Script Lock
Max Folkman, Nick Folkman
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Top 10 Script Lock Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Script Lock episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Script Lock for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Script Lock episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Zoe Franznick & Franciska Csongrady
Script Lock
04/25/22 • 91 min
It’s time to get MEDIEVAL with our guests Zoe (currently an Associate Narrative Designer at Obsidian Games working on unannounced projects, and she is also the cohost of the Maniculum Podcast) and Franciska (currently the Narrative Lead on Around for Primal Game Studios, and also the Senior Narrative Designer on Ayna: Shattered Truth for Designmatic. And previously she was a Game Writer on Ori and the Will of the Wisps for Moon Studios, as well as a Narrative Designer on their unannounced ARPG)! They join us to talk about ousting J.R.R. Tolkien as the top fantasy writer of all time, untapped medieval stories that people in games should be thinking about, parallels between medievalism and game design, manuscript culture, how you balance between explaining things for players and letting them fill in the blanks themselves, would they rather tell stories with dialogue or without, are there any books or talks or resources they go back to a lot when working on a game, how to give good criticism and best piece of feedback they’ve gotten, how they think of the player’s active role in the story when they’re writing, what sort of imagery do they find most evocative in horror and medieval literature, and MORE! MUCH MORE!
Our Guests on the Internet
Zoe has no twitter, but check out The Maniculum Podcast!
Franciska's Twitch, Twitter, and check out Around!
Stuff We Talked About
Franciska's Undergrad and Postgrad Theses
GOBELINS Youtube Channel
Like Stories of Old Youtube Channel
How to be a Great DM Youtube Channel
Game Maker’s Toolkit Youtube Channel
The Highly Selective Thesaurus for the Extraordinary Literate by Eugene Ehrlich
Master Lists - The Maniculum Podcast
Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was done by Lily Nishita.
Kelsey Beachum & Olivia Alexander
Script Lock
09/27/19 • 95 min
We've got Kelsey (game writer and narrative designer on Outer Wilds with Mobius Digital, along with Stormland for Insomniac, and wrote the unreleased Tales from the Minus Lab for USC’s Interactive Media & Games Division) and Olivia (script writer and narrative designer at Ubisoft Montreal on Far Cry 5 and Far Cry: New Dawn, and previously a scriptwriter at Ubisoft Quebec on Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and its DLC) in this month to talk about the hardest parts of working with nonlinear storytelling, stress, taking feedback, nonlinear murder mysteries, quantifying values that are hard to quantify, assuming that players are smart, tracking all the permutations in branching narratives, player assumptions when it comes to knowledge of the story and vice versa, letting players pull in information instead of pushing it on them, what makes a good opening and ending, DnD, and more.
Our Guests on the Internet
Olivia's Twitter.
Stuff We Talked About
GDC 2019: Technical Tools for Authoring Branching Dialogue by Carrie Patel and Szymczyk
Overqualified by Joey Comeau
Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
Lola Shiraishi & Scott Strichart
Script Lock
07/22/19 • 79 min
It's localization month, baby, and we've got Lola (producer at SEGA where she’s worked on Sonic Mania, and Sonic Mania Plus. She’s also a gaming consultant and has previously worked in development support at Kojima Productions LA on Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain, PR at Square Enix on games including Sleeping Dogs, Final Fantasy 13, and Kingdom Hearts, and has also worked in localization and QA at Activision Blizzard) and Scott (Localization Producer at SEGA of America, where he just finished working on Judgement, and before that worked on Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6. Was also an Associate Producer on Yakuza 0, a Senior Copyrighter and Associate Product Manager at Square Enix, a Product Manager at Level 5, and Project Lead and Editor at ATLUS) in to talk about why localization is not another word for translation, balancing standards/concepts that exist in one culture that don’t really exist in the other, mahjong, localizing tropes and archetypes that have no analogue in Western media, tone shifting differences in the East vs West, deviating from the script, the difference between a good localization and a great one, dialects, lip flaps, why your localization team should be integrated early in the process, work/life balance, and using editors in addition to translators.
Our Guests on the Internet
Lola's Twitter
Scott's Twitter
Stuff We Talked About
The bizarre, true story of Metal Gear Solid's English translation by Jeremy Blaustein
The Yakuza series
Judgment
Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
Josh Scherr & Sarah Elmaleh
Script Lock
08/15/16 • 112 min
Uncharted 4 spoilers abound as we've got Josh (former Cinematics Animation Lead at Naughty Dog on the Jak and Daxter series as well as Uncharted 1 through 3, followed by co-writer on Uncharted 4) and Sarah (actor and voiceover artist, heard in such games as Gone Home, Codename Cygnus, Skulls of the Shogun, Galak-Z, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, and Uncharted 4) in to talk performance, can you know too much about a character, the writing process at Naughty Dog, what you accomplish in level dialogue vs cutscene dialogue, why there isn’t an open world Uncharted, was Sam ever Samantha, structure, taking the time to develop characters in-game and spend time with them, where do you start when creating mysteries/puzzles, serious pirate history, making the main character an asshole, ghost pirates, and can you enjoy the games you’ve worked on.
Again, SPOILERS FOR UNCHARTED 4 IN THIS EPISODE.
Our Guests on the Internet
Josh's Twitter.
Stuff We Talked About
The Uncharted comic series on Comixology
A Second Chance at Sarah by Neil Druckmann
Nate's journal illustrations by Alex Neonakis
A General History of the Pyrates by Capt. Charles Johnson
Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
Ian Gil & Anna Kipnis
Script Lock
04/04/16 • 103 min
Ian (Design Director at E-Line Media and has worked on Gamestar Mechanic, Gamestar Mechanic Jr, and Never Alone) and Anna (Senior Gameplay Programmer at Double Fine and has worked on such games as Psychonauts, Brütal Legend, Broken Age, and Headlander, and was the lead on Dear Leader during Amnesia Fortnight 2014) join us to discuss falling into the industry, the benefits of an education that doesn't just focus on programming/computer science, the work involved with implementing dialogue, planning for localization, Never Alone's development, cultural expression in games, dialogue systems, why text to speech isn't the future (for now), the costs of voiced dynamic dialogue, authored vs simulationist vs player-centric approaches to story in games, and a couple of other rad topics!
Our Guests on the Internet
Ian's Twitter.
Anna's Twitter.
Stuff We Talked About
Dialogue Systems in Double Fine Games
Molyjam: How Twitter Jokes Can Save Video Games
Dwarf Fortress' Creator on How He's 42% Towards Simulating Existence
Codex Seraphinianus by Luigi Serafini
Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges
Viriconium by M. John Harrison
The Yawhg by Emily Carroll & Damian Sommer
Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
Corey Brotherson & Kelsie Mhoon
Script Lock
07/05/22 • 59 min
Back in the throes of summer, we've got Corey (lead narrative designer at Silver Rain Games, writer and narrative designer on WindRush Tales, editor and social media manager of Butterfly Books, and a journalist, critic and content producer for companies such as PlayStation, Yahoo! and the Eurogamer Network) and Kelsie (narrative designer at Obsidian Entertainment on Outer Worlds 2, narrative lead for Dangers in the Motor Vortex, lead writer for Death Carnival, creator of It Girl, and was also a content designer at Jam City and a writer at Pixelberry Studios) here to talk about writing tests, barriers, common motifs & themes in their writing, games they wish they wrote, unexpected pieces of media that inspired them, games where they felt the most invested in the player characters, silent protagonists, things they wished game narratives delved into more often, character tropes, building characters from scratch, and more!
*The views and opinions expressed by Corey do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Silver Rain Games*
Our Guests on the Internet
Kelsie's Twitter and Linkedin.
Stuff We Talked About
The Activision Blizzard Diversity Space Tool
Our theme music was done by Isabella Ness, and our logo was done by Lily Nishita.
Ashley Swidowski & Claire Hummel
Script Lock
11/13/18 • 100 min
We're taking a big ol' swan dive into character design and concept art on this week's episode, and so we're SUPER lucky to have Ashley (formerly a Concept Artist on The Last of Us: Left Behind, and since then she's worked on Uncharted 4: A Thief's End as Lead Character Concept Artist, as well as the upcoming The Last of Us Part II) and Claire (formerly an Artist and Associate Production Designer for Microsoft Studios, where she worked on a bunch of Kinect games, Fable Legends, Sunset Overdrive, Powerstar Golf, and more. She also was the Production Designer for Westworld VR, and currently works as the Art Director on In the Valley of Gods for Campo Santo/Valve) joining us to talk about the misconceptions around what a concept artist does, how they each approach character design, what they want from the writers/creative director when they're starting out with designing one, working for the project instead of yourself, how they know when they're done, the importance of taking breaks and having personal projects, how to achieve good storytelling and character work through costuming, how "real" you can push things before it becomes so novel for players that they're distracted by it, cloth sims: the final frontier of video game character design, making art for VR, major influences, how to create characters that are lifelike and not superficial, the secret to navigating creative disagreements successfully, the importance of failing and making mistakes, which game stories they've responded to recently, and MORE!
Our Guests on the Internet
Ashley on Twitter and Instagram.
Claire on Twitter and her Website.
Stuff We Talked About
Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles & Ted Orland
Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
Rob Morgan & Emily Short
Script Lock
04/18/16 • 106 min
NPCs! VR! AR! Rob (game writer, narrative designer, voice director, and writer on Wonderbook, Fallen London, Sunless Sea, and The Assembly) and Emily (game designer specializing in interactive narrative, dialogue, and social interaction modeling, and writer of Galatea, First Draft of the Revolution, Alabaster, Counterfeit Monkey, and more) are here to talk about the importance of streamlining the implementation of your script, looting silos of information and the problem of them not being widely accessible, the value of knowing programming, the storytelling possibilities of VR and who you “are,” disempowered experiences in VR, interactive theater’s influence on games, different solutions for offering branching narratives to players, writing for augmented reality, and the lack of games about maintaining relationships.
Our Guests on the Internet
Stuff We Talked About
Beyond Branching: Quality-Based, Salience-Based, and Waypoint Narrative Structures by Emily Short
Love Stories for High-XP Characters by Emily Short
Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
Karla Zimonja & Eric Stirpe
Script Lock
03/04/16 • 109 min
This week's coming in hot with Karla Zimonja (researcher and sound tech person on Bioshock 2, narrative and 2D art on Minerva's Den, story editor and 2D artist on Gone Home, and currently working on Tacoma) and Eric Stirpe (writer on The Walking Dead Season 2, Tales from the Borderlands, and Minecraft: Story Mode) joining us to talk about writing and editing processes, writing at Telltale and working with design, player trust, gaming literacy, the importance of Minecraft, trying to balance giving the player an experience that feels unique and tailored to them with the desire to tell a coherent story, ludonarrative dissonance, whether there's a place for cutscenes, how to handle pacing, things you can and can't do with a first person narrative, and so much more!
Our Guests on the Internet
Eric's Twitter.
Stuff We Talked About
"Playdate" (Chris Ware's story about playing Minecraft with his daughter)
VIDEO GAMES CAN NEVER BE ART by Roger Ebert
Growing up Weightless by John M. Ford
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
Seveneves: A Novel by Neil Stephenson
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling
The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
Our theme music was composed by 2Mello, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
Nicole Martinez & Megan Starks
Script Lock
11/18/19 • 79 min
Apologies to all for the slight delay, but the wait has TOTALLY been worth it because today we've got Nicole (Senior Narrative Designer at Crystal Dynamics, and before that a Creative Director on the unreleased The Wolf Among Us: Season 2, and a writer on season 2 of Minecraft: Story Mode, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman, The Walking Dead: Michonne, Game of Thrones: Season 1, and The Wolf Among Us: Season 1) and Megan (Senior Narrative Designer Team Lead and Senior Writer on the recently-released Outer Worlds by Obsidian Entertainment, and before that she was a Senior Writer on Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire and Tyranny, and a Senior Game Designer and Content Zone Lead on Wildstar for Carbine Studios) joining us to talk writing/design tests, whether narrative design and game writing should be separate jobs, the hardest things to write and design, writers' rooms, rewriting processes, where they start with constructing branching narratives, what they look for in endings as creators and whether it's different than what they look for as consumers, meaningful choices, storytelling trends they'd like to see more of, NPCs, major influences, and a great deal more!
Our guests on the Internet
Nicole's Twitter.
Megan's Twitter, Website, and check out House of Ash and Brimstone (Gatewalkers Book 1)!
Stuff We Talked About
Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter by Laurell K. Hamilton
Sabriel by Garth Nix
More than Quest Givers: Why Good Characters Matter Konsoll 2019 Talk by Molly Maloney and Eric Stirpe
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Our theme music was composed by Isabella Ness, and our logo was created by Lily Nishita.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Script Lock have?
Script Lock currently has 79 episodes available.
What topics does Script Lock cover?
The podcast is about Narrative, Leisure, Videogames, Writing, Storytelling, Podcasts, Technology, Video Games and Rpg.
What is the most popular episode on Script Lock?
The episode title 'Rex Crowle & Daniel Pemberton' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Script Lock?
The average episode length on Script Lock is 91 minutes.
How often are episodes of Script Lock released?
Episodes of Script Lock are typically released every 34 days.
When was the first episode of Script Lock?
The first episode of Script Lock was released on Oct 2, 2015.
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