Monday brought another evening of games related fun, and, depending on your outlook arguably the most interesting event of the lot. The CCA hosted a discussion panel on storywriting for games, as part of its strand of free Festival Club events. Tickets for it were up for grabs on a first come, first served basis, and by the time I had showed up the queue was already snaking out the door. Though given the strength of the panel perhaps that wasn’t too surprising.
Joining us in Glasgow were Ragnar Tørnquist of Norwegian developers Red Thread Games, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories writer Sam Barlow, and celebrated videogame scriptwriter Rhianna Pratchett. Quite a lot of talent packed into the room, so it wasn’t too surprising to see that high demand meant the room was full by the time things kicked off. Game Cats Go Miaow supremo Rab Florence chaired the discussion, and had a tough task keeping everything under the hour they’d been allotted.
It gave anyone interested the chance to gain a small amount of insight into the industry, and an idea of how the role of a writer has come along in recent years. Tørnquist in particular cut a passionate figure, talking animatedly about his work on The Longest Journey and the narrative strengths of recent indie hits like Gone Home and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
Unsurprisingly, one of the major themes of the discussion was the extent to which video games have grown as a medium when it comes to storytelling. As the panel noted, compelling narrative used to be something of an afterthought when it came to games, especially in the world of big-budget titles. But the writing quality of bigger games has improved greatly in recent years, and in Pratchett and Barlow they had on hand two writers who have made a name for themselves for strong work on big-name franchises like Tomb Raider and Silent Hill.
Everyone seemed to agree that 2013 was as good a year as there’s been in terms of games writing, and it was difficult to argue with that. There were high-profile indie hits like Papers, Please and the aforementioned Gone Home, which were playing with narrative in interesting ways and enjoyed a significant degree of success. But there were also some fantastic examples of big budget writing to be had. The Last of Us was widely recognised for the depth of its themes and its incredibly strong character development, while Bioshock Infinite continued the series trend of clever narrative and political themes.
The whole event was laced with this uplifting sense of delight at the progress the medium has made in recent years, and optimism at what might lie ahead. It was suggested that this is arguably the best time to get into story writing in the industry, with the indie scene feeling more accessible than ever and big-budget titles getting cleverer. Barlow, Pratchett, and Tørnquist made for a fantastic panel, full of interesting insights and anecdote, and they seemed genuinely delighted to be involved.
In truth, we could have happily enjoyed listening to them for at least twice the amount of time they were given, which made it all the more disappointing when time was called after just an hour to make way for the Geeks vs Gamers quiz that followed. It saw Florence’s team of “gamers” challenge fellow film fest partner Mark Millar’s team of ‘geeks’ to a panel show style quiz event. Pratchett was carried over for this, to sit relatively silently in a team that also featured comedians Greg Hemphill and Susan Callman. Millar had at least managed to attract some prime comic book talent, with artists Frank Quitely and Mark “Jock” Simpson, as well as former 2000AD Editor Andy Diggle fighting his corner.
The event was a bit of chaotic fun, and with no scores being kept and some great ad-libbing from host Billy Kirkwood there was a fun atmosphere. There were a few laughs too, not least from the Geek Comedy Night crew, whose impressions and charades were fantastic fun. But if given the choice, I’d certainly have plumped for another hour of discussion from the panel. We can hope that if next year brings similar riches, we’re given a bit more time to properly appreciate them.
