Written By February/March 2011 : Page 22
even in the narrative bridges (the non-interactive sequences between game play) Renko doesn’t utter a word. “It was really, really difficult,” Guggenheim mutters. “Normally the main character will ask the questions the player would be ask-Sign Language ing,” adds Allen. “ What’s this time-travel Another interesting challenge for the team was telling a story with a completely mute thing? How’s it working? How do you do lead actor. Singularity is a first-person this? It’s hard to have the character not shooter, meaning the player views the ac-being able to ask that. So we had to come tion through the eyes of the protagonist. up with ways to present the information To make the game as immersive as pos-that didn’t feel like we were at school sible, the main character (the player) re-hearing a bunch of boring exposition.” mains silent. Renko is supposed to be you “Joss Whedon did it in a very excel-and giving him a personality risks ruining lent episode of Buffy, ” Silver notes, “so that illusion. It’s different from such third-we took cues from that.” person games as Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Just because this assignment was filled with challenges doesn’t mean it was a Creed in which you see the main character drudge-fest. “I’ve always wanted to write and dialogue is acceptable. “Those games videogames,” insists Allen. “So when Marc are a little more movie-like,” Allen says. asked, I was like, ‘Yes, I do!’ and I didn’t “Instead of putting the player as the main care what kind of videogame it was.” character, you make the player want to be Silver had a different approach. With the main character.” First-person shooters the exception of her trusty 1983 Ninten-follow a different convention—one that do Entertainment System, videogames Raven Software insisted on honoring—so give her motion sick-ness, so she welcomed the project from a 37 Script more analytical angle. TITLE_:VILLAGE 6 “It’s different from ========================================================= SUBACT_:VI6.0500 – Interrogation (mocapped) television, where you groans fled muf hears He to. don’t choose when to comes FADE IN as Renko slowly to Renko and turns to see Devlin, tied up on his knees next get out of a scene or as a soldier points a gun at him. are hands his go into one. That’s that If the Player looks down, he can see tied as well. what’s cool about vid-and Demichev, in the flesh, stands in front of Renko eogames—the player addresses him directly: is allowed to play 850 VI6_0505_DEM 16. DEMICHEV around, take as much Captain Renko. (beat) time as they need, and You are Captain Renko, are you not? (points; explaining) get the experience of Don’t look so surprised. Your name’s right on your uniform. America’s the world without that charming penchant for individuality. (beat) being dictated.” Now, I have some questions for you. Because players can VI6_0506_GST 06.540 DEVLIN wander around the en-Name, rank and serial number. That’s all you get from us, “Ivan.” Check your vironment, the team Geneva Convention handbook. had the opportunity A DRY CHUCKLE from Demichev. Then: to play with Singu-VI6_0507_DEM 03.704 DEMICHEV larity ’s backstory. In I did away with that little ago. years film and television, inconvenience the in Devlin SLAMS revealing backstory And to prove it, one of the Soldiers face with the butt of his rifle. while avoiding boring VI6_0508_DEM 00.801 expository dialogue DEMICHEV See? is a challenge. With videogames, it’s more “I still have no idea what time travel means to this day,” ponders the more philosophically bent Silver. “I’m still so confused out of my mind!” 22 • WGA W Written By FEBRUARY/MARCH 2011 like setting up an Easter egg hunt. You conjure clever ways of telling the story and then hide them in the world for the player to seek out. Explains Guggenheim: “There are moments in the game where your character discovers all these artifacts that give you the backstory of the island. In some cases, it’s a diary. In other cases, it’s a radio recording. In still other cases, it’s an echo of past events that’s happening sort of wraith-like in front of you. “The medium of videogames allows you to go deeper,” he continues. “With a movie or a TV show, that’s a linear narra-tive. You’re a passive participant and you’re watching from point A to point B. With a videogame, you’re an active participant. You’re controlling the action, and if a play-er wants to stop and go look at this web di-ary or watch this little film strip, they have that opportunity, so you’re going vertically as well as horizontally.” “You don’t get to do that in movies, those little extras,” adds Allen. “In movies, you create a backstory and don’t talk about it. In videogames, players are interested in that. They’re constantly seeking informa-tion about the worlds they’re in, so you’re constantly creating these little stories.” On the other hand, the team did encounter some old-school limitations, namely the two words that cause any showrunner to clinch his or her tiny fists in frustration: Budgetary Limitations . In videogames, the various elements are called assets . You have to work with the assets you have. “You’d think video-games are different from television, but they’re not,” Guggenheim says. “There’s still money involved. It’s still a business enterprise. I wouldn’t say the narrative ever suffered for it, but I’d say it was like the same challenges you face every day in television. How do you tell the story you’re envisioning with the money and resources at your disposal?” Allen points out that “as writers, we al-ways want the bigger narrative and more talking and the bigger themes and the in-depth emotion. And [development execu-tives] go, ‘That’s great, but can we pare it down so we can afford it?’” “Apparently, money doesn’t grow on trees,” shrugs Silver. “I had no idea.”
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