Tips on script writing for an adventure game

[tinyhippo]

Greetings

Not so long ago I came to a conclusion that the way I write the script for our adventure game is, well, not efficient at all. It comes out as a step-by-step guide rather than a real script which is more useful for a movie, not an adventure game. This especially isn't that great when it comes to free roaming segments of the game, where the character isn't bound to linear actions. I can also see that causing certain problems with programming later on.

So, can you guys share any useful tips on how you personally write a script for your games? A template of some sort would be even better, if anyone is willing to share.

[Stupot]

The way I've done it with my current project is that I basically came up with a basic plot first, then wrote what is essentially a walkthrough of the game with all the puzzles.  So I have the gameplay basically 100% down on paper.  Now I'm in the process of going through the document and fleshing out the story and dialogue.

[tinyhippo]

The way I've done it with my current project is that I basically came up with a basic plot first, then wrote what is essentially a walkthrough of the game with all the puzzles.  So I have the gameplay basically 100% down on paper.  Now I'm in the process of going through the document and fleshing out the story and dialogue.

I see. That is almost what I'm currently doing but i'm somewhat unhappy with that, I'm pretty sure this will cause problems with event triggering, because i'm not the one who will do the majority of coding.

[Ghost]

I like writing "fake walkthroughs" too, once I have the rough plot figured out: I write down how the game would play as a "perfect run", and this usually triggers some nice ideas for side puzzles or details. It also shows which locations will be visited most (so I know I'll have to make them interesting, or maybe spread objects/items around more).
Once that is done, however, I think a larger project needs a better documentation. Each room described, each object in that room described, and so on. If you are working with a team a "per location" doc sounds pretty useful to set everything "in stone".

[tinyhippo]

Per location docs are a great idea, actually. I'll do this for the sake of convenience.

[Crimson Wizard]

This was posted somewhere on forums before, I just think I'll repost:
http://ru.scribd.com/doc/8350715/Grim-Fandango-Puzzle-Document-Original

[tinyhippo]

This was posted somewhere on forums before, I just think I'll repost:
http://ru.scribd.com/doc/8350715/Grim-Fandango-Puzzle-Document-Original

I don't know who you are, but I love you

[Yeppoh]

Globally, you should first make a rough outline of your overall story. Depending how you want to cut down your story - in acts, chapters, missions, days, etc... - let's go by splitting the story into linear sequences of important plot points.

Introduction to plot point 1 -> plot point 1 to plot point 2 -> and so on until -> plot point N to conclusion.

Doing a flowchart here is useful. And generally 7 major plot points are a good basis.
Each sequence has the introduction of the player's situation and the goal. At this point you have to build your puzzle backward by beginning from the goal.

What obstacle is stopping the player to get to that goal? -> What solution does the player have to overcome that obstacle? -> Does the player need something to overcome that obstacle? -> If so what? -> Can the player get what he needs immediately -> If no, this sets a new subgoal. Repeat from step 1 for this subgoal, then as many times you feel it is needed until you get to the player's initial situation.

And then you "reward" the player with the continuation of your story up to the next sequence. You can add some character development, or presentation of the universe of the game during the solving of the puzzle - for example you need to open a door, but in your Universe the door only opens through genetic signatures; how the characters react when they interact with the environment or other characters while trying to figure out the puzzle.

This is game story scripting at its simplest; linear and bare.

You can then add depth with either a new gameplay idea (like the memory system in Resonance), or presenting more tools to the player to overcome the obstacles (like some puzzles in Zack and Wiki), or branching storylines (like the Pandora Directive)... Well at this point possibilities are endless.

The document Crimson Wizard posted is also a good template to inspire from.

[DoorKnobHandle]

If you have some time, you can check out the first day of my livestream that I recorded when I worked on my MAGS game KTX-1:
http://www.twitch.tv/nihilstarcraft/videos?kind=past_broadcasts&page=4

That covers my personal method of kicking a project off! But it IS 6 hours of video haha!

[RickJ]

You may find some SFC concepts useful for what you want to accomplish.  It's a simple way of defining actions, conditions to get to next set of actions, and ability to depict parallel and selective branches.
http://www.plcdev.com/sequential_function_charts_all

You may also find this little editor helpful
http://treeline.bellz.org/

[tinyhippo]

Thanks for every response, I really appreciate it. Spent some time reading through GF script and came up with something like what they did. Probably gonna do a simple puzzle chart for every segment + puzzle description and solution, separate scene description docs and a basic "skeleton" of the plot in general.