Heya friendos! Today, we’ll keep it short as I talk about a novel approach (pun intended) to writing my latest game project, Rumorweaver.
How Am I Doing?
Good! I don’t really have anything else to say about that. The philosophical part of my brain is, much like a lizard, just catching some sun on a dry rock somewhere. Maybe waxing poetic about my feelings requires solar power?
What Am I Doing?
So, I’m really getting into the swing of working on my experimental narrative game Rumorweaver now. Which is great, but also I have some articles and videos left to finish that are losing a bit of momentum because of it. I jump back and forth, but context-switching from writing fiction to writing educational stuff is… not helping the latter’s quality. I guess I can shelf the articles for a bit, but I definitely want to put out more than just 2 videos per year, so time’s a-ticking.
Other than that, I was also struggling to find the tone and pacing of Rumorweaver’s writing. Usually, when creating a story, I start with high concept or with world-building. Those are things that come naturally to me, but also tend to strand projects before there’s any content to show for it. This time around, I’m using a historical setting and the concept, at least storywise, is quite straightforward. I already have a general outline for the main plot, so I just had to start writing.
When I did, I found that writing dialogue directly into game files was… hard to visualize. The game is highly systemic and modular, and each passage made me reflect on permutations that could potentially break it. That in turn, made the writing very static and unnatural.
So instead, I tried to write at least the first few “chapters” of the game like a short story. Simple, linear story progression, written with prose and dialogue like a novella. I’m about 5000 words in now and it keeps flowing out. I’m also pretty confident I can copy the content of this novella without much adjustment. Maybe copying it to the game can be done simultaneously with processing feedback for the first draft!
Depending on where this week takes me, I might link the draft in next week’s newsletter, so keep an eye out.
Why Am I Doing? (this)
I’ve been wanting to make a highly systemic narrative game for ages now. There are many projects like that collecting dust in my notes and design documents, but those are all pretty radical in their setting and design choices. I think grounding a story in a historical setting, that’s also been gaining in popularity steadily since the last decade will help me potentially build a team and receive funding more easily. There’s quite a gap for Joseon-inspired games, at least in western markets, which is crazy because South Korea exudes a lot of soft power right now.
On a more personal level, I’m interested in learning more about Korean culture and customs, as well as Southeast Asian history. I also have a weak spot for the language, so maybe this will motivate me to start learning. All these little strands together might form a braid strong enough to pull this thing over the finish line!