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[Jyujinkai]

I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to put together a script document for a adventure game. I have been trying to write one but the multi-path responses from the user, the multi-path replies from the game npc, the variations of each "use an object' type thing etc etc.. means the script is very hard to format in a way that is easy to read.

I was wounding if anyone has any advise or maybe an example on how to format one of these documents.

[Nihil]

Maybe you already know them, but Al Lowe has put the design docs for some of his old Sierra-games online: http://www.allowe.com/gamedesign/index.htm

[metamorphium]

for branching dialogues I use MS Excel and shape it as a tree view. Works well for me.

[Nihil]

Wow, I completely overread the part with the responses ... you can safely ignore my answer :-)

[Jyujinkai]

for branching dialogues I use MS Excel and shape it as a tree view. Works well for me.

think you coould post a screenshot or a decument i could use as a template?

[J. Man]

I find after writing the whole story, writing the game as a walkthrough is always good.

[Akusa]

Well i think everyone has a different approach. For example im more a "do what you want" or more anarchic development-person so i try to let the game develop itself naturaly.
The most time i have is just a beginning and an ending point i want to reach and all i do is try to find cool ideas and "interpolate" them into the story. My biggest problem the most time i have is the beginning. Most times i acummulate ideas for later story parts and do not find a nice beginning idea.

i just write the story like a novel from start to finish.
But at the moment i plan something not so linear, so all i do is just use a notebook with all my ideas.

[Kaz]

I've used all these one way or another
"Writing for Video Games" by (the) Steve Ince
"The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design" Flint Dille & John Zuur Platten
"Story" by Robert McKee
"The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats Part 1 - Screenplay" by Cole/Haag

Cheers

Noel

[CockAndBalls]

I think the question was about what format to write non-linearly,
my recommendation is any flow-chart editor, I use Microsoft Visio.