Getting work writing for games?

KeirKieran · Jan 2015

I'm trying to get my portfolio ready to hunt down a job in games, and my skills aren't all visual.

I've written copy professionally and I've done a lot of personal fiction writing and roleplaying world design. I think my writing skills could work well for video games (and I know small studios appreciate multi-skill people), but I don't have any idea how to go about adding that to my portfolio.

Does anyone have any advice on how to go about this?

low odor · Jan 2015

List it as a skill- show samples of your writing

Most of the people I know, started in QA, Stepped up to design. The writing seems to be handled by the designers. I'm sure the Huge studios have dedicated guys, but I would bet a coke that they all came from design.

good luck

Marshkin · Jan 2015

Depending on the studio, you may want to submit samples that apply directly to the type of writing they do. If you're looking to apply to Bioware or Telltale, write samples of dialogue with branching options, hubs etc.
Have you any experience with Mod groups? I know some Skyrim teams have need of writers, and I'm still seeing neverwinter nights 2 mods being kicked around. It might help to prove that you know how to apply writing to a generally non linear experience (Ie; How do you address narrative pacing when the player can choose multiple paths to progress through the narrative, or at different paceS?)

Add3r · Jan 2015

+1 to everything low odor said.

The main story has actually been a very collaborative process between a good portion of the teams I have been on in the past, and then cleaned up and fleshed out as development went on, by once again, the designers. At a bigger studio, we only had 1 dedicated writer and it was for a very very large franchise. That being said, it is not impossible, and go out there and break the mold! No problem with that whatsoever. Off the top of my head, larger RPG based studios like Bethesda, Blizzard, Bioware, and a medium sized studio Obsidian all have dedicated writers (that do definitely have a big hand in design as well though normally to tie their work to).

Meloncov · Jan 2015

I'd recommend picking up something like Twine or RPG Maker. Either will let you start writing interactive fiction with only an extremely minimal bit of coding.

KeirKieran · Jan 2015

Thanks. The branching options dialogue is a good idea. I have some experience there as I've table topped a lot (live players force you keep your options open). I haven't got much script format stuff but I can generate a few bits to show off.

And I'll look into the modding community. I've started tinkering with Skyrim modding myself, but jumping in on someone else's project just for the writing is a solid idea.

I'm definitely cool with writing as a part of the design team. I should have been clearer when I said my skills weren't all visual. My job currently is in general 3d and graphic design; writing is a side skill of mine (and a necessity when you get handed copy like I do lol).

I just wanted some ideas on how to present my writing skills on my portfolio site as well as the normal modeling and texturing. Never hurts to push your flexibility, I figure.

aesir · Jan 2015

I think a lot of studios hire writers that have written novels before. Probably because they want help with world building as well as dialogue. Not sure telling you to write a book is what you want to hear though

MiAlx · Jan 2015

Hey, I sadly can't say much about writing, since i don't know anything about how you would get started as a writer. But I will just echo what others said and just try and write samples of (branching or not) dialogue and story.

I found two articles that might help you, in case you haven't read them already:

Article one and Article two

You could also think about finding a game writer on linkedIn and just add them and ask nicely if they can give you some advice. Speaking with professional writers could get you some really good information.

danr · Jan 2015

useful tool for trying stuff out and also showing it off :

http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/

KeirKieran · Jan 2015

I was actually just looking at that program, Danr. I think this one will do the job better, though.

http://twinery.org//

It exports html (easy to add to a portfolio site) and supports images. I think I'll go through and storyboard out some stuff with this complete with the dialogue options. If it works as well as they say it does, this could actually be pretty helpful for laying out game projects.

And thanks, MiAlx. Those were helpful. Most of the articles I was finding was about writing for financial magazines and stuff.

And to Aesir, I'm working on that, but so are a lot of people.

LRoy · Jan 2015

Check out this podcast episode on getting a job writing in games.

http://gim.acanaday.com/?p=80

KeirKieran · Jan 2015

Thanks a lot. I'll go through those podcasts. It's nice hearing that writing is often part of the design team's job. Will make it easier to sell myself as a man of all work.

Getting work writing for games?

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