Distractions 2020

The cards for the game I invented arrived!

I should explain…

When I first became a writer for the video game team Soltorch Games, I felt out of my league. Someone recommended to me “Slay the Dragon” (by Robert Denton Bryant), a book about writing for video games.

One of the exercises the book suggests is creating a (simple) board game, to learn about how game mechanics work.

I decided to go with a card game instead, and… well… I turned a simple exercise into a chance to stretch myself creatively.

It couldn’t take that long to invent a card game, right?

After several months of play-testing with family, adjusting the mechanics, designing and re-designing the cards in Canva, I ordered my deck through Make Playing Cards. And they look amazing! “The Bug Zoo Game” now feels like an official card game!

So… what did I learn about making video games through this exercise?

Well, honestly… I guess I learned that, if you want to write for a video game, you should probably spend more time writing, and less time turning a simple exercise into a months-long project.

But it was lots of fun!

I’m not sure I’ll be creating another card game anytime soon, though I’m glad I gave this one a try. Between this project and the designs I’ve been doing lately, maybe I haven’t been spending as much time on writing as I could. But I think I needed the break, to try something new.

Game Creation

I’ve mentioned before that I’m part of a game development team called Soltorch Games. Specifically, I’m the Story Director.

What does that mean?

I’ve done things like brainstorm world lore, vote on ideas, write scripts, and invent characters. I’ve done none of those things solo, though; so if you play the game and happen to like a particular character, line, or world aspect, I can’t necessarily take credit for it.

That’s one interesting aspect about being on a team.

As a creative person, I’ve almost always done the creating on my own. Being an author, I write my books by myself. (Mostly. Actually, my husband helps write some of the fight scenes and related content, as that isn’t my expertise. And I'll credit my editor Evan Braun with helping my books turn out more polished than they’d otherwise be.)

But on a game development team, no one person is responsible for the final product. Bits of all of our creativity and work is scattered throughout.

That means each person’s skills, combined, can bring the game to life in ways any one of us couldn’t do on our own.

For example, I came up with the concept for the dragonoid Jairia. I wrote some lines for her, and described her personality and backstory.

In a book, things would have been left at that. She’d exist as a concept. You could say the ‘soul’ of the character is what I created.

But the team took my idea further. They designed a look for her, and modeled her. Now, it feels like she’s more than just a soul, but has a ‘body’ as well.

It’s an incredible feeling, to see the character brought to life in ways I could never do by myself.

This is my first time being seriously involved in digital game development, and although I’ve been part of this project for months, we’re still learning as a team. The rest of the team is a fair bit more experienced in game creation than I am, so I’m still discovering what’s needed from me, and how I can best help.

I’ve actually stepped back from the project for the birth of my daughter and adjusting to her arrival. But the team has continued to make progress while I’ve been away, and it’s amazing to see how far along the game is coming!

I’m hoping I’ll be able to find time to get back into that soon - though with a book to write and other projects in the works, we’ll have to wait and see.

If you want to know more about how the game is coming along, you can visit the team’s blog.