作者：Ian Adams

电子游戏的粉丝有可能只关注游戏中的动作场面，而尽可能快地跳过那些不必要的情节。

这也可以用来解释游戏中的故事内容始终很平庸的原因。事实是，即使故事情节很精彩，但是游戏中的对话总是稍稍有些逊色。

紧迫的翻译任务、为保持故事简短性、糟糕的配音、以及希望给予玩家控制权，这些因素都降低了游戏世界中基本叙事方式的水准，让游戏中的角色只是在单纯地阐述内容。

我们无法通过此文开出解决上述所有问题的药方，只希望这里的建议能够让所有枯燥的对白再增添些趣味性。

fallout3-interactive-dialogue(from gamesauce.org)

1.避免堆砌大量的笑话

我们会觉得演员或喜剧演员讲的笑话有趣，这离不开他们的语气、韵律、步调、表演功力以及当时所处的环境。

除非你是在为一位诙谐幽默的资深配音演员撰写故事脚本，否则你就没必要呈现出含有大量笑话的对白了。否则你的对话会给人一种粗野以及不雅的感觉。

如果你打算重复这些台词，那么出现两次就够了。如果玩家在一个小时内听到同一台词重复三遍以上，他会感到厌烦的。一则笑话在第一次会引来一阵笑意，如果两个小时内都是同一则笑话，只会引来抱怨与不快的声音。

虽然游戏中出现几个可笑的角色很合适，但千万不要把每个角色都定义成滑稽的形象。这不利于创造独特的声音，也会弱化玩家对所扮演角色的重视程度。

2.了解角色

要了解你的角色是哪些人，了解他们想要什么、喜欢什么、讨厌什么、害怕什么、了解什么东西会让他们感到舒适、他们想达到什么样的地位，然后把他们放在其它位置。挑战他们的设想。嘲弄他们强大的欲望。

这是自从《I Love Lucy》推出后，每一部情景喜剧获胜的法宝。了解你的角色有哪些，编写人物特点，这样玩家就知道角色的身份，然后随着游戏进程慢慢地展现出他们的个性，观察他们试图稳定形势及恢复控制权的场面，这是故事情节的基础。

只有通过创造真实且真诚的角色，你才可以调整、转换或者颠覆他们对于喜剧效果的反应。创造一个有趣的情境，笑话就会自动呈现出来。

3.保持对话短小精悍

如果对话在两行内就能结束，那就没必要使用六行的文字。如果一句台词不能提供有意义的说明、动机或者描述，那就删掉。即使这句台词有意义，那也要让它更好地对应上下文。

你最喜欢的笑话会分散玩家的注意力以及破坏整个游戏进程吗？如果会，那就删掉。记住玩家是来玩游戏的，除非你的这些笑话能提升玩家的游戏体验，否则你就是在浪费他们的时间。

4.勿担心缺乏笑点

我已经声明了，构成一段有趣对话的关键是玩家确信值得投入精力去体验的角色。也就是说，当故事情节中发生一些严肃的事件时，你有责任确保玩家投入的精力不会浪费。千万不要认为每次交流都需要一些笑声来烘托，如果故事情节发展到比较压抑或者严肃的场景时，千万别去回避它。

这并非意味着在荒凉或者忧郁的事件中没有喜剧的容身之地。通常，黑色幽默会比任何夸张的言辞更能衬托出一种荒凉的氛围或者绝望的境地。只要玩家知道你的游戏品质很好，他们就会信任你，任你把他们带入任何沉重的场景，甚至是进入一个充满欢乐气氛的游戏中。

5.使用人性化的语言

最后，要时常问问自己：“这些语言是真实人类会说的吗？”通常，许多游戏尝试着使用古代口音或人造声音的语言来制造一些奇幻的效果。如果你始终保持统一的严肃口吻，这种做法并无不妥，但是如果你试图赢得一片笑声，那你最好使用本地语言。

这不只可让玩家从这些比较熟悉的体验中寻求到一种舒适感，也可以加大某些时刻或情感的真实性或关联性。

更确切地说，除了这里的词汇要与我们每天使用的言辞相似，短语也是如此。要允许游戏角色以一种不寻常但实质上又始终如一的方式叙述某事，这会给玩家制造一种意外感，同时也能强调角色的独特个性及独特视角。

以上就是我所知道的五个技巧，但我还需要陈述一个技巧。

6.摒弃双关语

如果你想把双关语隐藏在笑话和元游戏玩法文本的参照内容，比如任务标题、目标描述或者与主角不相关的事件简介等，那也无妨。它们也许会吸引玩家，为玩家提供一种共享体验及融入感，如果你想逗乐玩家的话，这是个好办法。

但最好不要在对话中添加双关语。就算对于开发团队之外的人来说它们很有趣，双关语也还是会造成一定程度的距离感和分离感，这一点会与创造出色游戏故事的初衷背道相驰。

如果游戏角色开口闭口都是双关语，那么游戏世界就会丧失真实感。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

6 tips for writing video game dialogue that’s actually funny

by Ian Adams

Want to write a great video game script that’s actually funny? Z2Live content designer Ian Adams (Battle Nations, Trade Nations) has tips on writing genuinely funny dialogue for games, and common pitfalls to avoid.

Writing for video games is a lot like writing for pornography. Even fans of the medium are likely to skip past it as fast as they can to get to the action.

That might help explain why the writing in games is so consistently mediocre. In fact, even when the story is good, the dialogue tends to lag behind.

The constraints of forthcoming translation, the desire to keep things short, bad voice acting, the desire to give agency back to the player, all of these lead to a world where the most basic rules of storytelling are dropped in favor of characters just saying exposition.

We’re not going to fix that in one article. What we can do, is try to make all that clunky dialogue a little more pleasant to read.

1. Don’t just write a bunch of jokes

This comes first because it seems to take the longest to get this through to people. When an actor or comedian delivers a joke, it’s funny because of tone, cadence, pacing, context, charisma, and more.

Unless you’re writing for a seriously talented voice actor who gets the sense of humor you’re working with, dialogue consisting of a bunch of jokes just won’t land. Your dialogue will wind up feeling corny and awkward.

If these lines are something you’re planning to have repeated over and over, this goes double. Players get tired of any line they hear more than three times an hour. A joke that elicited a small smile the first time will be groan-worthy and painful two hours in.

While having sarcastic or quippy characters is fine, don’t write every single character as a one-liner slinging machine. It destroys any attempt to create unique voices, and weakens the player’s ability to care about the cast.

2. Know your characters

Since you’re not going to write a bunch of one-liners and zingers, this is where you’ll find comedy. Know who your characters are, know what they want, what they like, dislike, and fear. Know what makes them comfortable, where they want to be, then put them somewhere else. Challenge their assumptions. Tease them with their greatest desires.

Don’t take my word for it, this is the formula of, you know, every successful sitcom since I Love Lucy. Knowing who your characters are, and writing them so that the player knows who they are, then putting those personalities through the paces, and watching as they strain to stabilize things and get back in control is the foundation of storytelling, let alone humor.

Only by first creating characters that feel real and honest can you tweak, bend, or upend their reactions to comedic effect. Create a funny situation, and the jokes will just show up for free.

3. Keep it brief, make it count

Never say with six lines of dialogue what you can say in two. Cut ruthlessly. If a line isn’t giving meaningful exposition, motivation, or characterization, cut it. Even if it IS, try to find a way to combine it with an existing line.

Is your favorite joke distracting the player and ruining the pacing? Cut it. Always remember the player is here to play the game, and unless you’re contributing to that experience, you’re wasting their time.

4. Don’t be afraid to not be funny

I’ve already asserted that the key to funny dialogue is characters that players can believe and get invested in. That means when something serious happens in the plot, it’s your responsibility to make sure that you respect that investment. Don’t feel like every exchange needs a laugh, and if the story is taking you somewhere sombre and serious, don’t shy away from it.

That’s not to say there’s no room for comedy during bleak or dark events. Often, gallows humor helps establish a tone of bleakness and despair better than any melodramatic speech. Just know that if you’ve done a good job, players will trust you to take them through something heavier, even in a game with a generally upbeat tone.

5. Use the Human Being test

Finally, always ask yourself, “Are these words an actual human being might say?” Many games, often in an attempt to evoke some fantastic setting, use archaic or artificial sounding language. That can be great if you’re going for a consistently serious tone, but if you’re trying to get people to laugh, do your best to use the vernacular.

It’s not just that people are more comfortable laughing at something that feels at least a little familiar. It’s also a matter of getting out of your own way, and letting the moment and the emotions feel real, and connect. You know the phrase “you had to be there”? Let the player be there.

To be clear, while the vocabulary should be similar to that of everyday use, phrasing is another thing altogether. Allowing a character to phrase something in an unusual but internally consistent way is a valuable tool for surprising the player and reinforcing that character’s unique personality and point of view.

I know this was supposed to be five tips, but I have one more thing that needs to be said.

6. Lay off the damn puns

If you want to hide puns, in jokes and references in meta-gameplay text, like mission titles, object descriptions, out of character event synopsis and the like, feel free. They can be charming and give the player a sense of shared experience and inclusion, which is a good place to be if you want someone laughing.

But please, if you take any piece of advice from this, please lay off the puns in dialogue. Even when they’re funny to someone outside the development team (which is the extreme minority of the time), they create a level of distance and detachment that works to do the exact opposite of everything else that makes a good, worthwhile story.

Nothing makes a world feel artificial and false like a character who won’t stop punning. （source:gamasutra）