From one aspirant to the professionals

[Drew McGee]

GWs,
I have taken a quick glimpse at the CeltX software and posted a link
to an article about Treeline (more to come when I can download Python
and actually try it out firsthand). One thing I noticed in CeltX is a
tool that quickly adds industry verbiage or direction to the script
(obviously for screen or play writing) and this got the ol' brain pan
working. I've come to the realization that I don't know how
professional game writers actually work their dialogue, which may make
me somewhat useless in this discussion. However, if there IS
consistent terminology that you use on a day-to-day basis in your
scripts or dialogue trees, perhaps we should include a tool (or hotkey-
able feature) for adding these items. My lack of experience in the
industry does not preclude me from the perils of writing. One of the
biggies in my mind is losing ideas due to typing time. If there are
things written over and over and we could hotkey them, perhaps fewer
of those golden ideas slip through the cracks created by the lethargy
in our fingers.

Also, visual breakdowns of who is talking (through use of light color
shading) would help me follow long blocks of dialogue. On screen,
Character A's dialogue is in the light blue box while Character B is
in pink, etc. When printed, the tool would be able to break this into
any form of desired script (even colors, though I don't see why that
would be wanted) for actors, directors, plebeians...

Okay, so the mission for those in the know, if you use directions and
certain terms over and over, please add them here if you feel this
would be something desirable.

[Ron Toland]

These both sound like good ideas. You're right that CeltX has a lot
of terminology built-in, and if we partner with them we should hand
them a unique vocabulary for game writing, too.

I *really* like the idea of highlighting different character's lines.
A simple trick (that may already be practiced elsewhere, I've never
used Final Draft) that would make the dialogue more readable.

Ron

[Stephen E. Dinehart]

Industry verbiage is important, while still not standardized from a game production standpoint. I don't think anyone in the industry would argue against being able to better communicate ideas about story and script. It can be really subjective and ethereal.

Lack of experience can be a blessing, don't knock it too quick! The uncarved block is the finest by some standards.

Printing scripts, and identifying that are sorted by character is a normal Final Draft function. I like the color idea, not for print, but for writing, it could be customizable like an object-oriented scripting program. Looking at thousands of lines can be a little confusing visually!

Keep the ideas rolling

Stephen