GDCO Notes - Giving Voice to Guild Wars 2

Guild Wars 2: Finding Our Voice

Speakers: Angel Leigh McCoy (ArenaNet), Bobby Stein (ArenaNet)

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Team worked in the shadow of Guild Wars 1

1)      Processes/Lora and Legacy

2)      2 writing teams

a.       Lore and Continuity -> dungeons, personal story, and cinematics

b.      Writing -> dynamic events and ambient voices (crowd chatter)

The Voice of the Game

1)      Evolving voice

a.       Evaluate past work and seek improvement

2)      Be concise

a.       Quality vs. Quantity

3)      Breaking bad habits

a.       Reduce rampant capitalization from the first game

b.      Improve punctuation and sentence support structures

Writing Team Goals

1)      Make the world feel alive

a.       Use ambient scenes and dynamic events

2)      Naturalize dialogue for the characters speaking it

a.       Ex: Speak pirate if a pirate

3)      Get out of player’s way

4)      Provide optional lore via dialogue trees

‘Added Complexity’ in Giving Voice

1)      Text objects

a.       Painterly cinematics

b.      Barks/chatter

c.       Branching conversations

d.      Head-to-head conversations

2)      Lore and continuity challenges

a.       Lore documentation going through a single point

b.      Lore Masters writing ahead of gameplay development

Ambient Story via Scenes

1)      Goals:

a.       Impart lore to any player

b.      Tell short stories

c.       Establish characters

d.      Reward exploration

2)      Challenges:

a.       Can’t rely on player to see an entire scene

b.      Free form nature can lead to bad writing

Writing Alongside Designers

1)      Dynamic event team handles:

a.       Living world, spontaneous events, local/regional stories, and event chains

2)      Challenge:

a.       Character development, unavoidable player confusion

Iteration -> Lots of rebuilding makes the game better, but lots of lost work, and squeezed for time a lot

Lessons Learned

1)      Writer/designer relationship is very important

2)      Assign areas of responsibility through expertise

3)      Keep a writer on the character story team

4)      How to fail saving money

a.       Use generic voice-overs for specific characters

b.      Writing way ahead of designers

What Worked

1)      Whole ambient scenes are completed first

a.       Sets the feel of the location

2)      Maintaining the lore wiki

3)      Use writers and editors on the same team

4)      Create and encourage experts with specific expertise

5)      Have table reads

a.       If it is not read as intended, rewrite it

6)      Combine writing and lore teams

7)      Have a new team to handle final copy edits

8)      Keep a record after the design lockdown

9)      Scripts need good notes for context

10)   Constrain voice-over budget across multiple content lines

11)   Plan ahead what generic lines are needed

(Questions)

What is the relationship of designer and writer?

                Define the options of what is wanted to be done.  Mechanics drive events.
                Had a 5:1 designer to writer ratio.

How are ambient scenes triggered?

                They may be run whenever; for example, on a timer.
                They are defined based on NPC interactions.

GDCO Notes - Transmedia with the Halo Universe

Building Transmedia Worlds in Halo 4

Speakers: Kevin Grace (343 Industries), Armando Troisi (343 Industries)

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Spoilers Included -> Transmedia, Halo Universe, 4 Principles, and QA

Transmedia -> TV, comics, game, novels, Halo Waypoint, animated series, live-action series

Halo Universe

                Transmedia Hierarchy:

                                { TV, Comic, Novel, etc. } all point to Halo 4

Organization:

                { 343 Industries } points to { Franchise, Game Team, Consumer Products Team }  which point to each-other

Why do transmedia?

1)      Create new storytelling opportunities

2)      Promote accessibility

3)      Keep fans engaged all the time

Challenges of transmedia?

1)      Coordinating content

2)      Focusing all efforts

3)      Curating the fiction; there is a reason behind everything

4 Principles Summary

1)      Enable your partners

a.       Hire good employees; make good contacts

2)      No required reading/playing to get into the Halo universe

3)      Room to grow

a.       Let the medium direct the flow towards the medium’s strengths

4)      Tell the right story in the right channel

4 Principles Expanded

1)      Don’t hire vendors … create permanent partnerships

a.       Don’t dictate; guide

                                                                          i.      Ex: Greg Bear and “Halo Cryptorium”

                                                                        ii.      Halo team game him info of what was coming-up in the Halo universe

                                                                      iii.      Team gave him requirements of major timeline points/character traits

2)      Reward fans for participation in the transmedia lore

a.       Don’t punish the ‘casual’ fan who only plays a little/one type of media

b.      Sequential model: // doesn’t work for Halo

                                                                          i.      Universal Plan: Do a novel, then game, then novel, then game, etc.

c.       Supplementary model: // helps with building Halo; can always add to it

                                                                          i.      Each channel can stand alone

                                                                        ii.      Each channel supports other channels through connections in events/lore

                                                                      iii.      Ex: Halo Terminals! -> Prologue Terminal on Halo Waypoint

                                                                       iv.      Ex: Forward Unto Dawn -> words in Halo 4 are framed from action series

3)      Understand media/audience; play to the strengths of the media!

a.       Don’t enforce canon; manage it

4)      Ex: Games are action; novels are politics and feeling; etc.

(Questions)

How much is planned in advance for the universe?

                No endpoint is planned.  The “Halo Bible” is very fluid.  But, there is less and less detail going farther into the future.

Use separate teams for each media?

                Yes!  ‘Keep feet in 2 ponds’ and ‘not all eggs in 1 basket’.  Create personal connections between and outside of teams.

Do you decide on channel (media) or story first?

                Story first (the universe plan).

What if a mistake is made in lore?

                It happens.  However, it can add details that may challenge fan perception.

How to use analytics for deciding the direction of the franchise?

                The direction is more an art than science.

GDCO Notes - Chris Avellone, Making Fallout DLC

A 4 Hour Story in 400 Simple Steps: Fallout DLC

Speaker: Chris Avellone (Creative Director - Obsidian Entertainment)

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Approach DLC:

1)      Examine the reality of the situation; what will get the game done?

2)      Due diligence – do research and read reviews

a.       They (Obsidian) knew they could do 4 DLCs for Fallout: New Vegas

b.      They knew they were only ~4 hours long

c.       Only 10,000 lines of dialogue between 4 DLCs!!!

d.      DLCs were self-contained adventures

e.      Through research: there would be 4 areas

f.        They didn’t know much about the character :(

3)      Team must have a hierarchy

a.       System Designer to -> Level Designer to -> Narrative Designer

b.      Break down individual sections (Systems/Levels/Narrative) into who had what strengths

c.       (notes missing)

4)      Have a Dialogue Standards document (answering questions such as:)

a.       Double space or single?

b.      Tone direction? Ex: “{sarcastic} I love you, {Dah-la} Dala.”

c.       Pronunciation; capitalization

5)      For plot: As a player, why do you care?

a.       What do factions do for a character?

6)      Pitch!

a.       Ensure that no lore conflicts exist

b.      Research is done for each DLC

c.       Has everyone in the team pitched in ideas to the hierarchy?

d.      1 hour presentation on theme/mechanics

                                                                           i.      Good for new QA/personnel

                                                                         ii.      Have inspiration from movies/games

                                                                        iii.      Declare the overall theme (difficulty, horror, greed, etc)

                                                                       iv.      Plot/level summary

1.       Level toolbox (what can be used; ex: hacking)

2.       Setup ‘Acts’ of the game

                                                                         v.      Bullet point characters/give an image; visualization

                                                                       vi.      State environments and what goes in them/props

7)      Create emotional vistas

a.       Impact moments for player (short, quite moments)

8)      Breakdown Narrative text

a.       Major NPCs, minor NPCs, terminal text, mission slides, loading screens, item descriptions

b.      Visual storytelling (environment foretells a character’s arrival)

c.       Diagram and map character/NPC movement

9)      Get a good editor to go over written lines

a.       Reference the Dialogue Standards document

10)   Do table reads

a.       Have a person who hasn’t written a line needs to read it aloud

b.      Edit on the fly!

11)   Stop writing dialogue for 2 weeks to find if anything is missing

12)   Voice acting

a.       Include concept art, age, attitude, sample lines

b.      Include game screen shots (have who they are, who they like, hate, etc)

c.       Listen to audio to ensure subs are correct

(Questions)

Why keep a line count?

To tell a good story, you don’t need that many lines.

What elements from research apply?

                Players like cooler, better stuff (weapons/costumes).  Include a super special weapon and gear for each skill category (sneak, speech, combat).  Use narrative ‘twists’ and ‘dilemmas’.

How to approach DLC expectations?

                Take 10 reviews of prior DLC’s and breakdown DLCs based on reviews.

How do you allow for character development with a compelling narrative?

                Provide strong NPCs that are straight-up entertaining.

 What is done for lore conflicts between the pitch and publisher?

                Find a work-around.

What percent of budget is given to the 400 steps?

                Initial: 2 weeks; text lock: 2 weeks; rest is studio time.  Otherwise, ask the producer!

What is the future of DLC?

                Look at community mods.

How to execute ‘work-arounds’?

                Simple animations with subs allow to make-up the rest.

How do you use the 400 steps across departments?

                Pick battles.  Refer to the 1 hour presentation for most of it.