Developer's Journal 2:4

Hello everybody.  Post-worked renders number 122.  Not much to talk about today so I thought I'd share with you something I had posted in a developer's forum about my process.

Leaving DNA originally existed just in my head, obviously, and then I sketched an outline in Word.  The original outline looks very different and is much smaller than the current vision.  Along with the outline I created a timeline spanning decades and a list and description of all characters.  Eventually, as the game got bigger, I realized I had outgrown a simple Word outline and I moved over to OneNote.

In OneNote, I have a section for each of the first seven parts, and I have three sections for Part Eight, since Part Eight has very different story paths depending on player choices.  Within each section, each scene has its own page.  On each page, I first indicate the location, the day, and the characters involved, as well any music I've already identified for that scene, and then I sketch out the plot points I want to hit.  Sometimes while I'm doing that I can already hear dialogue and so I jot that down, too.  Usually that dialogue gets rewritten for the actual script but it's at least a starting point.

I use Sticky Notes on my phone to keep track of any ideas that pop up in my head throughout the day.

When it comes time to actually write the dialogue, I do it directly in the game script in Atom.  This dialogue usually gets at least some level of revision, whether before, during, or after I've created renders for the scene.  In the end, the finished product can look very different from what I had originally sketched in OneNote.

I keep everything stored in OneDrive (outline, notes, script, post-worked renders) so I can work on the game no matter what computer I'm using or if I'm waiting around somewhere outside my home.

Here's the opening scene in Rockford's office as an example.

So that's it.  That's my process.  Riveting post, huh?

Have a good week everyone and thank you for your support!

--Monk