Q&As// Rhianna Pratchett, Overlord II Screen Writer

SPOnG: Most of your games work seems to be fantasy-oriented, but then Mirror's Edge jumps out of the list. Do you favour fantasy? How do the differences between the fantasy and sci-fi genres affect your work?

Rhianna Pratchett: It depends how you think of fantasy, really. Mirror’s Edge is fantasy, of a sort, you just have technology in place of magic and the supreme athleticism and the limits of the human body in place of swords and shields. It’s just not traditional heroic fantasy. Urban fantasy, maybe. But yes, Mirror’s Edge is certainly a little different from the pack. I wouldn’t really class it as Sci-fi either, since it’s meant to be set in the very near future and we purposely kept things quite low tech.

All the thematic ideas within the game were spun off real world events and issues. I think the world is edging closer and closer to a Mirror’s Edge set up. Perhaps without all the running about on rooftops.

I wouldn’t say I specifically favour fantasy. That’s just what’s come my way and I’ve run with it. I’m not sure I could cope with a hardcore RPG, these days. I just like stories that I can get my teeth into, whatever genre they fall in. It’s all good, basically. Heavenly Sword was highly emotional and allowed me to explore themes of the sometimes fucked up nature of families and familial relationships, belief versus faith and what it really means to be a warrior. In Overlord it was the fun of being bad and the mocking the occasionally ridiculous nature of heroic fantasy.

In Mirror’s Edge it was more about how much we are willing to give up for a comfortable life, the flaws of an anti-utopia and dealing with someone who is so centred in her body, that she uses it to escape what’s in her head.

SPOnG: Sticking with the fantasy theme for a moment - given that much of your work is fantasy-based, does working on an MMO appeal to you? Is it possible to write a meaningful story in a genre where gamers are supposed to, to some extent at least, create their own narrative?

Rhianna Pratchett: I wouldn’t rush into an MMO. I imagine they would have the potential to tie up your life for years. It would have to be the right one. When you say “Is it possible to write a meaningful story?” I’d replace ‘write’ with ‘create’, simply because games narrative is about much, much more than just writing. And nowhere is that more the case than in MMOs.

Even if you are the solo narrative creator on a project you are always creating that narrative in a team: you and the player. Only the player can’t tell you about their part of the storytelling process until after the event. So there’s a certain element of mindreading involved. But I think this is where the real problem we need to solve lies.

We have to get a lot better at understanding the player’s role in the narrative space. I think MMOs are potentially great for explore this in. I’m particularly interested to see what Funcom and Ragnar Tørnquist will do with The Secret World.