Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

While writing a solid in-game story may be a subtractive art, there are still plenty of games out on the market - MMOs included - that suffer from "huge wall o' text" syndrome. Most players, even this managing editor and Bobby Stein included, don't have the patience to struggle through that much reading when all we want to do is play, play, play! It comes down to the ArenaNet writing team to put together the story in such a way that it allows players to experience the world without feeling like they're reading a novel.

"Our job as writers is to impart the story through convincing and compelling dialogue in the smallest space possible. Players will have no shortage of interesting stories in which to immerse themselves, but those stories will be presented in new ways compared to the original Guild Wars," Bobby stated. "I tell my team all the time that a good actor can’t save bad dialogue. If you’ve written something that sounds wonky when you read it aloud, you need to change it. Lines need to be short, credible, and relatable. Even though our characters exist in a fantasy world, they should exhibit the same sweeping emotions that we do. As writers, we draw from our own personal victories, private tragedies, and comedic moments for inspiration. We must breathe life into these characters, or else they become nothing more than quest dispensers."

The Eye of the North was the last true expansion for Guild Wars.

One of the ways that the Guild Wars team previously constructed their story arcs was through the use of in-game cut scenes. Though some gamers had a love-hate relationship with these pre-scripted events, many players found them to be appealing. We all have a touch of Narcissus flowing through our veins and seeing our virtual avatar in his own personal story truly captured the hearts of many adventurers. But generating these in-game scenes was far from easy.

"In-engine cut scenes carry their own difficulties because they are generated on the fly; they require a lot more coordination and context awareness compared to other cinematic methods," Stein explained. "You’re at the mercy of the game engine, which isn’t necessarily optimized for that task. As any Guild Wars player can attest, pet and minion AI does not always play nice for the camera. (My pet flamingo loves sticking his tail feathers in my character’s face.) Compare the cinematics of the original Guild Wars to those from the Bonus Mission Pack, though, and you’ll see how we’ve stepped up our game."

Whether or not you can discern the quality differences or not [I certainly can!--Ed.], there's no denying the fact that the Guild Wars team has evolved from squirming amoebas into full blown Homo Sapiens (but not Homo Superiors). But how have they achieved their excellent storytelling with more than one individual driving the yarn?

"Everything we do is based upon collaboration and iteration," Bobby stated. "We determine up front a lot of high level details, such as a campaign story arc or mission outline. From there we break the game into segments and assign various content chunks to smaller design teams. Content designers write up the encounter mechanics and draft the preliminary lines of UI text and dialogue, which are then handed off to the writers for review, revision, and expansion. QA is also involved throughout the production process, as their talents for catching mistakes and making good suggestions are invaluable."

"Our general rule is that three or more people look at dialogue after it’s written," Bobby continued. "We do a revision pass, perform a secondary edit to trim the fat, and then do a continuity check to ensure that it fits with a character’s voice, motivation, and world lore."

Speaking about Guild Wars 2 is like dropping bits of golden honey out of a gilded pitcher for eager fans to lap up. When discussing the story in Guild Wars 2, Bobby said that since it takes place 250 years after the first series, "it's a blank slate."

"We were able to keep the coolest things from the world while letting the rest remain in the annals of history," Bobby said. "Despite all that has changed, Tyria is very much in need of heroes."

You'll definitely see a number of races carryover into Guild Wars 2.

"A lot can change in a few hundred years," Bobby continued. "New races have risen to prominence. New threats have surfaced. You’ll see threads of current Guild Wars history, along with some new stories."

Even with over five million players that have already played through portions of Guild Wars, there are a number of MMO aficionados that have yet to really try the game. As my final question, I asked Bobby what MMO players should try if they've yet to have a chance to experience Guild Wars.

"Nightfall is my favorite full campaign, in part for the introduction of customizable Heroes," Bobby said. "Having the ability to solo when I’m not in the mood to PUG with strangers great, though I often tackle missions with my father, who is a bona fide Guild Wars junkie. The story is tight, the setting is unique, and the voice acting is the strongest of the three full games."

"My advice to new players is to pick up the Guild Wars Trilogy since it’s a great value," Bobby continued. "Fire up Nightfall, get some Heroes, and then tackle whichever campaign tickles your fancy. For existing players, I highly recommend the Eye of the North expansion for its high-end content. Well, that and Shing Jea Sherman."

There you have it folks! The Guild Wars team is hard at work on the sequel to their first epic saga, and there's certainly more stories to tell in the world of Tyria. We'd like to thank Bobby again for taking the time to chat with us and we look forward to hearing more about Guild Wars 2!