Tomb Raider scribe Rhianna Pratchett on the writer's struggle

- Rhianna Pratchett In a lengthy new profile over at Polygon, Tomb Raider writer Rhianna Pratchett talks about the struggles of being a writer -- and, specifically, the challenges of being a writer in the game industry. Pratchett, who's been writing for games since 2002, is perhaps best known for her work on the Tomb Raider reboot and, after that, EA/DICE's Mirror's Edge. Tomb Raider suffered from the same issues many story-heavy, combat-focused games do: It told the story of someone struggling with killing at the same time the character was mowing down enemies by the dozens. Pratchett talks about that, and her desire to make that meaningful: "I do try and encourage us to explore what that violence actually means for Lara's psyche," she says. "Arguably [Lara is] now in a place where she knows she can kill if she has to — if she's pushed. And the world does seem to conspire to push her a lot! It's almost like she has a mode she slips into, and she's unable or unwilling to face what that really means. It's definitely something we explore in the game." For more from Pratchett, you can read Polygon's profile. Gamasutra also spoke to her specifically about her ambitions when writing Tomb Raider, and also more generally about what she hopes to achieve with game writing.