Sci-Fi Writer...what do you think?

greenlantern

G
Getting just a basic understanding of the games factions / politics whatever is tricky, I get what they (developers/writers) are going for and I think it's a great use of "persistent world" logic. However the ED story is too complicated to be popular...in my opinion of course. That said, I think this kind if game lore is a core component to the ED "model" and appeals to the target audience (customer :)

I'm not a "sci-fi guy" or know of the "culture" so.....

I must Posit - there exists a popular sci-fi writer or that there are remarkably "talented" writers (maybe even directors?)

TL-DR - Hire a popular Sci-fi writer/director, market it and have them write (and clean up) the story within ED (missions, news, factions, politics) and how / where it progresses.

The hope would be to have a complex, but not complicated political climate in ED with a complex but not complicated story progression, with a complex but not complicated story describing the main cause/effect events.

How to deliver story - Of course with all the time spent "on the road" in ED "Space Radio News" would be needed to keep faction citizens informed of said major cause/effect events. Imagine major factions each having their own radio station reporting on said events with their own political bias twist. Could even have "local" news giving reports of system wide events and locations for players to join.

If tuned to local radio upon entering "new" system.....
Computer News Lady Voice - "Currently reports of high pirate activity at such and such location. In other news Two Shot Tim was last seen near Barn Station with Authorities in pursuit. Latest bounty was 100,000 credits."

If anything at all, give news in audio format for when Im flying between stuff, but make it easy to follow and keep it fresh! (no radio if xxxxLY out in space for sense of remoteness being disconnected from story progression) Give Radio give radio give radio....it's a big part of the "on the road experience and is a crucial part of (best opportunity for) mass media; the passing of information to citizens

ED make it happen, grow the story of ED in a way never done before in a video game. In a way such that story development and the impact of my actions is interesting, engaging. Currently it's complicated, seemingly shallow. Only thing going for it is the progression mechanic....now time to make some art out of that tech!!
 
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Psycho Romeo

Psycho Romeo
A lot of games have a lore book that is managed by someone. I forget the actual title of the position, but basically they write and verify the integrity of the games 'bible', so to speak.

I've never seen an instance where inconsistancy didn't detract from the game.
 

Frank

Frank
Do you mean like the sort of thing Allen Stroud does?

Michael Brookes is the author of the book "The Cult of Me". You are aware of the library of official books set in the Elite galaxy? https://fantasticbooksstore.com/store/

There has been talk about releasing the Elite bible, but it would need a lot of polishing before its release. They don't want to reveal any spoilers.
 

greenlantern

G
^^ I don't know & I wasn't aware, and that's my point. I'd like to see this in game. Not to have to read a book out side the game and see how the two correlate. Idea is having the ED story in game easy to follow...perhaps that's a difficult thing to do for reasons I cannot see.

Figured someone popular in art media would be able to convey a complex story clearly and in an engaging way, and big name may draw a following/crowd.

Would James Cameron agree to do the story board for this game? Perhaps for an annuity? ;)
 
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Frank

Frank
I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope that this next update "PowerPlay" is going to have something to do with the way the story is presented in the game.
 

DocLooshkin

DocLooshkin
No. While some of the writing in ED could certainly stand to be improved, what you're asking for is more expensive and much trickier than it sounds.

For one thing, most writers generally hate the experience of working on other people's franchises unless they are massive fans of the franchise - and often they still hate the job. This goes doubly-so for games and even more doubly-so for a live development like ED, where features are being added and removed at short notice. Just getting everything to line up would be a mess.

For another thing, there are few, if any, successful writers with any experience of telling the kind of story ED is telling. The setting is SF, but the story is something different: it's two largely separate stories, the first of which the player experiences diegetically through gameplay and a second, extra-diegetic story about cultural interactions, narrated through Galnet. The reason why so many games have abysmal scripts is because no-one ever really writes fiction anything like that, outside of the gaming medium. Off the top of my head, certain old-fashioned styles of journalism - where the writer tries to contrast a social change with it's effect on an everyday person's life - is the only thing I can really compare it to (perhaps an old, embittered journalist might do a good job here. I wonder what Stuart Campbell's doing?).

Many successful professionals - from films, TV and comic-books - have attempted to get involved with gaming, with varying degrees of success (Steven Spielberg and Vin Diesel both did reasonably well). Most leave within a year, privately - and in some cases, publicly - vowing never to do it again. The very different developmental processes and narrative frameworks are simply too alien for them to feel comfortable.

Lastly, professionals expect to be paid the going rate for their services - it would send a very, very bad signal for FD to go round the numerous industry agencies, cap in hand, to ask for what amounts to free or low-cost charity work. If Cameron wants anything to do with ED, he can just buy Frontier Developments (and, quite possibly, most of Cambridge).

I think the best thing ED can do is to continue with whatever writing-process they have now, until they learn how to do it well. I sincerely hope they work it out quickly. :)
 
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