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[Nitorin]

Sometimes you gotta work on more than one project at a time. And sometimes you find a way to make these two projects into one.

I tried to make it into the NaNoWriMo this month, and I decided to write a novel set in the same world as the game I'm currently working on. And although I didn't finish the novel, it really helped me define some things about the setting for my game (mostly plot contradictions and overall mood). And the fact that the most of the concepts were already set in stone, writing the story wasn't that hard because I could think of most actions and outcomes in the terms of the systems I had already created, although no one but me had seen them. It felt like a very interesting feedback loop between both works and it was pretty fun.

Have you even done something similar? Or written a novel based on a game that never even came out? Or even used game systems to help on the creation of a novel?

[Crick]

I'm currently writing a novel that's set after the game. As separate chapters of a larger story.

I found describing the world that the characters lived in helped me so much when I started talking to the game designers. The fact that you have to paint the picture in the readers mind gives you so much detail to work with rather than the broad brush strokes of the 'Sci-fi dystopian' or whatever kind of ideas that you start with.

It's been so great that I'm going to write a short story as a prequel to the game in the head of the bad guy and give it away for free with the game. I wish I could get to it straight away because I'm about to start writing dialogue for him and I want that kind of detail to work with.

[hexstonepatriot]

This is something that I have considered doing quite a few times, but I had to make sure it wasn't a justification for procrastination. I think that as long as you know you aren't putting off your game, this is an idea worth entertaining. It probably will allow you to see how interested you are in the subject matter after you explore it more. I might consider taking this approach for games in the future where the skills/people to make it happen are non existent.

[mcoorlim]

I'm a novelist who practices game dev as a hobby. Most of my game projects are tied to my novels.

[Squire Grooktook]

I've considered writing a very brief short story or vignette, showing the player character's perspective on my game's true ending.

My game is story-lite and structurally influenced by classic Arcade titles, so there's little room for character development or world building in-game. A short story would be a nice place to expand on some of the ideas I've had in my head.

I actually got the idea from the table top RPG campaign I'm currently in. The player characters had a fairly emotional conversation with a NPC, who's situation was extremely similar  to that of my protagonist. It started my brain on "inspiration" cycle, and it started blasting out ideas pretty quickly.

I'm also a fan of Ray Bradbury, and I tend to enjoy short stories as potent doses of concentrated fantasy and imagination.