Paul Evans

Why I went

Halo is a successful franchise with a loved universe spawning a wide array of products.  I am keenly interested in how he made that vision a reality and what tools were used over more than ten years of stewardship.

First Impression

Obviously a popular talk – the speaker engaged well with the attendees from the start.

Notes

Beginning

• The place was more important than the plot
• Creating a believable and engaging setting was the focus
• Mystery and adventure on an infinite horizon
• Concept art captured the feel of Halo
  • Feedback: “I don’t know what this game is, but I want to be there right now”

• Do not start with the plot, start with the place
• Master Chief was designed to be
  • Simple and iconic – an uncomplicated vessel with not much to dislike
  • Essential straight man – a foil to the chaos (and humor) happening around him
  • Perfect reflection of power projection
  • Fun to play

Middle

• Halo 2 had the best final act that no one saw
• Perfect storm of over design and over reach

Ending

• All good things should come to an end
• Take risks to avoid ruts
• Good structures are built to flex so they can be cut
• Quick to adjust
• In ODST everyone felt connected to the story on the team
  • Original idea came from the team (Dan Miller?)

Writing

• Even if you are in a writing role, the entire team are story tellers
• Writer has to be aware that a story change can have huge consequences for the game
  • Writing a check is easy, cashing is hard!

• Keep bulleted lists for story problems
• The most important story notes are created for internal use only
• Know the strengths and weaknesses of the team.  Work closely with them
• Big canons
  • Unwieldy and hard to shoot!
  • You are creating collaborators not just fans
  • Make safe pockets in canon where they can play
    • A sandbox for them to play in and expand complementary parts of the universe.  Examples:
      • Ilovebees.com
      • Red vs. Blue (makes good fun of the craziness!)
      • Halo Wars
  • Tricky… novel “Reach” came first and differs from game “Reach”

• Hollywood
  • Build it and they will come
    • Do not be offended – they want your *world* not your *words*
    • Do not compromise; the film industry need the game industry as much as the game industry needs them
    • Even though the film never happened, learned a lot from meeting with Peter Jackson

• Cortana
  • Smart women are sexy
  • Needed someone who could get under Master Chief’s skin
  • Inspiration came from the strong women in the writer’s life

• Other literature
  • Speaker read “The Hero’s Journey” in college
  • Lessons to be learned
  • ODST non-linear journey

• Story over plot
  • Story always matters
  • Story can be told without dialogue
  • Keep the story simple
  • Would be great if the world was always there.  Lots of stories to tell rather than just one over a dozen hours.
  • Mute scale
    • Gordon Freeman (Mute)
    • Master Chief (Slightly Talkative)
    • Duke Nukem (Talkative)

• Writing pipeline
  • Touch type (!)
  • Software
    • Uses OneNote to share ideas across the team
    • Final Draft
    • Excel (started to not cope with the volume)
    • No custom tools he was aware of
  • Used bulleted lists
  • Halo 3 used something like Robovoice for place holder audio
  • Powerful cinematic tools in game
  • Own mocap stage

Conclusion

It was a very enjoyable session.  I am glad I asked the writing tools pipeline question, as there does seem to be a lack of specialist tools for writers in the games industry.

Tags: gdc, gdc online, notes, tools, writing

This entry was posted on 2010/11/01 at 13:54 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.