Barks

Multiple Projects

Avalanche Studios & Personal, 2024 - 25

On this page, you’ll find a couple of documents that contain barks. After all, what narrative design portfolio would be complete without barks?
(For the sake of brevity and clarity, I have spared the reader the columns that cover string labels and cooldown timings.)

  • The first document is a set of “friendly” barks, intended to be played aboard the player’s home starship, where they are surrounded by allies

  • The second document’s barks are decidedly less friendly, intended to be played in combat, with insults and threats that are directly referring to the player and their allies.

Barks Document 1: Friends & Allies

  • This set of barks is broken down into two sections.

    • Regular navigation of the player’s home starship, where stakes are low and there is no risk of serious injury. Gameplay here is calm exploration and conversation.

      • A small section is dedicated to each character, with the aim of showing a consistent personality across the set of lines. These personalities may manifest differently based on conditions, but they should be consistent.

    • A combat simulation that takes place aboard the ship’s bridge. There’s no real risk to the ship or the player, but Security Chief Cobb wants to see what the player is made of. On top of this, he is very committed to his work, and unable to truly switch off.

Barks Document 2: Enemy Combat

  • This set of barks is divided by enemy archetype, with each archetype having a distinct set of lines, although most of the events are generic combat triggers.

    • This list is a condensed version of what I had written, and some lines have been removed as they referenced some specific in-game characters and factions.

  • Beyond telling the player which archetypes they’re facing and what they’re doing, I also wanted to use barks to reinforce some of our narrative pillars.

    • These archetypes all fit within a single faction, which needed to feel (and sound) distinct from the others. Luckily, this faction’s origins are British, and I was able to use traditional British slang and dialects to maintain a consistent theme through all of them.

    • These characters need to be irredeemable monsters. The player needs to feel like the good guy, gunning down dozens of these gun-toting maniacs.

    • To distinguish between the archetypes, I tried to convey accents (the Shocker archetype is Scottish for example).

    • I also imagined personality types that would help to inform casting and VO direction.

      • The minigunner is oafish, and the sharpshooter is especially potty-mouthed. (Consider this your warning for salty language)