Big-name authors boost game plots – and sales

Video games are sounding better than ever, thanks to award-winning and best-selling authors writing the stories and dialogue.

You may not see their names on the boxes, but publishers are getting wise that Big Talent doesn’t just mean getting a name-brand actor’s likeness and voice for the lead character – it means putting together an all-star supporting crew as well.

Publisher Atari has had a couple of the highest-profile examples of this over the past few years, including this spring’s “Act of War: Direct Action,” the critically acclaimed military-strategy game penned by Dale Brown.

Brown has written a series of military adventure novels that also have won terrific reviews, including some glowing notices in the Washington Post and a squib from Clive Cussler calling him the best military-adventure writer in the country.

Brown has been on the New York Times best-seller list more than a dozen times.

So it’s not surprising that the game was heralded not just for its nonstop action but also for its movie scenes (which unfortunately had to overcome some cheesy voice acting) and story line.

It’s those kind of reviews that make publishers take notice – and attract folks ranging from Michael Crichton to best-selling sci-fi author Robert Jordan to game projects.

Not all big-author video games have in-depth involvement by the author.

Tom Clancy retains review rights to the global best-selling series of games published by Ubisoft (including “Splinter Cell,” “Rainbow Six” and “Ghost Recon” titles), but no one claims he personally pens every line of dialogue. (“Splinter Cell” is written by a screenwriter.)

Still, he makes sure the games remain true to his books’ unique ethos – no civilians are killed in the titles, for example.

But that variety of time and involvement is also the case for big-name actors whose names are on other boxes.

Some put in a serious amount of time, recording thousands of lines of dialogue and helping craft the characters they portray.

Others come, spend a couple hours recording dialogue bits and go home with a check.

The fact that the studios are looking for name-brand authors at all speaks to how important stories have become in games, helping create an immersive movie-like experience that publishers say more and more gamers demand.

A game with bad action, bad controls or a frustrating level of design still won’t get four-star reviews or good word of mouth just because of the author’s name on the cover.

But there’s no arguing that close collaboration in projects such as the “Matrix” games helps sell copies, even when critics are nearly unanimous in their disdain.

The Wachovski brothers, authors and directors of the “Matrix” films, were heavily involved in “Enter the Matrix” and “The Matrix Online,” crafting new story lines for both.

Those story lines are one reason the games sold extremely well despite terrible game play.

Most of the authors who are working closely with publishers do fall into sci-fi and fantasy genres, in part because those are strong genres in the industry anyway and in part because those authors have had more exposure to games.

Employing someone like fantasy best-seller creator R.A. Salvatore to do the story for your latest Dungeons-and-Dragons title, as Atari did with “Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone,” also ensures that you’re going to get the tone and atmosphere that speak strongly to gamers who buy those titles.

“Demon Stone” was extraordinarily cinematic, and the dialogue and story line Salvatore crafted substantially contributed to that feel. They were helped along by a film-like camera system that controlled what you saw on-screen.

But at the end of the day, it was the script that sold the show.