By Tom Sloper
Background
I was at a comic convention (I think it was the San Diego Comic-Con International)
about nine or ten years ago. A writer I'd hired to work with me on a couple of Activision's
Super Nintendo video games (X-Kaliber 2097 and Alien vs. Predator) was speaking
at a seminar on his experience writing for video games with me. I think his name
was Mark Williams. (Hey, it was a long time ago. A lot of projects have come and
gone since then. Sorry, Mark!)
During Mark's talk, he pointed me out (in the audience) as his producer on these
projects. So during the Q&A session following his talk, several of the questions
got directed to me. It was kind of awkward. Not only because I was taking the limelight
off Mark, but also because people would ask a question about "writing games" - but
then it would turn out that one of them meant programming games, another one meant
designing games, and hardly anybody was asking about what the speaker's talk was
about - writing!
Mark is a screenwriter and a writer of comic books. He isn't a programmer, and he
isn't a game designer. He's a writer.
I have gotten several questions lately about how to get a job writing storylines
for games. So I decided to write an FAQ about it.
I think some people regard writing for games an easy alternative to, say, programming
or graphics. "I'm no good at math, I'm not artistic. Hey, I know - I'll bet writing
is easy!" That's not a good train of thought upon which to plan a career. Besides,
as hard as it is to get a job at a game company these days, it's even harder to
get a gig writing for games.
Writers and Games
There are several different kinds of writing used in the making and marketing of
video games.
Story Writing
If someone at the game company has demonstrated brilliant excellence at storytelling
and writing (especially if that employee has been published), then some producers
might try that person out as a game's story writer. But it's a big risk.
Most producers would rather hire someone with professional storytelling experience,
either as a scriptwriter, novelist, or comic book writer, for instance. A degree
in writing or literature would probably be a good way to prepare for writing game
storylines as a freelance writer.
Dialogue Writing
Writing words to be spoken by voice actors (or to be read on the screen as if spoken
by characters) is a special talent. A degree in screenwriting, and professional
experience writing for TV or film would probably be the best way to prepare for
getting a freelance gig writing story dialogue.
Technical Writing
Some game companies might hire technical writers to create the game design documents,
sparing the designers to do their regular jobs (programming, producing, graphics,
audio, whatever). And some game companies do hire technical writers to document
the workings of the game engine - especially when the company plans to license the
engine to other companies.
Instruction Manuals
Game publishing companies have to write those manuals to be compact and informative.
The game designer probably meets with the game publishing company's copy writer
to discuss the essential information that goes into these.
Advertising Copy
Game publishing companies have marketing departments, which either have someone
on staff who writes ad copy, or they hire companies who make their ads (including
the copy) for them.
Websites
A game publishing company's website copy might be written by someone at the company's
marketing department, or possibly by someone at an external website management company
(or marketing firm).
Game Previews & Reviews
Writers to write game previews and reviews don't work for game companies - they
work for print game magazines or online game magazines.
Box Copy
The copy that goes on the game package is usually written by someone in marketing
- or at an external marketing firm.
Sell Sheets
Sell sheets are one-page flyers that describe a game to the trade. The game publishing
company's sales department gives these to distributors and/or store buyers.
Although these little flyers are intended to sell thousands of copies of a game
at a time, they're much drier than a magazine ad and go into detail about advertising
schedules, bulk shipment costs, and other stuff that the average customer couldn't
care less about.
Strategy Guides
Those books you buy at the game shop, or DVDs we're starting to hear about, are
written by professional writers who work for a book publishing company.
Preparing For a Career Writing For Games
Get a writing degree. Write a lot. Get published, or get your work performed. Collect
tear sheets, reviews, credits, etc. and build a writer's portfolio.
And play lots of games. Analyze the writing therein. Be prepared to discuss the
pros and cons of lots of today's games from a writing stance. Read up on the difference
between narrative storytelling and interactive storytelling.
Getting Work Writing For Games
Take your four-year (minimum) writing degree and your outstanding writer's portfolio
to a variety of game companies. There are probably precious few writing jobs at
small game development houses, but you certainly ought to include those in your
job search, at least for networking purposes and to build your contacts.
Producers at publishing companies might be a better bet. Or marketing companies
who do work for game companies (manuals, ad copy, package copy, web copy) - do your
research to find the right kind of companies for the sort of writing you do.
If you want to write game story or game dialogue, get experience in TV or film,
then take your impressive credentials to game producers and let them know your services
(most likely freelance) are available.
One problem is finding out who the producers are. The solution? Get some games in
the genre you want to write for, and find their names in credits. Then phone the
companies where these producers work and ask to speak directly to the producer (by
name). The phone receptionist (if they have a live one) may make it difficult to
get through to the producer if you don't have a professional telephone manner.
Not many game companies (developers or publishers) have full-time jobs for writers
- so you'll probably have to do it as a freelance writer. And freelancing is not
for raw beginners or the hard-work challenged.
It will take a lot of research, networking, and hard work to market yourself into
that kind of gig. But if you want to be a writer, all writing jobs (in or out of
the game biz) are like that anyway.
Tom Sloper is a designer and producer of video games, best known for his work on
the Shanghai series of games for Activision. An engineering designer and modelmaker/draftsman
by training, Tom began his video game career in Southern California in the late-1970s.
He designed games for the legendary Vectrex game system (Spike, Bedlam) and other
platforms at Western Technologies and Sega Enterprises before joining Atari Corporation,
where he was involved in revitalizing the 2600 and 7800 game systems.
Tom is currently a global consultant for game developers, publishers and educational
institutions. To learn more, visit Tom's Web site at www.sloperama.com.