Destiny Developer Enlists Guild Wars 2 Writer

Destiny's development team has a new member. Guild Wars 2 writer John Ryan announced over Twitter this week that he's joined Bungie.

John Ryan has been working for ArenaNet since 2010. He designed the narrative for several zones and dungeons throughout Guild Wars 2. Ryan also worked for Microsoft Game Studios for a couple years, contributing to Fable 2 and other Xbox projects. His writing credits also include MSNBC and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer among other places.

In his announcement, he didn't mention what his exact responsibilities will be. The title "loremaster" implies he'll be keeping track of all the story details for Destiny. That's probably a smart hire for Bungie as they develop Destiny 2 along with multiple DLC packs for the first game. This new content is bound to expand the Destiny universe dramatically so there's value in having someone on staff who makes sure that the story stays consistent.

I hope that Ryan's job includes explaining Destiny's story to players. Bungie.net is sorely lacking on that front. Most of the story is explained through Grimoire cards obtained through the game but you can only check them by signing into website or using the mobile companion app. If the lore was conveyed in more approachable ways - like regular features on the website - that would go a long way toward helping players understand the wider context of their characters' actions.

Ryan's hire is part of a wider effort by Bungie to beef up its writing staff. The company is also looking for a lead writer and narrative designer. The Destiny team doesn't appear to have had a lead writer since Joseph Staten departed a year before the game's launch.

It'll be interesting to see how the game's story-telling evolves thanks to Ryan and these potential new hires. The absence of story from the actual in-game experience of Destiny was really disappointing to me. We don't really know what's going on through the campaign or have any attachment to the people we meet. There's an interesting story at the heart of that universe but it's really not being conveyed to the player base.