Screenwriter Dune II and Legend of Kyrandia on narrative design, the fate of Westwood Studios and collaboration with Plarium
Rick Gash has more than 50 years experience in gaming screenwriting and game design. In 1990, Rick joined the small company of Westwood Studios, consisting of 26 people. The new employee was entrusted with work on several projects whose goal was simply to gain time to develop Command & Conquer. So Rick Gash and became the creator of the games that ultimately influenced the entire gaming industry: Dune II, The Legend of Kyrandia and Lands of Lore.
As part of working on a joint project, Rick visited our studio and talked about working in the gaming industry, narrative design, and creating a script for Dune II.
Westwood Studios, your first job in the industry, is world renowned. How was it working in this company, especially when the games Command & Conquer and Dune were at the peak of their popularity? Share your impressions.
Westwood Studios was our Camelot. These were fabulous, unique times. We were like one big family. The rapid development and popularity of the studio was a great honor and good fortune for us. Many years have passed since then, but I still maintain contact with many former employees. I often communicate with the guys with whom we worked on Lands of Lore and The Legend of Kyrandia, and next week I fly to London for a meeting with Brett Sperry, co-founder of Westwood.
Since we are talking about Westwood, let's talk about Dune II. What were you responsible for in developing this project? And where can I find Dune I?
Dune I does not exist. At the time of purchase of Westwood Studios in 1991, Virgin Interactive already acquired the rights to play on Dune and commissioned the development of a French studio. They really liked our (Joe Bostic and Brett Sperry) RTS idea in the Dune universe, so they decided to create two such games. And for some reason, ours should have been called Dune II. Getting started, Joe and Brett saw the game as a prototype for Command & Conquer, so the studio’s work was organized to gain time.
When creating Dune II, I was responsible for all text materials. Then our secretary was Donna Bundy. She was very jealous of all the guys who were directly involved in the development, so I allowed her to write a few replicas for the dialogues. She still thanks me for her finest hour. From my submission, interesting characters appeared in the game, but why the soul mate - Dune II fell in love with the fans with its gameplay, and not with the dialogues, no matter how wonderful they were.
When you started working on the game, a whole cult of novels from the Dune series was formed. Given that this was one of your first big projects, did you feel some pressure trying to live up to the expectations of your fans? What was the studio's collaboration with Frank and his representatives in the development process? And how much was the game supposed to fit the original universe?
I read the first novel from the saga, but never really thought about the suitability of the game book. We saved the sandy planet Arrakis as a setting and added a new faction of the Ordos to diversify the gameplay, but otherwise did not rely on the original.
Many fans of the Dune universe are certainly interested in the history and purpose of creating the House of Ordos. Did you collaborate directly with Herbert representatives?
Ordos House appeared in the game to make bilateral conflict more dynamic. As far as I know, no Westwood employee has ever talked about this with Herbert or his representatives.
Apparently, working in Westwood, you have gained invaluable experience. Was there something like a scriptwriter association then? How did industry professionals share their knowledge?
For all my life I have been acquainted with one and only game screenwriter. He was a complete idiot and hardly changed for the better. He went through more than a thousand games, but he did not know anything at all about the real world.
When your job at Westwood came to an end, what happened to Rick Hasch? What did you do? They say that you are fond of gardening and love to work in the fresh air. Decided to take a break or immediately returned to the creation of games?
I founded my studio, which after a while covered with a copper basin. Then I moved to Italy, where I continued to engage in game design. How convenient to work on the Internet! Most of the customers I have never even seen live. At the same time I have time for a hobby - gardening. I am very proud of my garden on a steep 60-meter slope, near which crowds of tourists annually gather.
Your style is closer to comedy or satire, but you have worked with many genres, in particular strategies. In your opinion, how important is a deep lore in strategies compared to other genres? When does the narrative not play a big role? Tell us about your experience in adapting existing stories and worlds in strategic games.
It seems to me that an interesting plot is very often present in good games, but in the first place is still the gameplay. I have nothing against the adaptation of existing stories, because all of them have already been told, and we can only change the scenery and methods of presentation.
Where do you find inspiration for creating new universes? Do you read fantasy or take real historical events as a basis, adapting them to your target audience? Maybe you have your own method?
I cannot say that I read a lot now, but in my youth I simply could not be torn away from books. At 23, I went to the library of an agricultural college literally every day and read everything I came across. I bought books on sales and was especially happy with the pre-war tabloid novels. In Las Vegas, I had a huge library with over ten thousand books — from fiction to botany science literature. Now I like any literature. For example, I recently read Ender's Shadow. The only thing that does not appeal to me is the bestsellers. If the book is read by all and sundry, for me it is a sufficient reason not to open it.
Recently, the term “narrative design” has become very popular and every year it becomes more and more important. What do you personally put into the concept of “narrative” and can you call yourself a narrative designer?
Narrative is narration, narration of events. It would seem that nothing complicated, but correctly implement the narrative in practice is not at all easy. The task of the narrative designer is to create many-sided, interesting characters, without going beyond the limits of structural requirements and avoiding cliches. I like this term, and I proudly call myself a narrative designer for 5 years. It sounds like I'm doing something very complex and extraordinary. And there is.
What are your favorite writers, actors and directors?
I like the films of Pedro Almodovar, Woody Allen and the Cohen brothers. Favorite actor - Bill Murray. I am ashamed to admit, but I really love watching Ingi Lindstrom TV series - hackneyed romantic stories about Germans living in Sweden.
What skills should each game screenwriter or game designer have?
Script writers should first of all know grammar well. In addition, it is very useful to understand the various dialects and jargons. Erudition and the share of worldly wisdom also does not interfere. As a screenwriter, you should understand that the artistic value of the project does not lie solely on your shoulders, and therefore should work well in a team.
If you had the opportunity to release any game, what would it be?
In the future, games and shopping will be very closely interconnected, and I would like to be involved in this. These classes involve very similar emotions, and I am sure that their merging is completely natural and inevitable.
Today, you work with Plarium, a mobile and social gaming developer. How did you find out about this company and what attracted you to it?
I decided to stop practicing freelancing about a year ago and started looking for a new team for long-term cooperation. I considered a lot of options and finally laid eyes on Plarium. I really liked how they use mass marketing to attract users and make their games accessible to the general public. Acquainted with them, I was convinced that I was not mistaken in the choice.
As far as we know, Legend of Kyrandia is among the games that you are most proud of. What is your role in this project and what difficulties did you encounter during the development process? Lore and narration are important in the classic quests point-and-click. From the point of view of narrative, how difficult was it to implement your ideas in the game?
Kyrandia is my favorite child. Then our competitor was the King's Quest series, but it always seemed to me that it was just a collection of boring cliches. So I wanted to make our quests funny. When I came to the company, the first Kyrandia was already half ready, and I was not able to particularly affect her. I wrote the lyrics for all three games, but, as for me, the second was the best - The Hand of Fate. It was like writing a script for a comedy musical. Speaking of Kyrandia, it is impossible not to mention the lead programmer Mike Legge and the lead artist Rick Parks - the inspirers of our quests. All the lyrics for Kyrandia should have made these guys laugh first.
How were the development processes built - in the first place was the story or gameplay?
As I recall, everyone did a little bit of everything. First, they wrote a story for the game, and then created gameplay around it. The development of The Hand of Fate was very smooth - only half a year passed from the creation of the initial concept to the very release.
Imagine that you have invented a time machine and can go back to the beginning of the development of Dune II or Legend of Kyrandia. What would you do differently?
I do not even know what to answer. Both projects came out well, so I would not change anything. At the same time, I would have delighted in other games of that time to make them a little more fun.
As part of working on a joint project, Rick visited our studio and talked about working in the gaming industry, narrative design, and creating a script for Dune II.
Westwood Studios, your first job in the industry, is world renowned. How was it working in this company, especially when the games Command & Conquer and Dune were at the peak of their popularity? Share your impressions.
Westwood Studios was our Camelot. These were fabulous, unique times. We were like one big family. The rapid development and popularity of the studio was a great honor and good fortune for us. Many years have passed since then, but I still maintain contact with many former employees. I often communicate with the guys with whom we worked on Lands of Lore and The Legend of Kyrandia, and next week I fly to London for a meeting with Brett Sperry, co-founder of Westwood.
Since we are talking about Westwood, let's talk about Dune II. What were you responsible for in developing this project? And where can I find Dune I?
Dune I does not exist. At the time of purchase of Westwood Studios in 1991, Virgin Interactive already acquired the rights to play on Dune and commissioned the development of a French studio. They really liked our (Joe Bostic and Brett Sperry) RTS idea in the Dune universe, so they decided to create two such games. And for some reason, ours should have been called Dune II. Getting started, Joe and Brett saw the game as a prototype for Command & Conquer, so the studio’s work was organized to gain time.
When creating Dune II, I was responsible for all text materials. Then our secretary was Donna Bundy. She was very jealous of all the guys who were directly involved in the development, so I allowed her to write a few replicas for the dialogues. She still thanks me for her finest hour. From my submission, interesting characters appeared in the game, but why the soul mate - Dune II fell in love with the fans with its gameplay, and not with the dialogues, no matter how wonderful they were.
When you started working on the game, a whole cult of novels from the Dune series was formed. Given that this was one of your first big projects, did you feel some pressure trying to live up to the expectations of your fans? What was the studio's collaboration with Frank and his representatives in the development process? And how much was the game supposed to fit the original universe?
I read the first novel from the saga, but never really thought about the suitability of the game book. We saved the sandy planet Arrakis as a setting and added a new faction of the Ordos to diversify the gameplay, but otherwise did not rely on the original.
Many fans of the Dune universe are certainly interested in the history and purpose of creating the House of Ordos. Did you collaborate directly with Herbert representatives?
Ordos House appeared in the game to make bilateral conflict more dynamic. As far as I know, no Westwood employee has ever talked about this with Herbert or his representatives.
Apparently, working in Westwood, you have gained invaluable experience. Was there something like a scriptwriter association then? How did industry professionals share their knowledge?
For all my life I have been acquainted with one and only game screenwriter. He was a complete idiot and hardly changed for the better. He went through more than a thousand games, but he did not know anything at all about the real world.
When your job at Westwood came to an end, what happened to Rick Hasch? What did you do? They say that you are fond of gardening and love to work in the fresh air. Decided to take a break or immediately returned to the creation of games?
I founded my studio, which after a while covered with a copper basin. Then I moved to Italy, where I continued to engage in game design. How convenient to work on the Internet! Most of the customers I have never even seen live. At the same time I have time for a hobby - gardening. I am very proud of my garden on a steep 60-meter slope, near which crowds of tourists annually gather.
Your style is closer to comedy or satire, but you have worked with many genres, in particular strategies. In your opinion, how important is a deep lore in strategies compared to other genres? When does the narrative not play a big role? Tell us about your experience in adapting existing stories and worlds in strategic games.
It seems to me that an interesting plot is very often present in good games, but in the first place is still the gameplay. I have nothing against the adaptation of existing stories, because all of them have already been told, and we can only change the scenery and methods of presentation.
Where do you find inspiration for creating new universes? Do you read fantasy or take real historical events as a basis, adapting them to your target audience? Maybe you have your own method?
I cannot say that I read a lot now, but in my youth I simply could not be torn away from books. At 23, I went to the library of an agricultural college literally every day and read everything I came across. I bought books on sales and was especially happy with the pre-war tabloid novels. In Las Vegas, I had a huge library with over ten thousand books — from fiction to botany science literature. Now I like any literature. For example, I recently read Ender's Shadow. The only thing that does not appeal to me is the bestsellers. If the book is read by all and sundry, for me it is a sufficient reason not to open it.
Recently, the term “narrative design” has become very popular and every year it becomes more and more important. What do you personally put into the concept of “narrative” and can you call yourself a narrative designer?
Narrative is narration, narration of events. It would seem that nothing complicated, but correctly implement the narrative in practice is not at all easy. The task of the narrative designer is to create many-sided, interesting characters, without going beyond the limits of structural requirements and avoiding cliches. I like this term, and I proudly call myself a narrative designer for 5 years. It sounds like I'm doing something very complex and extraordinary. And there is.
What are your favorite writers, actors and directors?
I like the films of Pedro Almodovar, Woody Allen and the Cohen brothers. Favorite actor - Bill Murray. I am ashamed to admit, but I really love watching Ingi Lindstrom TV series - hackneyed romantic stories about Germans living in Sweden.
What skills should each game screenwriter or game designer have?
Script writers should first of all know grammar well. In addition, it is very useful to understand the various dialects and jargons. Erudition and the share of worldly wisdom also does not interfere. As a screenwriter, you should understand that the artistic value of the project does not lie solely on your shoulders, and therefore should work well in a team.
If you had the opportunity to release any game, what would it be?
In the future, games and shopping will be very closely interconnected, and I would like to be involved in this. These classes involve very similar emotions, and I am sure that their merging is completely natural and inevitable.
Today, you work with Plarium, a mobile and social gaming developer. How did you find out about this company and what attracted you to it?
I decided to stop practicing freelancing about a year ago and started looking for a new team for long-term cooperation. I considered a lot of options and finally laid eyes on Plarium. I really liked how they use mass marketing to attract users and make their games accessible to the general public. Acquainted with them, I was convinced that I was not mistaken in the choice.
As far as we know, Legend of Kyrandia is among the games that you are most proud of. What is your role in this project and what difficulties did you encounter during the development process? Lore and narration are important in the classic quests point-and-click. From the point of view of narrative, how difficult was it to implement your ideas in the game?
Kyrandia is my favorite child. Then our competitor was the King's Quest series, but it always seemed to me that it was just a collection of boring cliches. So I wanted to make our quests funny. When I came to the company, the first Kyrandia was already half ready, and I was not able to particularly affect her. I wrote the lyrics for all three games, but, as for me, the second was the best - The Hand of Fate. It was like writing a script for a comedy musical. Speaking of Kyrandia, it is impossible not to mention the lead programmer Mike Legge and the lead artist Rick Parks - the inspirers of our quests. All the lyrics for Kyrandia should have made these guys laugh first.
How were the development processes built - in the first place was the story or gameplay?
As I recall, everyone did a little bit of everything. First, they wrote a story for the game, and then created gameplay around it. The development of The Hand of Fate was very smooth - only half a year passed from the creation of the initial concept to the very release.
Imagine that you have invented a time machine and can go back to the beginning of the development of Dune II or Legend of Kyrandia. What would you do differently?
I do not even know what to answer. Both projects came out well, so I would not change anything. At the same time, I would have delighted in other games of that time to make them a little more fun.