Level Up.pdf

How to Write a Screenplay in Eight Easy Steps 411
Step 3. Determine which scenes of your story are going to be cutscenes vs
being told through gameplay. I prefer to tell as much of the story through
gameplay as this is what the player will be doing the most — playing the
game. You want to save cutscenes for big moments — kissing and blowing
things up — things that the game engine cannot support.
Don ’ t make the player watch something they should doing. It ’ s always
better to have the player do than watch … Wait a second, that ’ s a very
important thing. Let me try that again.
IT ’ S ALWAYS BETTER TO HAVE THE PLAYER DO THAN WATCH
Step 4. Write your scenes and dialogue. Determine what needs to happen
and what needs to be said. Try to communicate it with action as much (if
not more) than with words. Write to entertain. It doesn’t hurt to be funny
either. What you do need to be is brief. As Shakespeare once said, “ brevity
is the soul of wit. ” Or in other words, keep it short. Don ’ t bore with a lot of
yapping and psycho/technobabble 4 . Try to get your point across in as few
words as possible. I used to treat writing dialogue like a game of “ Name
that Tune. ” “ George, I can write that dialogue in 12 lines. ” “ Oh yeah, well, I
can write that in eight lines or less. ” “ Write. That. Dialogue! ”
Step 5. Write your script in the official screenplay format. If you are going to
be a writing professional (hey, you ’ re writing a video game, so guess what?
You are a writing professional) then you ’ d better learn to do it the way the
pros do. Every other entertainment professional uses this format, so there ’ s
no reason to reinvent the wheel. Here ’ s a simple style guide:
SCENE #. INT./EXT. (choose one) — LOCATION — TIME OF DAY
CAMERA ANGLE
Describe the setting, introduce CHARACTERS in ALL CAPS,
highlight any ACTION in ALL CAPS too.
CHARACTER ’ S NAME
(actor ’ s direction goes in parenthesis)
Dialogue is written here. Keep it brief.
That ’ s pretty much the basics of screenwriting format! There are plenty of
screenwriting formatting programs like Final Draft or Movie Magic available if
you want to save time pressing the “ tab ” key on your keyboard.
Step 6. Read your dialogue. Out loud. Dialogue often sounds great “ in your
head ” when you ’ ve written it down, but sounds strange or clunky when it ’ s
read out 5 . Expect to rewrite (and rewrite and rewrite) your dialogue.
4 Yes, Metal Gear Solid series, I ’ m still looking at you.
5 I am reminded of Harrison Ford ’ s quote to George Lucas about Star Wars ’ dialogue:
“ George, you can type this sh * t, but you sure as hell can ’ t say it. ”