28 February 2009
Posted in
Video Games
Rhianna Pratchett talks about her influences, her working process and the evolution of games writing
What was the first game you loved?
It was a puzzle game called Head Over Heels on the Amstrad. You played these two cute little dog-like creatures. Mr Head could jump and float, whilst Mr Heels’ skill was being able to run very fast. They could move around separately, or Head could sit on top of Heels and they could move around together – Master-Blaster style! I remember playing it for hours and hours, transfixed by my black and green Amstrad graphics. The puzzle worlds they moved around in were massive and very complex. I had to draw maps of the levels in the end (which I think was half the fun) as this was way before the days of in-game maps. I think I only ever managed to conquer one of the worlds. But it felt like such an achievement!
How did you get started in games writing?
I trained as a journalist and went from freelancing to a full-time staff position on the UK games magazine PC Zone. I spent a couple of years there and also wrote about games and gaming for other publications like The Guardian and The Sunday Times. I decided to return to the pyjama-based life of freelancing about six years ago. As luck would have it a games company I knew were looking for a story editor and asked if I was interested because they knew I was a fan of their games. After that I started picking up bits and pieces of work, until I got my first big game which was Sony’s Heavenly Sword on the PS3.
What are your main influences?
I have a healthy interest in most media. My bookshelves are usually heaving and I have a DVD collection that would put the average Blockbusters to shame. I actually have no discipline when it comes to buying DVDs. Especially horror. It’s a disease, it really is. I’ve got to stop laying down good money for any old horror movie in the hope that it’ll turn out to be the next Descent. As far as specifics go, I’m a big fan of Joss Whedon and Neil Marshall, or anything with Sigourney Weaver in. I think Ellen Ripley made a big impression on me as a young girl. I’ve always found that asking myself: “What would Ripley do?” solves a lot of life’s problems!
How early do you normally get involved in a game’s life?
It can really vary from project to project. A lot of developers only get writers in when something has gone wrong and they only have a short time to solve it. Which is hardly ideal. For my larger projects, I tend to get involve anything from eight months to a year-and-a-half before the game hits the shops. What’s the process after that? It’s basically working out the narrative needs of the game versus the timeframe and budget in which you have to achieve them. Narrative will have its own pre-production phase where a lot of time is spent working out the overall story arc and how that fits into the gameplay, environments and levels. Quite often I’ll be involved in a game where many of the levels will have already been designed before I’ve been brought onboard. It’s like trying to write a movie around an existing set. There will often be meetings with the other teams involved in the project, particular audio and level design. Then there’s character creation, bio writing, bible writing, voice casting etc. And that maybe before I’ve even finish the script! In fact the script is often the last thing to get locked down.
