
Hamsterdamm Has a Script! – Indie Game Scriptwriting
Hamsterdamm finally has a script! Woot!
We’ve come a long long way, from ideating this game in 2017 to having to shelve development in 2020 to restarting late last year. And we’re so excited about the progress we’ve made in such a short time.
There have been quite a few developments in the past few months, but one we always struggled with being new indie game devs is….how do we convey dialogue and action in this game?
We literally wondered….”Do we need something like a script?”
“I thought they only did that in movies….”
We came to realize that while this is a game, it still includes quite a bit of immersive elements that are similar to film. So, we began the process of creating a full-on game script for Hamsterdamm.
The Master Story Doc is a Lifesaver
First, we figured out that we needed to better organize and pull in the details of our game. We had loose Google docs of ideas, concept sketches, character bios, and plot points strewn over a variety of Google Drive folders and within Discord. While this is a natural part of the indie game dev process (and really any project where you’re idea may go through a variety of iterations), we realized that we needed to join everything together in a way that was easy for us to refer back to so we can begin creating a cohesive story.
So, we put together a master story document that included information about:
- The entire story plot.
- Narrative styling and tone.
- Characters (including their personality, look, and the part they play in the story).
- Chapters/levels.
- Details about the world of Hamsterdamm.
It seems so simple, but this doc has become worth its weight in gold.
It’s allowed us to more easily onboard contractors we work with so they can quickly get a good idea of the story and tone of Hamsterdamm. Additionally, it’s created a great base for us to start building out a complete story with plot points and dialogue.
Arc Studio is Immaculate for Scriptwriting!
Next, we began writing the script. We’ve been able to use the exceptional (and incredibly user-friendly) Arc Studio for scriptwriting. It’s been amazing for writing dialogue, scene set up, and assigning character actions (it literally allows you to seamlessly change between formatting for dialogue, action, and scene-setting).
However, it also makes it easy for us to repurpose the script to jot down player actions and directions for our programming team (which is the next step).
Lastly…we also contracted a new writer to help with this effort (can wait to talk about them in the near future).
Sooooo….What’s Next?
We are looking to be done with the script by the beginning of May (Woohoo!)
We cannot wait to share more exciting stuff that is going on with Hamsterdamm. We have quite a few things happening in development and programming that we’re saving for our newsletter squad, so if you want to keep up-to-date on those details, be sure to sign up here (we only send bi-weekly/monthly emails, so we promise not to spam :-D).
Until next time, stay nerdy!!!!!