Script Lock

Max Folkman, Nick Folkman
  • 4.9 (36)
  • VIDEO GAMES
  • UPDATED SEMIMONTHLY
Script Lock

Writers Max and Nick Folkman sit down with other writers and developers to discuss storytelling in video games.

  1. APR 7

    The GDC 2025 Grab Bag Episode

    We return with another grab bag episode for GDC 2025! Like last year, we brought a bunch of simple questions to ask folks, and in these three groups you get to hear how their answers differed. In our first group we had Chase Dodge (NYU student), Ruari Root (NYU student), Calliope Ryder (prev Lead Producer on Tales of the Shire at Weta Workshop), Chandana Ekanayake (Co-Founder and Creative Director of Outerloop Games), Hudson Janow (NYU student, Gay Gaming Professionals scholar), Apollo Umbra (Northwestern student, Gay Gaming Professionals scholar). Our second group had Lis Moberly (Lead Game Designer at Walt Disney Company, 20th Century Games), Vincent Perea (Senior Art Director at Disney Experiences), Lola Shiraishi (Co-Founder of Stellium Studios), and Meghan Thornton (Story Manger at Insomniac Games). And our last group had Emma Kidwell (Writer at Firaxis Games), Natalie Checo (PR Consultant at Future Friends Games, Journalist, and Game Writer/Editor), Sam Low (Global Communications Exec at Neon Noroshi, and SEA Brand Development Manager for Critical Reflex), Nessa Cannon (Game Writer and Narrative Designer), and Bria Davis (Community Director at Young Horses) Topics included: favorite people they’ve worked with, hobbies that have paid off the most in their work, underrated game faves, ideas and mechanics that they are keen to put in their next games, what to do when you’re feeling drained and in need of inspiration, most recent games they’ve been playing, someone in the industry who did something nice for them, games they keep returning to, if they could force developers to do one thing what would it be, times they’ve messed up and what they learned from it, game character crushes, something they do as their process that saves time, what they would have on their ideal writing/narrative design test, how they creatively rejuvenate themselves, and more! Our Guests Group 1: Chase Dodge, Ruari Root, Calliope Ryder, Chandana Ekanayake, Hudson Janow, Apollo Umbra Group 2: Lis Moberly, Vincent Perea, Lola Shiraishi, Meghan Thornton Group 3: Emma Kidwell, Nessa Cannon, Natalie Checo, Sam Low, Bria Davis Stuff We Talked About Fear the Spotlight Tangle Tower Chants of Senaar 30 Flights of Loving Spiritfarer MÖRK BORG Hues and Cues Life is Strange Papers, Please Urban Shadows Arctic Eggs Citizen Sleeper Metaphor Refantazio Rimworld Frostpunk 2 Monster Hunter Wilds Hades 2 Return of the Obra Dinn Dragon Quest V Subnautica The Artist’s Way Final Fantasy VII Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

    1h 9m

  2. FEB 3

    Adam Dolin & Jolie Menzel

    It’s been an embarrassingly long time but we are BACK! Again!!! And this time we’ve brought returning guests Adam Dolin and Jolie Menzel to discuss breaking in, how they define narrative design, the differences between creative directors who come from narrative versus other displiclines, the three c’s, can game writers exist without knowing narrative design, favorite narrative tools, what makes a good opening to a game, tutorials, letting players have choices where the results lead to them missing lots of content, bad habits they’ve noticed in younger writers/narrative designers, the future of the industry, pieces of media they go back to get reinvigorate/inspired, the themes they’re always writing into their stories, stuff they’re always editing out of their writing, how to write good dialogue, and maybe one or two other things. It’s great! Our Guests on the Internet Jolie's Linkedin. Adam's Linkedin and BlueSky, and his ELVTR class starts in April! Stuff We Discussed Larian Cinematics: A Top-Down Look at Our Bottom-Up Approach in 'Baldur's Gate 3' Jolie's 3C's of Game Design Presentation Twine Visual Studio Code Highland 2 (FYI looks like a Highland 3 launch is imminent) Ink YarnSpinner Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Pentiment Against the Storm UFO 50 Balatro Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast  The Callisto Protocol God of War (2018) Detroit: Become Human The Darkness 2 Another Crab’s Treasure The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist by Brandon Keogh Sonic Adventure 2 Hank confronts Walter in Breaking Bad Barry The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr Burn Notice Clerks Dogma Nick's Dialogue Playlist Game Narrative Summit: Building Rome in a Day: A Sociological Storytelling Primer Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin Futurama Commentaries  Tetris Forever Listen To a Movie Script Lock BlueSky Our Theme Music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita. The vampire sucking noise was created by Robinhood76.

    1h 35m

  3. 06/20/2024

    Jaclyn Seto & Christal Rose Hazelton

    Moving on from our GDC episodes, we're back with Jaclyn (Writer at Respawn Entertainment on Apex Legends, instructor & student mentor at Vancouver Film School. Previously a Writer on RPG Puzzle Legends and Merge Tales for Microfun) and Christal Rose (previously a Writer at Respawn Entertainment on Apex Legends and an Associate Writer on Hogwarts Legacy at Avalanche)! Together we discuss writing fanfiction, doing work you’re proud of without getting too attached, finding a way into a character, being funny on demand, self-imposed rules, whether their writing styles have changed over the years, writing with constraints, worldbuilding pet peeves, most overused words, what practice would they standardize across the industry, and common themes in their writing. Our Guests on the Internet Jaclyn's Twitter, Website, and Lore Trailer for Alter.  Christal Rose's Twitter, Website, and Lore Trailer for Conduit.   Stuff We Talked About Jaclyn and Christal Rose's GDC talk: Creating Diverse Characters: Writing What you Know and Don't The Gasoline Baby NPC Convo in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

    1h 20m

  4. 05/06/2024

    The GDC 2024 Grab Bag Episode

    Hey hey! We're back with our second episode that we recorded at this year's GDC, and it's a doozy! In a switch from how we normally do things, we brought a grab bag of simple questions to the conference and hit up people who were free, and so y'all get to see how everyone's answers differed. In our first group, we had Ben Starr (actor, Final Fantasy XVI), Alexa Ray Corriea (senior writer at Cliffhanger Games on Black Panther), Kait Tremblay (narrative director at Soft Rains), and Kelsey Beachum (writer / narrative designer). In our second group (starting at 35:21) we had Adam Dolin (writer), Kate Dollarhyde (senior narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment), and Kelsie Mhoon (senior narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment on The Outer Worlds 2). Our third group (starting at 1:19:39) had Emma Kidwell (writer at Firaxis), Nessa Cannon (game writer), and Calliope Ryder (lead producer Weta Workshop on Tales of the Shire). And we closed things out (at 1:47:33) with Chandana Ekanayake (co-founder / creative director of Outerloop Games, and director of Thirsty Suitors). Topics include: hobbies that aren't related to game development, current game of the year, favorite villains / antagonists, a time you messed up and what you learned from it, how you stay positive, games you keep returning to, favorite choice you've ever made in a game, people in this industry who did something nice for you, favorite NPCs, games you're always referencing that nobody else has ever heard of, games that made you think differently about something, first game you played where the story really affected you, what you'd force devs to change during production, games you wish you'd gotten to work on, how to get team members to read documentation, something in your process that saves a ton of time, advice for people wanting to get into game narrative,  and so SO much more it's kinda insane!!! Our Guests on the Internet Group 1: Ben Starr, Alexa Ray Corriea, Kait Tremblay, Kelsey Beachum Group 2: Adam Dolin, Kate Dollarhyde (wants you to play Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire), Kelsie Mhoon (wants you to play Jak 2) Group 3: Emma Kidwell (wants you to play Hindsight and Midnight Suns), Nessa Cannon (wants you to wishlist Star Trucker), Calliope Ryder (wants you to wishlist Tales of the Shire) Group 4: Chandana Ekanayake (wants you to play Thirsty Suitors) Stuff We Talked About Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Dave the Diver Chants of Senaar Garden Galaxy Advent Rising Prey - Mooncrash Pyre Original Soundtrack Lonely Rolling Star - Katamari Damacy Aquatic Ambiance - Donkey Kong Country Liberi Fatali - Final Fantasy VIII Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 credits Anna Megill's Game Writing Guides Adam's LLVTR game writing class is no longer being offered otherwise we'd link it :'[ Packing Up the Rest of Your Stuff on the Last Day at Your Old Apartment Dredge Growth Nina Freeman's Games Full Throttle Bellatro A Short Hike Long Live the Queen Game Dev Story Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

    2h 2m

  5. 04/03/2024

    Duncan Crabtree-Ireland & Sarah Elmaleh

    Coming to you NOT LIVE from GDC, we've got a special episode of the podcast covering SAG-AFTRA's negotiations with game studios! Duncan Crabtree-Ireland (National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator for SAG-AFTRA) and Sarah Elmaleh (Chair of the SAG-AFTRA Interactive Media (IMA) Negotiating Committee, as well as actor in titles like Helldivers 2, Hi-Fi Rush, Halo Infinite, Gears 5, Afterparty, and Gone Home, and VO Director for titles like Goodbye Volcano High, The Wreck, and Fortnite) join us to discuss the overall situation as regards to the potential strike, the issue of Artificial Intelligence, studios trying to exempt certain types of performances from AI protections, dealing with the convenience bargaining group (aka the studios), their experiences at GDC, the ways devs can support SAG's members, if there's been anything they learned at the conference this week that surprised them, how people can get more involved in organizing, whether the negotiations for this year are different than the ones for last year, next steps, how they keep themselves relaxed during these stressful times, and much more! Our Guests on the Internet Duncan on Twitter Sarah on Twitter, and you should listen to Eggplant: The Secret Lives of Games Podcast Stuff We Talked About SAG-AFTRA 2024 Tiered Budget Independent Interactive Media Agreement Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.

    42 min

  6. 02/21/2024

    Stephen Rhodes & Danny Homan

    First ep of 2024! We've got Stephen (scriptwriter and narrative designer, currently Narrative Director on Motive's untitled Iron Man project in collaboration with Marvel Games. Previously a Senior Writer on Vampyr and Greedfall, Associate Narrative Director/Lead Narrative Designer on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Lead Narrative Designer/Senior Story Designer on Call of Duty: Vanguard, Lead Scriptwriter on Immortals Fenyx Rising, Senior Scriptwriter on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, and more) and Danny (lead writer at Respawn Entertainment where he’s worked on Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. Previously a lead writer on Borderlands 3, its dlc, and Borderlands 2, as well as Battleborn and one of its story operation DLCs. He was also a narrative design consultant for Eko, a story consultant for Unbound Creations, lead writer for Ansimuz Games’ Elliot Quest, and writer for My Evil Twin Gaming Corp, Trendy Entertainment, and TRU Darknet) in to talk about the UT Denius-Sams Gaming Academy, accountability in writing, having the spine of the story figured out in pre-production, communicating changes that affect other departments, being custodians of story, soft skills, unlearning bad habits, getting better at pitching, building teams, their most used words, staying open to new ideas without losing sight of the vision, taking and prioritizing feedback, and letting go of your projects after they’re released. Our Guests on the Internet Stephen's Twitter. Danny's Website and Substack. Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita. This episode was brought to you by Backlight Gem. If you're a narrative designer or writer in the world of video games, Gem is a powerful tool that empowers you to bring your stories to life by streamlining the narrative design process from ideation to release. Learn more at https://bit.ly/Gem-Script-Lock

    1h 14m

  7. 12/18/2023

    Alexa Ray Corriea & Ben Starr

    Happy Holidays! We're closing out this year with the absolutely amazing Alexa Ray Corriea (Writer and narrative designer currently working on Black Panther in partnership with Marvel Games and EA, serving as both a writer and systems designer. Previously she worked on Aztech: Forgotten Cods, Call of Duty: Vanguard and the Call of Duty: Warzone Pafcific live service game, Bugsnax, and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. She’s also currently writing a book about the Kingdom Hearts series under Limited Run Games’ Press Run publishing division) and Ben Starr (Actor who has appeared in such games as Final Fantasy XVI as Clive Rosfield, Arknights as Sharp, Warframe: 1999 as Arthur, and has acted in shows like You, Trying, Jamestown, Dickensian and more), and they join us to discuss their favorite game performances growing up, working in games being like the wild west, being kind in this industry, looking at the jobs you don’t get/obstacles you face in another light, skills that are unique to games, banned words in scripts, being given the opportunity to add your ingredients to projects, the themes and kinds of stories that Alexa keeps returning to in her writing, the way games portray intimacy, IP white whales, stuff they do for their storytelling to help develop it, how they stay open-minded to unexpected ideas without losing shape of their visions, and a tonnnnnnnnnn more! Our Guests on the Internet Alexa's Twitter, and check out Black Panther Ben's Twitter, and check out Warframe: 1999 Stuff We Talked About Final Fantasy XVI Die-Hardman's Confession from Death Stranding Ben's official audition to play Mario A Thorough Look at Mass Effect by Noah Caldwell-Gervais Chained Echoes Kingdom Hearts The Worst Person in the World Mass Effect 2 Legacy of Kain The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom People, Places and Things Luthen Rael's Monologue from Andor Severance Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita. This episode was brought to you by Backlight Gem. If you're a narrative designer or writer in the world of video games, Gem is a powerful tool that empowers you to bring your stories to life by streamlining the narrative design process from ideation to release. Learn more at https://bit.ly/Gem-Script-Lock

    2h 1m

  8. 10/30/2023

    Ally Hennessy & Natalie Watson

    We've got Ally (producer at The Voxel Agents, game director at Lemonade Games on Mystiques, Production Director at League of Geeks on Solium Infernum and the recent Jumplight Odyssey. Previously was a senior producer and development manager at Mighty Kingdom, expert product manager at Wargaming, and gamerunner on Rumu at Robot House) and Natalie (producer at Half Mermaid, most recently on Immortality. Previously a producer, host, and writer at Vice's Waypoint, a Content and Experience Manager at Play By We, and currently can be heard on the Star Wars podcast "A More Civilized Age") in to talk all things PRODUCTION, including how the definition of a producer is different at every studio, the Triple Diamond technique, transcendental meditation, productivity software, best practices for outlining/facilitating interactive narratives, producing Immortality, the organizing monster, documentation and getting people to read it, the most useful soft skills, setting expectations with teams on a producer’s role, what they would tell their starting-out-self based on what they know now, how much of what they produce includes a part of themselves, and skittles. Our Guests on the Internet For Ally: Mystiques, and Solium Infernum For Natalie: Her Twitter, and A More Civilized Age's Patreon Stuff We Talked About The Triple Diamond technique Transcendental Meditation GanttPRO Notion Immortality Solium Infernum One of Ally's surveys for setting expectations on how a producer can help their team Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was done by Lily Nishita. This episode was brought to you by Backlight Gem. If you're a narrative designer or writer in the world of video games, Gem is a powerful tool that empowers you to bring your stories to life by streamlining the narrative design process from ideation to release. Learn more here.

    1h 36m
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4.9
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

Writers Max and Nick Folkman sit down with other writers and developers to discuss storytelling in video games.

Information

  • Creator
    Max Folkman, Nick Folkman
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2025
  • Episodes
    80
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Script Lock 2024
  • Show Website
    Script Lock

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