Writing Samples

Table of Contents

• CUTSCENE DIALOGUE
• SHORT FICTION
• ADAPTATION & LOCALIZATION
• NPC/AI PLAYER DIALOGUE
• NON-FICTION / RESEARCH

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CUTSCENE DIALOGUE

HALO WARS, MISSION 10 – HOMECOMING

In this mission, the Spirit of Fire (a UNSC ship) is being drawn against her will into the belly of an alien planet. Several platoons of Marines are still deployed on the surface. The player has to save them before the Spirit of Fire vanishes.

INTRO CUTSCENE – The Characters: Serina, the ship’s AI and Cutter, the Captain, set the stage for action.

DURING GAMEPLAY – The Characters discuss an energy field Serina has detected.

The Gremlin has an Electro-magnetic Pulse attack which fires when it is in position.

GAMEPLAY CONTINUES – The Gremlin is in place next to the indicated pylon.

GAMEPLAY RESULT – Time added to scenario timer.

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MOXIE, WORLD BUILDING & THEME INTRODUCTION

We had dozens of stories about the Global Robotics Laboratory (GRL), where Moxie came from. A cast of zany robot and human characters all live together on a remote (and secret, of course) island in the Pacific. This story introduces the topic of “Missing People” (one of the themes we built curriculum around), and shows a slice-of-life at the GRL. It features Dr. Zarcona Wilde, the head roboticist at the GRL, and the robots, Caprice, Cruncher, and LB (Library Bot).

Letters to Grandma

Z’s grandma lives very far away.

For years they’ve written letters back and forth. Real letters. On paper and everything.

One day, Caprice was floating through the Lab and saw Z bent over her desk, scribbling furiously.

She was curious and floated closer.

“What are you working on?” asked Caprice.

Z jumped! Floating is very quiet, and Caprice forgot to let Z know she was there.

“Sorry, Z!” said Caprice. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay.” Z sat up and showed the letter to Caprice. “I’m writing a letter to my grandmother.”

“That sounds… um… what is it? Caprice asked.

“It’s nice.” Z looked at the letter. “It makes me feel like I’m sitting with her.” Z smiled, but she didn’t look happy. She looked sad.

“Do you miss her?” Caprice asked.

“I do. I haven’t seen her in a long time.” Z said.

“Do you want a hug?” Caprice asked.

“I do.” said Z.

Caprice wrapped her ribbons tight around Z and squeezed. Z squeezed back.

“Thanks.” Z glanced at a clock and her eyes got wide. “Oh no! The mail will be leaving soon!” she cried and hurried to fold her letter up.

The mail only went out once every couple of weeks at the GRL.

“I can take it to the dock,” said Caprice, “I can float right there!”

“Please!” said Z, putting the letter in Caprice’s ribbons. “Hurry! Thank you!”

Caprice floated off as fast as she could go!

Down at the dock, LB and Cruncher were busy unloading groceries from Hover. “Humans eat so much food!” LB exclaimed.

“And they have to cook it, too.” Cruncher said, holding up a sack of rice. “So much work!” He seemed excited about that. Cruncher is always happy to help.

Caprice zoomed to the dock, “LB! Wait!”

LB looked up, “What is it, Caprice?”

Caprice rushed up in a cloud of ribbons, “Wait! I have a letter for Z’s grandma!”

“It’s okay! Hover is still here. You made it in time.” LB smiled.

“Oh, good!” Caprice twirled in excitement. Her ribbons danced.

LB took the letter, “Oh, another letter to her grandmother.” LB put the letter in the mail bag. “You know, she writes her grandmother a lot.”

“I know!” said Caprice, “We were talking about it.”

“All done, LB,” rumbled Cruncher.

“Thank you, Cruncher,” said LB. “Would you and Caprice deliver these packages?”

“Sure!” said Cruncher. He had fun delivering packages. People were usually very happy to get them.

“There’s one for Z in there, Caprice. From her grandma.” said LB. “Why don’t you two take it to her?”

“Sure!” they said together.

“And you can take all this other stuff, too!” LB pointed at the piles and piles of groceries.

“Oh,” said Caprice, “I can’t really help you carry things, Cruncher,” She was sad. Her ribbons turned blue.

“That’s okay, I like having company,” rumbled Cruncher, “Come on. Bye, LB!”

“Bye Cruncher, bye Caprice,” called LB as she packed the last bit of mail on to Hover and sent him zooming off over the waves.

Caprice and Cruncher headed for the Lab.

Z was back at work when Caprice and Cruncher arrived with her package.

“We’ve got a package for you, Z,” called Cruncher.

“It’s from your grandma,” added Caprice.

Z looked up and smiled big and bright. She was clearly surprised. “But what for? It’s not my birthday…”

The robots shrugged. They didn’t know.

“I’ve still got some packages to deliver,” said Cruncher. “But I want to know what’s in the package!” he called as he clanked away, narrowly missing knocking over an equipment cart.

Caprice and Z waved at Cruncher.

They both looked at the package.

“What do you think it is?” Caprice asked.

“I don’t know,” said Z. “Let’s find out.”

Z tore the package open and exclaimed, “Oh!” She lifted out a bunch of different things including a candle, a tin of homemade cookies, and a very lumpy, very colorful scarf.

Caprice smiled at each thing, but liked the scarf the best. “This is so pretty. What is it?”

“It’s a… scarf. People wear them in cold weather.” Z looked at the scarf, puzzled. “Oh! There’s a letter!”

Caprice studied the scarf while Z read the letter.

The scarf was bright and soft and very, very, lumpy.

Z laughed and looked up from the letter. “My grandmother decided to learn to knit.”

Z kept reading. She got a strange expression on her face.

Caprice wasn’t sure what it was. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Z smiled and sniffed. She nodded, “Yes. I’m okay. My grandmother sent all this because she was thinking of me.” Z was quite for a moment, “I miss her a lot.”

Z smiled at the scarf, then looked up at Caprice, “Here. I want you to have the scarf,” Z said, holding the scarf out to Caprice.

“But this is from your grandmother!” Caprice protested.

“I like sharing with my friends. And my grandmother would too.” said Z.

“Thank you, Z. And thank you, Z’s grandma,” Caprice twirled.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” said Z. She seemed much happier than earlier.

“I want to show everyone my new scarf!” Caprice zoomed off, trailing colorful ribbons and one very lumpy, very colorful scarf.

“Thanks, grandma,” Z said to herself.

She got back to work.

THE END

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ADAPTATION & LOCALIZATION

Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming

Working with client and HBO, we localized translations of developer materials, including writing from scratch when needed. The work included but was not limited to character, location, ability, and item descriptions. Below, a small sample of the work.

MISSION INTROS

SANSA'S PLEA

NARRATOR: She knelt before the Iron Throne and begged for her father's life.    

NARRATOR: Joffrey had always been the ideal king in her heart: kind, noble, fair.

NARRATOR: She begged his mercy. Surely if she begged, he could not deny her plea.

NARRATOR: They were so in love; how could he refuse?

A MOTHER'S LOVE

NARRATOR: He was a born king.

NARRATOR: Tall and handsome, just like Jaime.

NARRATOR: The things he did were horrifying.

NARRATOR: But a mother knows her son better than anyone. He was her first, and no one ever loved him like she did.

LOCATION DESCRIPTIONS

NARROW SEA RAIDER
The Stepstones are a chain of islands on the Narrow Sea scattered between Dorne and Essos. Hard to patrol and riddled with hidden coves, these islands are home to numerous bands of pirates and mercenaries.

MOUNTAIN HUNTER
The lands near the Dreadfort are ill-favored, harsh lands made harsher under the cruel banner of House Bolton. Hunters in the hills and mountains near the Dreadfort are tough and rugged, able to survive natural and man-made dangers.

RIVERRUN
Riverrun was the seat of House Tully for centuries. It stands south of the Neck, built where the Tumblestone flows into the Red Fork rivers before becoming the Trident. Riverrun is not a large castle but has high walls and sits by a channel that can be flooded to turn it into an island fortress, assailable only at great cost.

KING'S LANDING
King's Landing is the capital of the Seven Kingdoms and is the largest city of the realm. The Red Keep, so named for the red stone of its walls, looms over Blackwater Bay, and houses the famed Iron Throne. It has grown over the centuries, with each ruler adding to the passages, walls, gardens, and towers, riddling the Keep on its promontory. Beneath the red stone are the infamous Black Cells, where prisoners go slowly mad in complete darkness. With all of battles to claim the Iron Throne, the Red Keep could well be named for the blood shed to hold it.

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NPC/AI PLAYER DIALOGUE

AGE OF EMPIRES II: THE WARCHIEFS

DIALOGUE FOR MULTIPLAYER MATCHES WITH AI PARTICIPANTS

Cuauhtemoc is one of the AI Players in Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs. Matches could be against any combination of human and AI Players. Every AI Player has a suite of hundreds of lines that the system calls at certain points in a match, a set for communicating with allies, a set for communicating with enemies. The AI Players each had historic themed personas. Cuauhtemoc’s was fun.

We decided that he would speak about himself in 3^rd person and that he had gone a little bit around the bend.

ToAlly1MinuteLeftEnemy4OfKind          

• “Cuauhtemoc will play tlachtli with your head if he loses.”
• “Cuauhtemoc’s treasure is not at the bottom of the lake. Pay no attention when he tells this to the enemy.”
• “The gods are pleased with the blood Cuauhtemoc has spilled for them. Victory will soon be ours.”

ToAllyAdviceUseMoreArtillery 

• “The mighty Aztecs do not need artillery. But you do.”
• “Unlike us, you will need siege weapons to destroy the foe. Build artillery.”

ToAllyAdviceUseMoreCav

• “Train more cavalry. Cuauhtemoc’s warriors like the strange, hornless deer.”
• “The mighty Aztecs run their enemies down on foot. But you must train cavalry if you wish to do the same.”

ToAllyAdviceUseMoreInfantry 

• “You waste blood in that fight – you need more infantry.”
• “The Aztec Empire is built on infantry and blood. Train foot warriors.”

ToAllyAdviceWithdrawFromBattle         

• “If you insist on sacrificing your warriors, please do so at the temple.”
• “Retreat — you waste your warriors on the battlefield!”
• “The stones of the battlefield drink the life of your army. Run away until you are stronger.”
• ‘Retreat, the gods are not nourished when your blood spills on the battlefield.”

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NON-FICTION / RESEARCH

AGE OF EMPIRES III

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES FOR GAME ENTITIES

Three of my favorites from the Age 3 Encyclopedia. This information was available from the Main Menu or from within the game if you had something selected. There were over 400 such entries. I wrote over 90% of them at a pace of 20-25 a week for around 3 months in addition to other design duties.

Capybara

Game Information:

This animal can be hunted for Food by a gatherer – Settlers, Coureur du Bois, Settler Wagons and Cree Coureurs.

About Capybara:

Scientific Name: Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris

Approx. Size: 4' long; about 80 pounds

Diet: grasses, bark and river plants

The name capybara is a Tupi-Guarani word translating to ‘grass eater.’ The capybara is the largest living rodent. It has sparse, bristly fur and partially webbed feet. They are excellent swimmers, able even to sleep underwater so long as their noses are above the surface. They live in herds that keep to riverbanks and water, hiding from predators by swimming away when they can. Catholic settlers to South America found the capybara and wondered if the strange water-loving animal was okay to eat during Lent (a time when no meat can be eaten, but fish is acceptable) and the Church, fearing the loss of such distant and endangered followers if they said no, classified the capybara as a fish, a decision that has never been reversed.

Carib

The Carib people are believed to have migrated from the rainforests of modern Venezuela to several of the more eastern and southern islands in the Caribbean, which takes its name from this tribe. They were skilled dugout canoe builders and had the use of sails. They were the fiercest warriors in the area, adept with the blowgun and bow and arrow. Unlike the more peaceful neighboring tribes they displaced, the Carib culture valued the exploits of warriors most highly. The Spanish tended to avoid Carib-controlled islands after a number of early skirmishes.

Carib cannibalism was reported by Columbus and other Spanish explorers, and may have been a part of their religious rituals and war practice. In 1503 Queen Isabella of Spain ruled that cannibals could be taken legally for slaves, providing an incentive to identify potential laborers as such.

By the seventeenth century other European nations wanted the Carib islands for sugar plantations and the local population was almost annihilated. In 1796 the British deported most of the remaining 5,000 Caribs to an island off Honduras. They spread from there into the mainland and survive today in Guatemala and on a reservation in Dominica. Words of Carib origin that remain in common use today include hammock, iguana, and hurricane.

Surgeon

Game Information:

The Surgeon is a unit that heals other units. It has a minimal hand attack, but may heal other units at a short range. Units cannot be healed if they are engaged in combat.

Surgeons are sent from Home City and cannot be trained in the New World. Units will regenerate their health on their own while they are idle, but Surgeons accelerate their recovery considerably. Surgeons may also construct a Field Hospital. The Hospital is a special building that swiftly heals nearby units.

About Surgeons:

Battlefield surgery in the Napoleonic era is some of the earliest modern surgery and was focused chiefly on amputating severely broken or damaged limbs. Some surgeons advocated immediate amputation to take advantage of the effects grievous wounds had on the body – numbness around the injury and the low blood pressure brought on by shock. Removing a limb required shutting off as much blood flow to the limb as possible by the application of tourniquets. A knife cut away the flesh in what would later become a stump. Arteries were then clamped off and a bone saw would make quick work of a femur or tibia. Arteries were then stitched closed, the wound bandaged, covered and left to heal.

Dominique Larrey was a pioneer in battlefield surgery, the first to use ambulances to bring first aid to soldiers in battle and the first to use triage in determining which wounded to evacuate. He participated in dozens of battles with the French armies and was eventually made a baron by Napoleon.