Rhianna Pratchett has made a name for herself with the video game writing she’s done. Her contributions to Overlord, Heavenly Sword and Mirror’s Edge added tonality and humour that helped make those titles stand out. And in a recent interview with Gamasutra, she explains how she and the team at Crystal Dynamics are trying to weave game action and storytelling in the new Tomb Raider:
“One of the things we’ve been keen to do with Tomb Raider is explore the idea that action equals character. It’s a fairly standard idea in other entertainment mediums, but in games there’s often a strange disconnect with the way a character is presented in cutscenes (heroic, quippy, everyone’s pal) and the way they act during the gameplay, i.e. mowing down enemies like there’s no tomorrow.”
“The key is making the action part of the story and not something that exists outside of it. With Lara we wanted to show that her actions (particularly when she takes a human life for the first time) have an impact on her character and emotional state.”
Pratchett also waves off the controversies sparked by comments from Tomb Raider developers about sexual assault and players’ motivations vis-à-vis Lara Croft:
There have been grumbles in certain quarters that we’ve broken her down and taken a strong character and made her weak. That’s really not the case.
Of course, the proof of all of this will be in the finished game. If nothing else, all of this churning might make people more curious to get the game when it comes out next year.
Rebooting Lara: Rhianna Pratchett on Writing for Tomb Raider [Gamasutra]
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