Start / Script Lock / Tim schafer jake elliott and cara ellison

Tim Schafer, Jake Elliott, and Cara Ellison

79 min • 5 december 2016

We are JAM-PACKED with storymakin' knowledge as we talk with Tim (co-founder and creative director of Double Fine Productions, probably wrote/designed/programmed your favorite LucasArts games), Jake (co-founder of Cardboard Computer and writer on Kentucky Route Zero. Maker of artware, music, and games like A (Moth in Relay), We Were You, and The Penguins’ Dilemma), and SURPRISE RETURN GUEST Cara (writer, narrative designer, game critic, and wrote on the recently released Dishonored 2) about using Twine as a design tool, knowing the implementation of your writing, working the fat off your prose style, the hero’s journey being just one bag of tricks that works, the differing emotional states between pitching and working, thinking of structure like Brutalist architecture, the most over utilized/underutilized tools in the storytelling toolbox, the importance of having/not having voice over, fatigue from world-ending stakes, internal writing rules, deciding to use/not use puzzles in adventure games, and whether there’s too much pressure on conclusions.

Our Guests on the Internet

Tim's Twitter and Website.

Jake's Twitter and Website.

Cara's Website and Book.

Stuff We Talked About

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field

Save the Cat by Blake Snyder (Don’t buy this book)

Breakfast of Champions: A Novel by Kurt Vonnegut

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

Thirty Flights of Loving

Virginia

Here and There Along the Echo