Game Musings - Watch your wordcount!

I get asked my advice on game writing fairly often, and I feel this is the most specific, useful advice I can impart.

CUT OUT AS MANY WORDS AS POSSIBLE FROM YOUR GAME!

Given that my projects tend to be sprawling, over-written adventure games I think this advice comes as a surprise to people who ask me for it. But I promise that all my games could have been a lot wordier, and a lot worse for it.

Whenever I write a conversation or scene for a game, I probably spend the most time going over it and finding every little thing I can remove while retaining the original intention or message. For example, normal conversations will be full of small polite-isms and connecting phrases like “Thanks,” “Oh, also…” and that sort of thing. Removing those might feel unnatural at first, but once they’re gone you’ll be surprised that you don’t notice them missing. I don’t just remove useless turns of phrase - any time I can find a way to communicate even a very complicated idea in fewer words, I will do it.

This is a good rule of thumb for writing in general, because it helps you express your point more clearly. But I think it’s especially critical for (non-VN) games, where people have the expectation of interaction. Every line of text you add increases the time players spend waiting and adds another moment where they have to press A to advance. Players can get exhausted of story very quickly… and if your game is giving them words that don’t feel necessary, they’ll start ignoring them. Once a player starts clicking through conversations without reading them, you’ve basically lost their trust, and all the work you put into your game’s text becomes worthless.

I examine every word in my games from this perspective, questioning if it needs to be there and what it contributes. And if I’m trying to get across a big idea in a scene that I can’t communicate succinctly, I’ll find a way to split it into multiple scenes and spread it out over a longer stretch of the game. My goal is always to leave players with the impression that every bit of text in my games matters, and that they should be paying attention to it. Otherwise, why bother having it?

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