort of a story, nothing to brag about. Quake begat Half-Life. Quite a story! And it apparently continues into subsequent releases. The Half-Life spin-offs, Code Blue and whatever the Marine one was, didn't have much in the way of story as they presupposed that you were familiar with it from HL.

Here, an extensive interview with a script writer for a FPS game company! The Slashdot thread has some interesting comments, including something that I probably will steal if I ever run a SF RPG campaign.

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/07/23/writing_for_the_lcd__fps_games/1

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/24/1319256

Comments

[silveradept]

Fair enough. We don't necessarily need to see or be told all the backstory, but knowing that it's there and has been written out would be useful as a resource to consult with. And with scenes like the one you mention, we get hints at a more complete existence, rather than "here's the situation and the characters, and the parts of the background that are directly relevant to the plot. Enjoy."

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Blues Brothers is one of my all-time fav films. The Three B's, as I call them: Blade Runner, Blues Brothers, and Buckaroo Banzai. I know Blues Bros quite well, and sadly, to a degree, I also like the second one.

[silveradept]

The second movie was an excellent example of how Elwood Blues tried to both adapt to and resist the modern world after spending 18 years in prison. Considering how many of the original cast had since passed on, it was going to be a different movie. I liked it, too, in those moments when it was more like the original movie.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

The music was great, the story was so-so. I can only think of three or four deaths off-hand: Belushi, Cab Calloway, and of course Ray Charles. I don't remember if Johnny Lee Hooker passed away before or after BB 2000, but he was really a bit part/cameo role.

[silveradept]

Those bit parts were pretty important, I'd say, for setting the musical stage for the story. But yes, the music was great - the story felt like it was an excuse to ahve lots of zany car chases, which was an appealing part of the original.