A thread to discuss My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the tie-in media.
All of the usual forum rules
apply. In addition, please remember that the thread is discussing a kids' show, and it's primarily focused on the work itself, not the fanfic — in particular, we don't want to see lewdness creeping in.
Edited by Mrph1 on Aug 26th 2024 at 10:24:26 AM
Yay, my favorite shipping story Green
was accepted to EQD!
It's cute, fluffy, and melodramatic, but it's pulled off very well. A little contrived in the first few chapters, but it's lampshaded and subverted before it goes too far and then gets great as it settles into slice of life.
The funny thing is that I have experience with creating games but not with writing. I just don't have the time or inclination to make any more.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayI have experience with both game design and writing and if nothing else, I can say there's a very good reason why large projects separate the roles. Art assets are usually a huge stumbling block too.
FE: New Mystery Only Feet 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Umamusume Haru Arima 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshiI've actually wanted to get in on a game project for a long time now because I think it'd be really fun. The problem is, my skills lie with writing and editing, and by the time any game project gets to the point of "Yeah, let's make this!" They've already got those jobs pinned down. It also doesn't help that since writing is less technical, there's always the attitude of "Our programmers can write, our artists can write, our project lead can write. What can you do that's actually useful?"
The problem is that in many cases, this is true. Writing is very rarely the selling point of the game and a relatively small share of the workload. Of course, it also depends on whether you're making Pokemon or Heavy Rain.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayYeah, I know. And that's pretty much the reason why I don't try to start up my own projects, because I'd be shunting all the real work off onto the others. But at the same time, it's really frustrating to see these ongoing projects that don't realize that the less dialogue and text you have in a game, the more you need a really good writer and editor. The gameplay might be what brings people in, but the writing is what makes it stand out from the crowd. Take Thomas Was Alone and Papers Please for example.
Shadow Of The Colossus is another great example. It's so sparse on the writing side that a single misstep would have completely ruined everything. Instead of falling though, it's held up as The One True Example of Games as Art.
I guess that depends on how 'arty' you're trying to make your game.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayNot really. Somebody had to create all the dialogue, names, script, and so on and so forth for Pokemon. Or what about games where you mouseover a unit and a little box pops up with some flavor text? The little things like that need a good writer otherwise they go from juicy little tidbits that expand your experience to meaningless filler that nobody cares about. Details like that are absolutely key to maintaining Willing Suspension of Disbelief.
And God help you if you let a typo creep into those tidbits.
edited 28th Mar '14 1:42:49 PM by CDRW
Yeah guess you really need a balance. Like Mortal Kombat, only the hardcore fans much care for the detailed and eelaborate plots you can skip and go straight to the fighting.
And the Shadow Pokemon games do have plot, even though it's only a little more detailed than typical Pokemon fair. A better example might be megaman x, which kept a detailed and interesting story throughout.
edited 28th Mar '14 1:55:13 PM by darkabomination
Very little of a game's story is told through dialogue, even in games with a lot of story, but that story still needs to be written. It doesn't just magically appear in the game.
Also, technical writing, ie. documentation, is still very important for designers, especially junior designers, so it's not terrible to have writing chops in general.
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.Sure it contains text, but there's relatively little of it and it's all very generic. I could have cranked that out myself.
Of course it may be different in the later games. I've heard that N's plot had an actual character and motivation and so on. But still, I don't think writing is important to the success of Pokemon.
As for good games with bad writing, I'd like to point out Braid and Achron. Possibly VVVVVV, I haven't played that one.
Anyway, there are cases of the reverse. For example, To The Moon had decent writing but absolutely crap programming. It just depends on the kind of game you want to make. To The Moon is basically a Visual Novel anyway.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play@ Kegisak: That's a very good point, and one that I really should have brought up with the SOTC example.
But yeah, I feel like I have a lot I could contribute to a game project, but it's so hard to convince people that they even need what I can do that there's no chance in hell I'll ever manage to get onboard with one.
edited 28th Mar '14 2:04:10 PM by CDRW
In a small project, it makes sense to be more concerned wiht getting the hard parts done. Also, what is SOTC?
Edit: Oh, you mean Shadow Of The Colossus.
edited 28th Mar '14 2:05:36 PM by storyyeller
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayA writer is still really useful for designing a coherent world and uniform vision. That is where those little details come from. Yes, maybe only a small portion of what they come up will make it into the actual content (same as any story in any medium, really), but it's as important as everything is. Otherwise, everyone goes off and runs with their own interpretation of whatever they're working on. Trust me when I say I've seen the results of letting things go like that and the collisions are ugly.
FE: New Mystery Only Feet 7PM PT Sun, Mon, Fri; Umamusume Haru Arima 7PM PT Wed, Thurs: http://www.twitch.tv/kuroitsubasatenshiWell if you learn to program or draw or make music, then you could get involved and help with the writing too.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayThose aren't exactly skills that you can just pick up on the side. Not well enough to be useful in a large project anyway. And I really don't like the attitude that writing is. The barrier to entry is lower with writing, but it takes every bit as much dedication and practice to get good at as any of the more technical skills. I've spent most of my life picking apart why I like the things I do in stories, which details are the important ones, what makes things come off corny or generic and what hits people in the stomach, and it shows in both my writing and my editing. I do still have my weaknesses of course—especially in the area of letting a story grow out of control—but I've also analyzed those weaknesses, know where they are, and am able to address them. I know what I know, I know what I don't know, and all of that knowledge was hard won.
As it happens, I am learning to draw, but it's going to be several years at least before I'm good enough to be an asset instead of a liability. I can also create music, but it has the same problem.
Edit: Holy crap, Applebloom is freaking cool!
edited 28th Mar '14 2:31:21 PM by CDRW
My point is that it's easier to do passably than the others.
What project did you want to help with, anyway?
edited 28th Mar '14 2:58:00 PM by storyyeller
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's PlayPretty much anything that looks like it's going to high quality and actually finished. There's a couple that look like they would be cool to be a part of. Shattered Kingdom (Fat chance getting onto that one though, they've got Pen Stroke for the writer. I'm confident in my ability, but I know myself well enough to say that I'm not in the same league as him.), Legends of Equestria (Everything was filled like a year ago), Fallout Equestria (dunno where that one is). Then there's my own project ideas, that changeling stealth game, a pony/touhou game, three original game ideas, as well as two graphic novels that I'd like to get off the ground eventually.
edited 28th Mar '14 3:09:47 PM by CDRW
Hey guys. Me here. I just want to let you guys know that I beat 60 percent of Silver's episode in Sonic 06...in 2 hours. The part where you put the balls in holes...took me 11 minutes. So far, no frustration. No gliches. Some confusion of some places I'm going. All in one day. (points to nose) See, no blood. Guys, I can get through this OK game. I can't wait to play it after I beat all these other games. Sonic The Hedgehog. The first PS 3 game I've ever beaten.
https://youtu.be/_1F5HhUvFbM?si=csgwerqELcG6615q

Well the problems cover a range of difficulties. The first one is just a simple substitution cipher.
Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play