| Client | Total Mayhem Games | |
| Service | Game Writing; Narrative Design | |
| Period | July 2018 – October 2019 | |
| Platforms | PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4 | |
| Website | https://www.totalmayhemgames.com/games/we-were-here-together/ |
After releasing We Were Here (2017) and We Were Here Too (2018), Total Mayhem Games developed their next title: We Were Here Together. As the only writer for the game, I wrote all the in-game texts and I helped the team develop the story they wanted to tell.
Total Mayhem Games was looking to enhance the storytelling of their We Were Here series. They included some lore and a few narrative moments in the first two games, but nothing too substantial. Their player community had slowly grown invested in the dark history of Castle Rock, and was asking for more story content and context.
I got in touch with the team when the studio management were looking for a writer for their announcement trailer. Like many others, I submitted a text after receiving a whitebox animation of the trailer and the series’ lore document. They selected my text for the trailer (found further below) and later asked me to write cutscene screenplays and other in-game texts.
Tasks and Responsibilities
- Write text for cutscenes
- Implement lore in puzzle texts, where needed
- Write lore entries for elements in- and outside of the game (including Steam Trading Cards)
- Work on the overall plot of this title and ensure that it sufficiently connects to the stories and lore of the previous instalments
- Support the worldbuilding of the game world
- Write lyrical texts for the announcement trailer
- Report to the Creative Director and engage in discussions about story decisions
Challenges
- Finding the right voice for a series that already released two titles without a writer on the team
- Understanding when players are interested in consuming narrative, and when they just want to focus on puzzles and gameplay
- Joining the project when most of the environments and puzzles were already completed, and finding the right narrative glue for everything
- Adhering to often strict limitations of word count, rhyme schemes, and cutscene length
Learnings and Takeaways
- How to develop my skills of infusing lyrics and rhymes with Lovecraftian and archaic vocabulary
- How to write gripping texts for trailers
- How to collaborate with a creative director and various leads
- How to write for a coop game, offering two different yet complementing perspectives on the same plot and fictional world
I returned to this series to work on We Were Here Forever, the fourth installment.