Young Writers Society

I don't know if anyone on here has experience, but how would one go about writing the plot for a video or computer game? I've been working on a JRPG, but I don't know whether to set up the world before or after I write the dialogue.

Okay friend this is my area. It's gonna ve short though, since I'm using my phone.

It really depends on the experience of the writer honestly. You could first make the game and then set a plot and a universe depending on what's in-game.
PROS:
Much faster to develop.
Doesn't consume much resources.
Way easier to set things up.
CONS:
Writer's block is a thing.
Closes the positive possibility space.
Reduces the use of open creativity, thus leading to less characterised aspects.

You could as well set the world first on paper, then shape your game around that.
PROS:
Increases the use of open creativity, allowing developers to create much more fleshed out worlds with logic feedback loops.
Unique characterisation.
CONS:
Takes much more time.
Can dwell tons of resources if not handled properly.

Hey there!

I don't have a ton of experience with writing games, but you're asking if you should give your exposition to the player before or after dialogue?

My advice to you is to start with the most interesting and most gripping thing about your game. If the most interesting thing is your world and the society you've built, start with something gripping about that. If the most interesting thing is your cast and your characterization, then do that. You want to start the game with a promise of great things to come, not a warning of letdowns, so start with a strong point and carry through on it.

If I'm misreading this and you're asking about worldbuilding before or after writing dialogue, I'd say build your world first so you know what you're dealing with—the writer should always start with a basis of where and when things are, but the player just needs something good to get them into the game.

Also, if you just want to describe your world in-script, then I would describe each new area in detail as you come to it. In a way, your script is a series of notes for yourself/the visual artist, so don't worry about it being a bit of a mess or scramble in the first draft, because you'll be fixing that up. So as soon as the player character sets foot in an area, describe it in the script, and then you can move on to the interactions and such in that area.

I'm going to be echoing Zachymas for the most part.

Ultimately, your largest consideration before you start writing anything will be the limitations of the game engine you'll be using.

Are you going to be using a preexisting engine? If so, you'll need to know the limitations and workarounds for that engine inside and out because you will need to account for them in your writing.

Are you going to be using a custom engine? If so, you'll still need to keep in mind programming limitations, though to a lesser extent than using a preexisting engine. At the same time, custom engines can introduce more issues than using a preexisting engine simply because coding things from scratch is an exercise in bug fixing.

Another thing you need to consider is the format of the game you're writing for. JRPGs are a massive genre, and there's a lot of different forms within the genre. Will your story be told primarily through pre-rendered cut-scenes? In real-time? Via character portraits and textboxes? Will there be voice acting? What about onscreen effects, like weather?

JRPGs can be pretty text-heavy, and some of them toe the line between RPG and visual novel; this is probably the most flexible format from a writing standpoint. The Fire Emblem series of games is one example off the top of my head of a more text-intensive JRPG (though technically it's more of an SRPG, but eh).

There's also the avenue of text-based games. There have been a few released recently, and in the early days of the internet, text-based RPGs (called MUDs back then) were pretty dominant. You can still find quite a few around, such as Utopia which is one of the oldest still-running text-based MMORPGs in existence.

It's hard to give more concrete advice without knowing what avenue you plan to take with the game, but hopefully the above was helpful.