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Two of Valve's writers, Marc Laidlaw and Erik Wolpaw, spoke briefly at this year's GDC Austin about what it takes to create memorable stories. The two discussed what it took to bring the world of Half-Life to life without having the main protagonist speak, and how cut scenes must be integrated into the game.
Gamasutra has the rest of Wolpaw and Laidlaw's thought processes. You know you're dieing to find out if Laidlaw would have the main protagonist be silent today if he had to do it all over again. Head on over to Gamasutra to find out the answer.
"When I'm playing a game, I don't like it when the writer stops the game and says, 'Hi, I'm the writer and I'm going to tell you a story,'" said Portal writer Wolpaw, who was also the writer on Double Fine's Psychonauts (which he said was a "grueling" process).
"If you write for a game, why would you want to bring a game to a dead stop? What could be so important that you have to say it when I'm in the middle of ****in' fighting aliens? Just tell me as the game happens."
He equated stopping to tell a story mid-game to a great sex scene that is interrupted by a knock on the door from a writer asking, "Could I read you one of my short stories?" Wolpaw said if someone wants to stop to tell a story mid-game, "it better be a pretty damn brilliant piece of writing."
"If you write for a game, why would you want to bring a game to a dead stop? What could be so important that you have to say it when I'm in the middle of ****in' fighting aliens? Just tell me as the game happens."
He equated stopping to tell a story mid-game to a great sex scene that is interrupted by a knock on the door from a writer asking, "Could I read you one of my short stories?" Wolpaw said if someone wants to stop to tell a story mid-game, "it better be a pretty damn brilliant piece of writing."
Gamasutra has the rest of Wolpaw and Laidlaw's thought processes. You know you're dieing to find out if Laidlaw would have the main protagonist be silent today if he had to do it all over again. Head on over to Gamasutra to find out the answer.