Breaking Into Games Writing? 254
An anonymous reader writes "One of the biggest complaints I hear from 'discerning' gamers is how few and far between well-written games are. Titles like Mass Effect and the Black Isle series just appear far too rarely. Writing and storyboarding are aspects of the industry that have always appealed to me — I'm an enthusiastic hobby gamer with a real passion for well-developed games. But there's very little guidance out there on getting exposure as a writer in this world. I'm interested in working in the field, freelance/part time initially as I break in, then with an eye to professional employ after a time. My questions to you are: How can I get involved in writing for the game industry? Are there any game startups out there with good design but weak story that could use writing help from a college graduate? How do the big guys get people to write for them — am I just going to the wrong booths at the job fairs? What kind of degrees or relevant experience in the field are they looking for? Should I just put on my Planescape t-shirt and stand outside in the rain?"
Bioware (Score:5, Informative)
Bioware has repeatedly had contests where they've asked the community to open up the NWN toolset, write some dialogue and send it to them. The proof is in the pudding.
And it should be noted that writing typical fiction or exposition is different from writing threaded dialogue in a game, hence that is why they ask people to submit basic mods made in their toolset.
Bioware (Score:3, Informative)
Bioware is one company that I always seem to see writing positions open for... now whether you take that as a good thing or a bad thing I guess depends on your perspective. They usually have a written component that you can submit (ie an original story set in genre X or based on Bioware game X) which, they say, can override any educational qualification.
Austin, Texas [bioware.com]
Edmonton, Alberta [bioware.com]
Yes, believe it or not Bioware is actually a Canadian company.
Planescape, I don't think so (Score:2, Informative)
Planescape, while entertaining, isn't very highly regarded by many of my game-writing collegues.
Games and writing in games has moved on a great bit since PS:T and the skills required from a game writer today are different from back then:
- Ability to write in a short, very precise fashion while still maintaining character and flavor.
- Ability to write in a fashion that includes the user and gives him the illusion of choice.
- Ability to write scenarios that work for games, which means giving the user control and freedom to express himself within the framework of the story.
- Ability to keep scenario complexity in check.
People who want to write grand, long winded stories or novels don't need to apply.
My tip: Don't mention PS:T.
Re:They don't (Score:5, Informative)
And the people who do have good writing and aren't an RPG often outsource their writing to one of the many many many companies in LA which have staff writers for TV and Film.
A few programs on Cartoon network for instance farm out their screenplays to script doctoring companies.
If you want to write for games you probably will be working for a multi-purpose writing agency.
Re:No (Score:4, Informative)
There aren't a billion other people who want to write games. The people who write games are usually freelance writers who are at the right place at the right time when a job opens up on Craigslist. Then they're given a crappy cliche sci-fi story that they have to fill in with dialog and they have a few weeks to do it. That's in the lucky occasion that they hire a writer at all, and not have the game designer throw some copy together over the weekend. Writing just isn't really on the radar in the games industry. There are a couple of companies where that's their bread and butter like Bioware or Bethesda, but other than that writing is tacked on as an afterthought. If there were a billion kids out there whose dream is to write for games, don't you think there would be better writing in games?
Hey dumbass (Score:5, Informative)
Watch moderators waste their points on your post
In case you haven't figured it out yet, Anonymous Cowards always post at 0. Since a post can only go down to -1, only one point is required to squish your post. And plenty of people are now getting 10 points in a single round of moderation, which makes it even easier.
But thanks for playing!
Re:Kingdom of Loathing (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Bioware (Score:5, Informative)
Interactive Fiction (Score:4, Informative)
Others have mentioned just writing.
But for writing (and programming) a *game*, possibly writing a text adventure would be good practice. For example, using Inform (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inform [wikipedia.org]), you can write games that practically anybody with any computer/PDA/etc. ever made can play.
I think there is still at least one yearly contest (with a relatively tiny prize) for the best interactive fiction game.
Re:Bioware (Score:3, Informative)
No, Bioware directly hires from these contests.
Re:I wish I knew. (Score:5, Informative)
You are right the Writer's Guild hasn't touched the games industry. Having shipped multiple titles with shitty dialogue (both written and spoken), dialogue just isn't a priority. Hell, I'd wish we'd just cut half the dialogue most of the time. We're making games here people, not a fucking book or movie. Somewhere along the way games got hi-jacked with all this narative bullshit.
You know what the first mod for Wow was? Fast Quest Text, which became so popular that Blizzard made it that option officially supported. Most gamers (or us game devs) just don't care about dialogue, so your premise that dialogue is half-assed is correct.
From the above it would seem, I'm against dialogue. I'm not. I'm just of the philosophy "Less is More". One reason GTA 3 worked so well, is that there was NO spoken dialogue. That was brilliant.
I think part of the problem is that it's just too hard too tell the difference between crappy dialogue, and average dialogue. And more importantly, it just takes too long, and too much money for GOOD dialogue, when in the end it just doesn't matter unless you're going to make me sit through some lame cutscene I can't skip. I imagine comedian writers for TV sitcoms must struggle to come up with something fresh all the time, but in most games, dialogue just isn't that important to gameplay -- it is a secondary effect.
The orginal submitter is in for a tough sell.
Speaking from experience... (Score:5, Informative)
As a writer and designer currently in the game industry, let me show you my pokemons.
I started off writing and designing pen-and-paper role-playing games, and writing a column for RPG.net. This helped me build a portfolio and greatly expanded my contact list. When the time came to enter the video game industry as a writer, those samples and references helped me get in.
In my spare time I did as much writing and design as possible, in whatever areas I could get my hands on: news writing, graphic design, web design, and the creation of a fake fast-food franchise run by ninja named Ninja Burger ( http://www.ninjaburger.com/ [ninjaburger.com] ). Again, when the time came to get into video games, all that experience helped immensely. Design is design; writing is writing. The more you do of each, the better you get at it. I wrote about games, I designed games... I even co-wrote and co-designed a MUD ( http://www.iconoclast.org/ [iconoclast.org] ), but my time spent designing church bulletins, editing news columns, writing copy for a comic book catalog and doing technical writing all helped me learn not just the ropes, but all the knots as well.
In the end, breaking in for me came down to being in the right place at the right time. A friend of mine worked for a game company, and she got me the interview, but at that point it was up to me to close the deal, and my portfolio, references and samples were what did that.
In short, you can't wait by the stream for the ship to come in. You need to build your own raft, and when the ship sails by, you need to paddle yourself out to it.
Get ready by reading some books on game writing and design. I've reviewed a bunch of them for Slashdot over the years:
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/11/25/0046222 [slashdot.org]
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/31/1445235 [slashdot.org]
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/05/1420215 [slashdot.org]
http://books.slashdot.org/books/06/02/27/1445214.shtml [slashdot.org]
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/18/149246 [slashdot.org]
http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/09/0527214 [slashdot.org]
Re:First buy a book of sci fi cliches. (Score:2, Informative)
Then again, when your audience thinks that the Wheel of Time and Snow Crash are high art, their expectations aren't exactly difficult to exceed.
Wheel of Time is high art!
Few people know how to write for games. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It's a Job (Score:5, Informative)
Here's my experience:
A year before Bioshock shipped, I applied for a QA position at Irrational Boston. After five years of unemployment, I still have no idea why they hired me, but I wasn't about to argue. Fast-forward three months in QA, some game balance analysis writeups I'd done caught Ken Levine's eye and gave him the impression I was quasi-literate. For my part, I simply didn't have the heart to correct him.
A month later I was working fulltime on script proofing, then editing, story structure, helping direct voiceover recording sessions, and finally voiceover production (take selection & compositing).
So, some tips:
1) Get a QA position at a development studio where you are actually working hand in hand with the developers. Do NOT get a QA position at a publisher's degenerate nerd stockyard - busing tables or suicide would be preferable to that.
2) Get your foot in the door any way you can, no matter how low or menial you have to start, and once you're inside show them what you're capable of. Without pissing off your manager.
This is a young industry, there's a lot of movement potential if you've got the chops. Get out there and amaze people.
--Ryvar
Game Design (Score:1, Informative)
I work in the industry. With cartoons, it's a director. With games, it's a games designer. Trust me on this one, companies hire when they see talent. Develop a portfolio, or "demo reel" and show that to companies. Some of the larger studios I've worked for have employed writers on a contract basis, but it sounds like you're talking more about shaping the look and feel of a game, and that's a game designer. So, show your creative side. Write stories. Develop your own board games, or RPG games, or Pokemon/Magic style card games. Put all this in your reel. Team up with an artist, and produce a few "one sheets", or a sheet of paper that demonstrates a game concept graphically, and verbally. Show that you can take a group of artists and programmers, and provide top level direction on exactly what they're producing.
Computer Assisted Storyboarding (Score:3, Informative)
One of my game designer colleagues (now a successful comic writer) suggested to use programs for storyboarding.
My colleague uses Dramatica http://www.dramatica.com/ [dramatica.com]
but it seems Movie Magic Screenwriter is more suitable for movies/series http://www.screenplay.com/ [screenplay.com]
There is also an open source alternative:
http://celtx.com/ [celtx.com]
These programs direct you in your writing, and are also able to suggest plots.
He strongly recommends that you MUST follow rules to write a storyboard.
These programs are perfect for forcing you to declare all interactions, and it also eases the addition of new characters.
Of course, the programs won't write the storyboard for you.
Find an appealing plot, then build some charismatic heroes.
Good luck !
Re:Bioware (Score:4, Informative)
Bioware has repeatedly had contests where they've asked the community to open up the NWN toolset, write some dialogue and send it to them. The proof is in the pudding.
CD Project Red (The Witcher [thewitcher.com]) are doing the same thing, and my team has won two out of four stages of the current contest [thewitcher.com], come second in one stage, and ducked out of one; we're probably favourites to be overall winners. I have to admit I got involved in this competition to build up a modding team towards doing a commercial independent game, but I think that it's at present extremely difficult to break into even the indie games market, let alone the 'big' games market.
Also, writers are not the most sought-after talent. 3D modellers are probably that - but concept art is also important. So if you're good at storyboarding, work on your 2D art skills.
Then, find a game which you enjoy which makes it's content creation toolkit available to the community (Bioware, Bethesda, CD Projekt Red - there's a lot of buzz at present about the new Bioware toolkit which will come with Dragon Age [bioware.com]), hang out in the forums, get a feel of which modding team has got its act most together, and talk to them.
And it should be noted that writing typical fiction or exposition is different from writing threaded dialogue in a game, hence that is why they ask people to submit basic mods made in their toolset.
This is absolutely true. Non-linear narratives which work for the reader/player/user/audience are very much harder to write well than linear narratives, and the more freedom you allow the player the harder it is to craft a satisfying narrative. This doesn't make it not worth doing - on the contrary, like the GPP, it is my ambition to produce a really excellent story-driven game.
Re:Bioware (Score:2, Informative)
The proof is in the pudding.
I think you mean, The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Re:First buy a book of sci fi cliches. (Score:3, Informative)
However, these are "interactive novels", "choose your own adventure" -books rather than video games - no, the ability to chose which guy/girl/alien you fuck midway through doesn't make them a video game. As such, they don't suffer from the problems real video game's writing does. They are, basically, cutscenes joined together at junctions where the watcher can make a choice which branch should be followed.
Not that this supposed ease stops them from often having truly inane plots, even for hentai...