Time goes by quickly, which is why I can't believe it was over a year ago that I discovered an indie game called Dangerous High School Girls In Trouble! It was an early build back then, but I liked it, a lot, championed it a bit here and there, and wrote a review over at PlayThisThing and a blurb in Wired.
Fast forward to today, and I'm really happy for the game's creator, Keith Nemitz, for his nomination in the second annual Writers Guild of America awards for games. It sort of boggles the mind to see a small one-man labor of love up there alongside Goliaths like Fallout 3, Star Wars: Force Unleashed, Tomb Raider: Underworld, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3.
I'm looking forward to carving out some time to see the latest version of the game, since a lot's likely changed since my first time with it -- congrats, Keith!! Definitely recommend you guys take a look, too.
My Dark Master, Kieron Gillen, actually just did an interview with Keith over at Rock Paper Shotgun wherein he talks about his philosophy on writing in games and the WGAs themselves. Highly recommended!
Also boggling the mind is the fact that Tomb Raider: Underworld is nominated for its writing. You know, I liked Underworld. Quite a lot, actually; by the numbers, more than most other things I reviewed this year. But the story direction and dialogue would have probably been the only thing I didn't like about it. To be frank, it made no kind of reasonable sense, and you're talking to someone who calls MGS4 her Game of 2008.
I'm all in favor of a minimalist Lara. And no, that doesn't mean I'm down with this vague idea that we should "revamp" her as "female-friendly" (what does that even mean?) -- but let's talk about that one tomorrow. What I mean is the story actually made me skip the cutscenes to get to the gameplay (and you know that's not like me).
So how'd it get a nomination? Well, for one thing, writers must belong to the WGA in order to be considered, and I'm told not all that many game writers do, so the choices are limited. If bleh, Underworld's story was at least literate, and the dialogue itself was no worse than stuff you'd hear on popular modern-fantasy TV serials.
I wonder a lot about writing in games, actually -- it's not like you can grab some novelist in on the project and give them carte blanche. Game design is, of course, paramount, and unless you're a tireless indie like Keith, the writer is just one (or a few staffers) among heaps of design types who basically want the writer to act as garnish, not main course. I'll bet it's stressful, and I wonder how many decent writers there are building game stories where the end result is ultimately nothing like they hoped.
