Writing Song Lyrics

I’m slowly catching up after the Digital Dragons Conference in Kraków. What an inspiring conference that was.

Usually, I get something actionable from the talks I attend, but over the years, I rarely get surprised. There are just so many narrative-related topics you can think of. But this year, I heard something new.

Tori Schafer’s talk about Writing Song Lyrics for Games was a surprise and a delight. I won’t spoil too much of what he talked about, because the talk will be available on Digital Dragons’ YouTube channel later this year.

But I will use the occasion to discuss how games can use songs in their narratives.

Exposition

Let’s say we have a whole setting created for the game, ripe with nuanced cultures, millennia of history, tradition, and stories. It’s only natural that we want to show it all to the players. But how to do this effectively?

We can write in-game books for the players to find, write long, expository dialogues for the NPCs we encounter, add some kind of a codex or encyclopaedia, etc. We can also write in-world songs highlighting the peculiarities of the local culture, and have the NPCs sing the songs in the background, as the player explores the area.

Tori illustrated this approach with songs she wrote for Elder Scrolls Online, and explained the pipelines and constraints involved. Let me link to one of the songs she talked about:

Emotions

Music is an important part of our lives, wired to deep parts of our brains. Sometimes, just a few notes can open gates to powerful emotions: delight, sadness, joy. Listening to music is a crucial part of our emotional lives, and sometimes we have a chance to witness our characters use music to the same effect.

One of the most recent examples is this beautiful song from Baldur’s Gate 3.

But my personal favorite is Priscilla’s Song from The Witcher 3, a song that, in 3 minutes, helps us understand all that happened between Geralt and Yennefer in the seven books that precede the game. The scene also shows us that the tragic love story of a Witcher and a Sorceress became a cultural staple in the Northern Kingdoms, just like Tristan and Isolde, or Romeo and Juliet became a cultural staple in Europe. Emotions and exposition at their finest. I link to the Polish version of the song.

Characterization

Sometimes a character’s soul is so vast that it can only be expressed in a song. Those who played Disco Elysium already know what I’m talking about. Those who didn’t—go and play Disco Elysium.

I’m talking about the karaoke questline, where Harry decides that he must sing his soul out, to the music of the saddest song he knows. Preparing the whole thing takes a while, but if we follow the questline, we’ll be rewarded with a glimpse of  Harry’s vast soul. Or so he sees the situation.

I cannot decide which version of the song I like better, the successful or the failed rendition, so I link to both.

Commentary

There are few moments bringing more satisfaction, when a game notices the player’s actions and comments on them. Dragon Age: Inquisition does this perfectly, with bard songs commenting the exploits of the protagonist and their team.

Extravaganza

And sometimes, sometimes, when you’re designing a game, you just feel you have to do something crazy, like cramming 19 minutes of a musical into your survival horror. 

I wish things like that happened more often. I love it when games use all avenues of human creative expression to make a point.

Core Gameplay

Speaking of musicals, there’s a game where singing (or choosing what and how to sing) is the core gameplay. I’m talking about the one and only Stray Gods, a roleplaying musical murder mystery.

Here’s the launch trailer. Go and play the game.

Immersion

The last example I wanted to discuss comes from the traditional media. “Rains of Castamere” is a fictional song from the book and TV series Game of Thrones.

The story goes like this: in a world of bloody medieval intrigues, a Lord of Castamere defied the powerful Lord Lannister. The Lannisters retaliated, burning the caste of Castamere and killing the whole family. Then, Lord Lannister paid a minstrel to write a song about the affair. The song was called “Rains of Castanere”. What a nice, macabre situation, and what an effective characterisation of Lord Lannister – we think.

Later on, another lord tries to defy the Lannisters. But they do not send an army, but just a sole bard. A bard, who performs “Rains of Castamere” and leaves. Immediately, the defiant lord surrenders. We can observe how the reputation of  Lord Lannister spreads, and how cunning (and ruthless) a politician he is. What an effective use of the song that was set up chapters earlier.

We read/watch on and forget about Castamere. There are more important things going on. Finally, a protagonist we root for (who opposes the Lannisters) strikes a significant alliance. We are happy for him. There will be a celebration, a feast, and merriment all around.

And then, we realize that the musicians are playing “Rains of Castamere”, and we know that it will all end in blood and tears. And it does. Because no one messes with the Lannisters.

What is important for me, as a storyteller, is that in the moment of shock when we realized what song was being played, we were reacting to cultural codes of  Westeros, not Earth. We were fully immersed in the setting.

I don’t remember if I experienced such a moment of cultural immersion in games.

And what are your favourite in-game songs?