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Breaking Into Games Writing?
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?"
I don't think the issue is so much that games companies can't find good writers, it's more they won't pay for it. So you get some designer/coder throwing shit together at the last minute.
You get a job with a game company the same way you get any other job:
First, you find companies that actually do what you're trying to get into doing. Don't apply to companies that aren't using writers for their games if you want to be a writer for games.
Second, you put together your portfolio. In the case of games, you'll want to have some dynamic media - sketched storyboards (art shouldn't matter too much, so keep it simple), play or movie scripts, and/or, ideally, game mods that have your name in the writer: line.
Third, you have to work hard, get lucky, make friends, and generally be very nice to people who often deserve it but sometimes do not.
Whatever you do, DO NOT join up with some "game design" course. They are a complete was of time and money. You will learn how to make a script for Spongebob Squarepants, not Bioshock.
Desire and drive will get you further than talent. That is a fact. If this guy has the desire to do this, who are you to say he can't...or shouldn't.
More power to him, I say.
The ability to write a competant Space Opera is not "photocopy the cliche book and use the shuffling machine to introduce "originality" to your creations."
Lot's of games are ruined by a poor sense of aesthetics, even if they are technically competant. Portal wouldn't have been Portal with out a well written GladOS, even if the puzzles were exactly the same. System Shock wouldn't have it's current reputation if the story had been a neglected after thought.
One thing about me is I've read a lot of Dickens, a lot. Great writer. However, he was also writing popular, sentimental stuff for the masses. In fact, the format he was publishing in was the 19th century equivalent of the TV soap opera.
People miss that fact constantly. Most of the people who we think of as great writers these days were writing for the masses and popular acclaim, not for ivory tower intellectuals. When people disdain "popular" trash, and like some modern literature that only appeals to a very small segment of the population, they are just being snobs. A lot of the popular stuff is poor quality, but so is a lot of the elitist stuff.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."