Creating Emotion in Games: The Craft and Art of Emotioneering

Remember, a Trait can be manifested in action, dialogue, or both.

Here's an example. Let's say you're playing an action-adventure game with a swashbuckling, Three Musketeers type of feeling.

A character named Luther is your rival, but your relationship with him is complex. He might later become a friend.

His Diamond is that he's:

  1. Cocky, ironic

  2. Incredibly athletic and a superb swordsman, beautiful to watch in action

  3. Touched by a deep sadness, which might be fueled by guilt

  4. Keenly insightful into and empathetic with people

  5. Sneaky and stealthy

The way Luther speaks, the choices he makes, even the way he fights all these will be determined by his Diamond.

Notes on Game Scripts

There is no standard format for game scripts. The format for one game might be as different from the next as a porpoise is from a pickled ham.

In this chapter's example, I adapted the screenplay format. This format, however, doesn't allow for all of the "if X happens, then Y happens" type of events that are often written into games, although one such example is included.

The format must be further changed for the scenarios: "if X happens, then either Y or Z happens." In this case, Y or Z might be randomly chosen by the computer or, alternatively, selected based on whether events A, B, or C happened earlier in the game.

And, of course, if the script branched in any way, even for a short time, the format would have to change again.

So the following example is a simplified game script, but not a particularly representative one. It does, however, offer an easy way to study an NPC Character Diamond.

I've worked on scripts that were written with hot-linked documents, done using Microsoft Excel, and created using formats that you'd have to see to believe all in an effort to assist programmers in programming all possible variations of "If X, then Y" scenarios.

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