Introduction
Welcome!
In this post I’ll talk about how video games have influenced me and the writing of Palingenesis, my dark fantasy/sci-fi debut YA novel, which releases September 1st.
Without further ado.
As a kid, I spent more time in the hospital than I did at home, fighting one respiratory infection after another. I also had asthma so severe I could only ride my bike up and down my block a few times before getting winded. So, video games became my thing and helped me cope with the isolation.
And since I had latest systems and games, our house was the go-to spot for in our neighborhood. I sucked at most sports games, and still do, but could wreck most kids in fighting games, especially Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.
I vividly remember I and the other kids in the neighborhood trying to figure out all the death moves while politicians debated over said graphic violence and whether it would lead to violence in real life.
Spoiler alert: it didn’t.
To this day, I’m extremely shy; but gaming helped me socialize. Even if it was a “sup?”, “hey” or “Mortal Kombat?” it got me to interact with kids and form friendships.
My cousin, brother, and I would game after school, and then I’d meet their friends and we’d trade games or have tournaments. Mind you, this was in the late ‘90s, so there was no online gaming yet.
Another fond memory of gaming I have is when we went to visit my mother’s family in northern Michigan, and I demolished my cousin Ryan in Tekken my first time playing it.
Things changed once broadband internet became popular in the early 2000s
Online Gaming
Now that I wasn’t limited to the gamers in my neighborhood, I could have matches against people half-a-world away any time.
I liked the solo aspect of first-person shooters, but when I started playing MMORPGs like Matrix Online, and later Maple Story and World of Warcraft (WOW), it forced me to interact with people more as many of the missions required two or more players.
Then I discovered kongregate.com, a site where people could play and create games for others while socializing in chatrooms. I got to know several users over the years by frequenting the same chatrooms.
But I also learned that games are more than mere playthings; they can be art and teach you about storytelling at the same time.
Games as Teachers of Writing and Life
Games like God of War, WOW, Heavy Rain, and The Last of Us provide a cinematic experience.
In each case, the gameplay is complemented with a griping story.
In the case of God of War, it’s spawned an ongoing franchise that’s due to the detail of its storytelling. From the opening sequence of the first game, with its somber narration, you know you’re in for a hell of a game. And with each sequel the lore and world is expanded.
Likewise, The Last of Us literally pulls you into the story by having you assume control of Joel during the opening level of the game. And the levels are designed such that you feel your characters anxiety when they crouch for cover to avoid enemies.
Moreover, Heavy Rain does this as well by putting you in control of Ethan Mars as he tries to locate his kidnapped son through a series of character interactions and puzzles that are structured like an interactive movie.
WOW also pulls you in from the start with a huge cinematic cutscene explaining the lore of the world.
Lesson 1: Engage Readers Immediately
One lesson I took from these games is to engage readers from the start. Backstory can wait. Make readers care about your protagonist and their world by making them wonder what happens next.
Lesson 2: The Stakes Must Matter
Another lesson these games taught me is to keep upping the tension and rewards, so people stay engaged. In each case, the enemies get harder and the amount of experience points to level up increases, but so do the power-ups and abilities.
For writing, I took this to mean making readers’ time worthwhile by giving them a story that’s both fun, raises the stakes, and doesn’t waste their time.
Lesson 3: Make the Experience Seamless
Another lesson I learned is to make the experience enjoyable. One of the things I hate about games is when the story rocks but the gameplay sucks or vice versa, ruining the experience.
The corollary in writing, then, is making sure your prose is readable, lively, and free of typos and grammatical errors, so readers aren’t jerked from the story by having to parse clunky sentences.
Lesson 4: Think Outside the Box
Games have also taught me how to improvise, adapt, and overcome issues. Often in games you must figure out puzzles or how to defeat a boss with little to no hints, and in games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, they are notoriously difficult to beat.
But it can be done and the critical thinking and problem-solving skills these games and others require lend themselves well to writing, especially when it comes to fixing plot holes. There have been times I didn’t know how to fix a story, but by sticking with it and talking it out with myself, I solved the problem.
Lesson 5: View Stories as RPG’s
Four related traits from Role-Playing Games (RPG’s) that influence Palingenesis are nerfing, skill trees, cool down, and mana points.
I’ll discuss each in turn.
Nerfing refers to when the developers reduce the power of a class, skill, or item because it’s too powerful and breaks the game. As this applies to my story,when Travis exhausts his energy (mana points) he loses access to all his abilities until his energy has recharged by either eating or sleeping. And then his powered are weakened until his battery fully charges.
During this cool down period, he’s vulnerable and can be killed by standard weapons.
Like In WOW, all of Travis’s abilities use a specific amount of energy or mana points and he can’t use them without the exact amount of energy available, so he has to budget his energy.
Skill trees refer to the branching paths a player can unlock as their level increases. Generally, the farther down the skill tree, the more powerful the ability and the more skill points it costs.
Similarly, Travis’s powers start small (for him) and then increase as he grows stronger.
To prevent him from being powerful enough to “break” the story, I created Zeno’s Battery, a paradox which states that the more powerful he becomes the larger his “battery” becomes and the longer his cool down period, meaning the cost for exhausting his energy becomes greater as time goes on.
Lesson 6: Never Surrender
But the greatest lesson games have taught is to be perseverant. Many games require trial and error, especially those released before the internet and IGN were a thing. So, you had to figure things out by yourself, experimenting and refining your tactics until you beat the boss.
Writing is all about perseverance. Completing your first draft is just the first step to publication and you’ll need a second, third or more drafts to get your story right.
Then there’s querying (if you got the traditional route) or hiring an editor and cover designer if you go the self-publishing route. In either case, you’re expected to do all the marketing for your book.
Conclusion
Games have existed almost as long as storytelling, and the two have merged creating a new art form that can teach us much about life and being human, and it’s my hope the lessons they’ve taught me helped me make a kickass book for you.
Next week’s post will begin a series of character profiles, starting with Travis.
If you’ve enjoyed this post, please comment below and share it on social media.
And if you play Pokemon GO, my trainer code is: 4907 7550 5331