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  • About Malin

    A Story Writer and Game Designer residing in Sweden with a soon-to-be Bachelor's Degree in Game Design & Graphics from Gotland's University. ...she swears she doesn't always look that tired. Aherm.

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    • Hamburg Internship #6: Week 5 – Other Projects Await

    Posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 by Malin

    You know when your project comes to a halt; everything is planned, everything is written, but you’re stuck thanks to the fact that you’ve done everything you can at your end? That was pretty much me this week. I felt useless and a bit annoyed. There was nothing I could do to push it forward, I just had to sit and wait while others did their work.

    And that is the way of a Narrative/Game Designer. In the beginning and the end of a project there is lots to do, but in the middle all you can do is wait.

    WELL I don’t like waiting as I hate feeling useless. Instead, I got in contact with a guy at the company and asked him if I could help him out with writing things, and he gave me a shot. I was to create a relationship between two very different people that sell very different things in the same store for his game. FUN. I ended up writing 4 filled A4 pages excluding scribbles and notes I had on a paper, and searching for names.

    Thanks to the sketches of the characters that already existed along with knowing some of the scenarios the characters would be put in, it was very easy to get into a mindset and just pump out text.

    It does need revision however – first drafts are always a bit “over the place”.

     

    What I do when it comes to characters is this:

    1. Search for inspiration. This can be an already thought-up character of your own/a books/a movie/someone you know from real life, or maybe a piece of music, a psychological disorder, a picture… It’s endless.
    2. Write a few keywords about the character, see what sticks.
    3. Think up a name that goes with the image you have of your character (big plus if you actually draw one, or have someone to draw for you!)
    4. Write a little more.
    5. Got stuck? Write up questions that your text has given you, and try answering them.
    6. If you can’t, take a break. Next day you might have a new perspective.
    7. Write, doodle, think!
    8. Re-write it on a clean sheet of paper.

    There’s probably more I don’t consciously think about, but if I do, I’ll give an update.

    Categories: Hamburg | No Comments »

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