Now that we are halfway through the introductions for the team, it is time to tell you something. A terrible secret that only members of Midgar Studio knew, and that you too will share now.
For the first time, the true face of Baron will be revealed…
What a sight to behold.
*Who are you ? What are you doing in EoE ?
I'm Guillaume Veer, a former modder who won the bingo and got a job as Midgar's Writer and Narrative Designer. The job entails writing down the plot, the quests, the lore, the setting, the dialogues and... a lot of other things.
While writers write, Narrative Designers also look into ways of making the written story more potent: finding cost-effective tricks to convey emotions or information through the general design of the game.
For instance, the quest "The Last Uralik": while you battle the fabled beast, we didn't use the usual epic boss theme by Yasunori Mitsuda. Instead, we used an awe-inspiring composition of our in-house composer: Cedric Menendez.
The goal with that little shenanigan is to convey a sense of awe and interest in the player; giving them the impression they are not just struggling through just another (epic) ordeal. The Uralik is not just "another monster boss we gotta wreck" it's something more than that.
There are a lot of other techniques used to imply something in a video game. For instance, the combat introducing Sephiroth in FF7 helped to convey all the might of the character without having to show a costly cutscene where he unleashes some kind of incredible magic. Instead, what we have is a flashback combat against a level 45 dragon: we - as players, gamepad in hands - can experience for ourselves just how strong this character is compared to the hero. The job of the Narrative Designer is precisely to come up with scenes like that to tell the story, not simply with dialogue text-box, but with actual gameplay sequences.
*What are you working on? What have you planned for chapter 2?
Working with the actual and future Voice Actors on the project: providing directions and getting the new ones to get acquainted with their parts (yes, there will be quite a few new characters in the next following chapters. :3)
Since the trunk of the main storyline is already written, I have time to develop side-quests and expand the setting through small substories. General guidelines for subquests are to either: flesh-out the world and its history, flesh-out the characters, or contextualize the main plot by giving interesting yet-non-critical information to the players.
Specifically? I'm working on the Nekaroo farm questline and another ominous one that will slowly unfold through the course of the entire game.
*Something you have loved to work on for EoE?
Everything, actually. From side-quests to main plot, city npcs, banters between the characters and in some cases, the villains. I love working on everything. It doesn't mean that I don't wake up in the middle of the night, having nightmares about leaving gaping plotholes into a critical questline though.
If I really had to choose... There are a several scenes between Selene and [upcoming undisclosed permanent party-member], Daryon and the same [upcoming undisclosed permanent party-member] that are very dear to me. I kinda love [upcoming undisclosed permanent party-member.] I love Daryon and Selene too, of course. But this one, well... is one of my favorite.
In general, what I prefer are the moments where characters come to life and exceeds what I expected for them. (It's a thing most writer will occasionally refer to: a moment where they - as writers - stop thinking about what a character would do or say. The pencil goes off its own way and the character becomes more than the writer thought they'd be.)
Another thing that I love in the project is the relationship we got between members of the team. Remember that past update where Manon provided a sample of concept arts with A.B.C.D choices for soldiers? We do that a lot, actually. Discussing things among ourselves, debating and often convincing each other of something.
In between lulzy memes, emotional support and very bad puns, they provide me with invaluable feedback over my work.
Also, I want to jump on this occasion to thank you, players, for your awesome support, understanding and invaluable criticism.