BrightPaw

Bright Paw – Radical Forge

I was brought onto the Bright Paw project as a game writer after submitting some suggested rewrites for the script. At this point in development, the game was nearing completion with only the script and flavour text requiring development.

For this game I was given the existing script in a word document, with a few chapters still missing. Using screenshots of the game and collaborating with the creative director, I researched the narrative style they were aiming for and created several alternate lines of dialog for each line in the script. I also provided insight for the narrative and identified ways to ensure the environments and story progression tied into the characters observations and development.

As there is only one character who speaks in this title (apart from a moment I won’t spoil here), he needed to carry the narrative without bouncing off other characters or relying on cutscenes. This presented a unique challenge, as the character is talking to a cat who could not speak back. I was conscious of the fact that the dialog could easily fall into a dry and expositional format, but an injection of comedy into the base script from the creative director helped to keep the dialog engaging and fun. I was also given the opportunity to participate in the recording sessions for the voice actor and assist with the direction, ensuring the lines were delivered in ways which enhanced the comedy and personality of the character.

Since narrative was brought in towards the end of the project, the main way to convey environmental storytelling was through collectable descriptions. As these could be missed by the average player, they could not be relied on too heavily, but utilized to enhance the existing narrative presented through level design and the dialog. These were written in an Excel format and needed to maintain the dark comedic tone of the main game.