For a long time, the writing in videogames has been an afterthought, from plots that wouldn't pass muster in a fourth-rate comic book to hilariously inept localizations of Japanese titles. Action games have historically been some of the worst offenders--based in part on the assumption that no-one has time to notice the storyline when they're busy dodging bullets or slicing up enemies. But as the budgets and production values have steadily risen, developers and publishers have been taking their scripts more seriously. This is certainly true of the God of War series, whose straightforward tale of revenge was revealed to be more psychologically complicated than we expected. And while God of War II isn't quite as emotionally compelling as its predecessor, its literary remixing of Greek mythology is a small "t" triumph. That's why we declared a couple of months ago that " it isn't a stretch to say that the God of War II team has become to action games what BioWare is to Western RPGs, and anyone who cares about the evolution of the genre needs to pick up a copy."

The writing for God of War II is the product of J.M. Barlog--game director Cory Barlog's father--and Marianne Krawczyk, who wrote the first game. Barlog is an author with four novels to his name ranging from espionage ("Necessary Measures") to the supernatural ("Dark Side: The Haunting.") Krawczyk, a TV writer with such credits as "Sweet Valley High" and "Bratz," has created a body of work in videogames on titles like Area 51, The Sopranos: Road to Respect and Untold Legends: The Warrior's Code. She's also co-written " Game Development Essentials: Game Story & Character Development," a how-to book for anyone looking to write for videogames. In Part 1 of our two-part Team Assault interview, Barlog and Krawczyk discuss the differences and similarities in writing for games and other media; the process of working with a game developer; and the challenge of conveying character quickly enough so as not to annoy impatient gamers .

How did the two of you wind up working on God of War II? Was this a case of one writer picking up where the other left off, or was this a genuine collaboration?

Krawczyk: I was the writer on the original God of War. A few months after they started God of War II, Jim left and I began. We never collaborated with each other.

Barlog: I started on the God of War II project at the beginning, working with Cory to develop the elements of the game story. We basically went in looking for a cohesive beginning, middle and end for the game. Marianne came in later in the project, after the main story had been developed. As such, I never worked directly with her. I did, however, review the entire game script again at the end of the story development just to make sure that in all the cutting and shifting around we didn't lose the cohesiveness that we set out to achieve.

In terms of structure, theme and character, what are the similarities and differences between how you approach writing for videogames versus other media, like novels, film and television?

Krawczyk: To be honest, I approach it in the exact same way--especially on a game series such as God of War, where the story/gameplay and character/player lines blur constantly. In terms of structure, if it's more of a mission-based style of gameplay, I usually break it down into episodic structure, like television. If it's a big epic such as God of War, then I'll use three-act structure.

With character, I think you can never go wrong with being true to whom you are writing for. Stay true to your characters and their voice, whether they are NPCs or, in some cases, the main character, and you will deliver a richer game experience for your player.

As for the theme, Cory and I talked a lot about how to build this thematically and what it means to the larger epic. Even on the original God of War, thematic ideas arose and were still in place as we moved forward. I feel lucky to work with people who think like this because theme is not often talked about to the detriment of many game stories. We need to think thematically about games, the way we do for film and TV.

Barlog: In writing novels and screenplays, all the elements serve the story. Characters, dialogue, locations and props exist solely to advance the story, the story being the central conflict. In video games, the story serves the game play. First and foremost in any video game project is the fact that game play takes precedence over all else. Anything outside of game play is kept to the absolute minimum. If your story interferes with the game play, you've failed as a writer. The greater challenge here is to deliver a tight, meaningful story without imposing on the player's interaction with it.

How would you describe the process of working with the God of War II team in pre-production, during actual development, and in the final weeks of the game? Explain the give-and-take process between your story elements and their gameplay concepts and level designs.

Krawczyk: More and more I find that I am asked to deliver design concepts in terms of story, which is not too hard because I really think that gameplay and plot are the same thing, or at least they seriously fed off of each other. In the case of God of War II, Cory and I had many meetings where he would go into great detail on the gameplay, and I would try to find the words to deliver the scene, not just the cutscenes, specifically, but also the actual gameplay scenes.

Barlog: Writers create story, game designers create game play. Budgets in terms of time and money effect both. You write to create the best story possible, knowing some of it will end up in the budgetary bit bucket. So, we over-write in the pre-production stages and struggle to keep the vital story elements integrated as other pieces get chopped away. Cory and I wrestled with telling a compelling story while keeping costs down. During the period of the actual game development, I had many discussions with Cory that started out: "What got cut?" "Did this or that make it in?" "How do we bridge the story now that this or that is missing?" We surrendered some elements I thought were essential to the game, but money rules, and you accept the cuts that happen to your efforts. Ultimately, you make the best game you can with the resources you have. In the final weeks of the game development, I became very pleased with how the team turned Cory’s vision from page to screen. That which we felt was most crucial to the game’s story remained intact.

When it comes to action games, both game designers and game players generally want to get through the cutscenes as quickly as possible. This often results in non-interactive sequences that are so perfunctory, they only succeed at communicating information to the gamer but not at evoking much richness of character and theme. What techniques do you employ to strike a better balance between brevity and depth?

Krawczyk: I don't think I can say it enough; be true to your character, and your story and your cutscenes will come to life. That said, there isn't a lot of room for things such as subtext, since clarity and brevity are such important factors in getting the story across when days might pass between gameplay sessions. I am often asked "How will the player remember that plot point if he's been away from the game for a couple of weeks?" The question is not how do we make the player remember, it's how do we make the scene memorable. Making memorable moments will help get the player through those pesky cutscenes, and they might even enjoy them while taking a well deserved breather.

Barlog: The first question we always asked when dealing with cutscenes is: Can we somehow show this or reveal that in game play? Only when there was no other alternative did you resort to a cutscene. To make a cutscene meaningful, you make your protagonist look at himself and his actions. Succeed at that and you enrich the depth of your story. A video game poses special challenges over a book or movie, since you only get a few seconds to accomplish it. You start by writing those short little cutscenes ten different ways until you find one that delivers the goods. At each step we wanted God of War II to be about a meaningful journey. In video games, this proves particularly challenging because each second the player is away from the game play is a second you risk losing his/her interest. Kratos might only get a dozen words or an equal number of seconds of action to reveal his character, so we had to make every second count. Novels have the luxury of spending multiple paragraphs revealing their nuances of character. In a video game you get about five seconds.

Cutscenes aren't the only place to weave narrative into a game, but in some ways, it's the easiest place to do so, because the cutscenes are almost entirely reserved for writers like yourselves to do your thing and tell the story. How much more complicated is it to integrate story elements with the actual gameplay, and how do you go about doing so? J. M., are there any similarities between the way shards of the backstory are left in place for the player to uncover in a videogame and the way clues are left behind in a murder mystery; and if so, did you apply any of those principles to God of War II?

Krawczyk: If you leave the story to the cutscenes, I think you miss the point. Everything that happens in the game experience is the story. Ideally, cutscenes should be left for those tent posts that need to mark the emotional plot. As far as integrating story into gameplay, it always comes down to are we going to show it (cutscene), or are we going to let the player do it (gameplay). Ideally, everything the player does should be part of the story, and the environments and characters so engaging that the player happily goes along for the ride.

Barlog: I believe it is infinitely more difficult to integrate story elements in a videogame than in a novel or screenplay because the player has less time to contemplate them. In a mystery novel, you can just stop reading and ponder what you just read. In a movie, your mind strays for that few moments while you consider the implications of a visual or auditory clue. During gameplay, you stop and you’re dead. So the videogame story writer must strive for less subtlety. In movies, tactics like voice inflection and facial expression reveal so much. That is nearly impossible in a videogame. The gamers focus will always be more on game play rather than the nuances of voice and expression. Getting that sort of element off the page and into the game rests on the shoulders of the director. He/she has to convey that to the animator or the voice actor. In that respect, this medium is far more abstract than any other and only the director sees it before it comes into being.

Next: Barlog and Krawczyk on staying true to their unsympathetic hero Kratos, film critics who take potshots at videogames, and Barlog's experience working for his son.