Posted June 17, 2018
Sorry , I am in a hurry and do not have the time to read all the previous content of this thread.....
I know that it's possible that you might find it a stupid question but did you try Google something like :
how to be a video game story writer
?
That will yield something like (just beware of all the people who want to live of your dreams and sell you stuff like books and 'education') :
https://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/how-to-become-a-video-game-writer/
https://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/what-does-a-video-game-writer-do/
There is also job searches like at 'indeed' :
https://www.indeed.com/q-Game-Story-Writer-jobs.html
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You could also try a Google search like this :
how to land a job as video game script writer
That will yield an article like this (check out the Google search for many more links( :
https://www.polygon.com/2016/8/15/12455728/how-to-get-a-job-writing-games-maybe
which will tell that it's not easy , headline says : 'Do you want to write video games? , An industry veteran explains the difficulty in getting the position everyone wants
Also , someone named Zulu Lala , made this comment there
While this is a super cool and informative article, I think that using the title of "writer" is wrong. I mean… sure there’s texts to write, but… there’s so much to be done beyond that. Actually, I can’t figure why we don’t hear about a scenarist/dialoguist dichotomy, like there is for movies and TV.
The distinction is even more important in games, where you can and should convey most of the lore, theme, emotions without the use of words. Journey is a great example of a narrative heavy game that doesn’t have any dialog.
And the person that is the most suited to convey emotions and story arcs through themes, style of animation, choice of music, environment dressing… It doesn’t necessarily is the one with the most clever English writing.
So we both need excellent writers, that work closely with the "scenarists" to make sure every word is relevant, and fits with every other parts of the game (animations, graphics, and even the mechanics).
I believe it’s been assumed this kind of task would fall upon the creative director. But in these day and age of freemium & monetisation, our creative directors have been submerged with non-narrative concerns.
And atreiya made this comment , often a good idea to check out the comments section on articles :
Personally, I think it’s good that Mr. Gaider made it clear that there is, generally speaking, no easy way to get a writing job and that anyone who does get a job the way that he did (and you did) basically got really lucky. Knowing a dev or being friends with a dev and having them give you a chance is the equivalent of winning the lottery; it is simply not a realistic way of getting into the industry for the majority of people.
Mr. Gaider may have ended up with a serendipitous opportunity to write for games, but as he himself pointed out, he still had to prove that he had the writing chops necessary for the job. What I get out of the article is:
There are a limited number of jobs for writers in the industry.
People who want to write for games would be best served by making sure that they have sound fundamental writing skills and a wide range of experiences (not necessarily limited to having a writing degree).
It’s helpful to show that you have the capability of picking up the rudimentary scripting skills necessary for dealing with branching dialogue and branching narratives.
You need to submit proper samples of your work in the right way.
You have to be willing to put in a lot of hard and necessary work.
You have to be willing to put up with what a lot of rejection and not be discouraged by it if you really want to write for games and get that dream job.
-----------------------------------------------------
Anyway , Knee , from what I can see then you are doing the right thing already , namely participating in what you call hobby projects which will add credit to your name and 'portfolio' plus that it will give you experience.
In my opinion you ought to *lightly* ponder human existence (you do that already I am sure) , but do it from the angle of what you want to achieve ,
like 'I want to write this or that story with people that have lives like this or that' (to make you understand the characters)
Or like here where your question seem to be (do not let me put words in your mouth ;-) ) : 'I want to be a video game writer' (in which you ought to ponder on human existence in connection with that) (like mind set , social networking , whatever,) (but do not make all my comments and writing limit your thinking)
Again , Knee , from what I can see then you are on your way already , you are honing your skills , getting experiences, developing social networks and whatever , and so on and so on.........
Of course it maybe ' or maybe not (depending on your path and angle of 'attack') would be very hard for you to actually land a future job , but perhaps you ought to see your life as something that needs to be lived , I mean , do that which you really need and want to , e.g. if you *REALLY* want to write video game stories then perhaps you will continue to do so in your 'spare time' with your group(s) and perhaps it someday will grow into something that will actually sell. Who knows , Or perhaps some day , someone out there will spot you and want to work with you and that will be your lucky break , or that someone will screw you and you will end up penniless , I mean use your own intuition and do not let me limit your thinking or control what you should do , I can only advice you to the best of my ability , but I am sitting at a flat screen and do not really know you (or your life) and your life is yours to be lived ! , right ?
Anyway , there could maybe be many ways to a "career path" , though writing video games might take a specific skill set which you could develop then in your spare time from your spare time ( ;-) ) then you could maybe do some other writing *if* you want to do that ?
And blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah ................................
Best wishes Knee :-)
I know that it's possible that you might find it a stupid question but did you try Google something like :
how to be a video game story writer
?
That will yield something like (just beware of all the people who want to live of your dreams and sell you stuff like books and 'education') :
https://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/how-to-become-a-video-game-writer/
https://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/what-does-a-video-game-writer-do/
There is also job searches like at 'indeed' :
https://www.indeed.com/q-Game-Story-Writer-jobs.html
-----------------------------------------------------
You could also try a Google search like this :
how to land a job as video game script writer
That will yield an article like this (check out the Google search for many more links( :
https://www.polygon.com/2016/8/15/12455728/how-to-get-a-job-writing-games-maybe
which will tell that it's not easy , headline says : 'Do you want to write video games? , An industry veteran explains the difficulty in getting the position everyone wants
Also , someone named Zulu Lala , made this comment there
While this is a super cool and informative article, I think that using the title of "writer" is wrong. I mean… sure there’s texts to write, but… there’s so much to be done beyond that. Actually, I can’t figure why we don’t hear about a scenarist/dialoguist dichotomy, like there is for movies and TV.
The distinction is even more important in games, where you can and should convey most of the lore, theme, emotions without the use of words. Journey is a great example of a narrative heavy game that doesn’t have any dialog.
And the person that is the most suited to convey emotions and story arcs through themes, style of animation, choice of music, environment dressing… It doesn’t necessarily is the one with the most clever English writing.
So we both need excellent writers, that work closely with the "scenarists" to make sure every word is relevant, and fits with every other parts of the game (animations, graphics, and even the mechanics).
I believe it’s been assumed this kind of task would fall upon the creative director. But in these day and age of freemium & monetisation, our creative directors have been submerged with non-narrative concerns.
And atreiya made this comment , often a good idea to check out the comments section on articles :
Personally, I think it’s good that Mr. Gaider made it clear that there is, generally speaking, no easy way to get a writing job and that anyone who does get a job the way that he did (and you did) basically got really lucky. Knowing a dev or being friends with a dev and having them give you a chance is the equivalent of winning the lottery; it is simply not a realistic way of getting into the industry for the majority of people.
Mr. Gaider may have ended up with a serendipitous opportunity to write for games, but as he himself pointed out, he still had to prove that he had the writing chops necessary for the job. What I get out of the article is:
There are a limited number of jobs for writers in the industry.
People who want to write for games would be best served by making sure that they have sound fundamental writing skills and a wide range of experiences (not necessarily limited to having a writing degree).
It’s helpful to show that you have the capability of picking up the rudimentary scripting skills necessary for dealing with branching dialogue and branching narratives.
You need to submit proper samples of your work in the right way.
You have to be willing to put in a lot of hard and necessary work.
You have to be willing to put up with what a lot of rejection and not be discouraged by it if you really want to write for games and get that dream job.
-----------------------------------------------------
Anyway , Knee , from what I can see then you are doing the right thing already , namely participating in what you call hobby projects which will add credit to your name and 'portfolio' plus that it will give you experience.
In my opinion you ought to *lightly* ponder human existence (you do that already I am sure) , but do it from the angle of what you want to achieve ,
like 'I want to write this or that story with people that have lives like this or that' (to make you understand the characters)
Or like here where your question seem to be (do not let me put words in your mouth ;-) ) : 'I want to be a video game writer' (in which you ought to ponder on human existence in connection with that) (like mind set , social networking , whatever,) (but do not make all my comments and writing limit your thinking)
Again , Knee , from what I can see then you are on your way already , you are honing your skills , getting experiences, developing social networks and whatever , and so on and so on.........
Of course it maybe ' or maybe not (depending on your path and angle of 'attack') would be very hard for you to actually land a future job , but perhaps you ought to see your life as something that needs to be lived , I mean , do that which you really need and want to , e.g. if you *REALLY* want to write video game stories then perhaps you will continue to do so in your 'spare time' with your group(s) and perhaps it someday will grow into something that will actually sell. Who knows , Or perhaps some day , someone out there will spot you and want to work with you and that will be your lucky break , or that someone will screw you and you will end up penniless , I mean use your own intuition and do not let me limit your thinking or control what you should do , I can only advice you to the best of my ability , but I am sitting at a flat screen and do not really know you (or your life) and your life is yours to be lived ! , right ?
Anyway , there could maybe be many ways to a "career path" , though writing video games might take a specific skill set which you could develop then in your spare time from your spare time ( ;-) ) then you could maybe do some other writing *if* you want to do that ?
And blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah , blah ................................
Best wishes Knee :-)
