Creative Writing for Video Game Design

[mysterious stranger]

Hi,

I remember a while back I checked out the job listings here on this site. I noticed there was a job opening for people with a degree in english or creative writing. It caught my interest because ever since I've wanted to go into video game design I've thought the only two ways to get in are programming, and art. I am putting off getting into the science fields, because I believe I could effectively combine computer science with creative writing, because my brain is well balanced between right and left.

What would a game developer need from person like myself? I enjoy writing out the mechanics of games on paper, I've gone into great detail with previous projects of mine, just for fun. I'd love to work on things like character interaction and plot, because most games suffer from poor writing and that frustrates me.

 

Thanks for any response.

 

 

PS, if any former BIS staff sees this, I'd like to say hello again. Back in elementary school I spent a good portion of my life on the Fallout 2 message boards, ever since the announcement of the sequel. I started thinking about that time and remember how nice the BIS staff was at responding to the many people's suggestions for the sequel, and I wanted to say I appreciate that. Not many developers take the time to really communicate with the fans anymore.

Back then all I could think of was Fallout 2 and all the possibilities so I suggested a lot of ideas for the game and most of the time they got repsonses from staff. I remember one of my ideas for a gun was to have needles filled with space air, so they'd enter in the person and make them blow up, and even though how ridiculous it was the developer that responded politely explained that it would not get into the game. I had many other ideas like that, and like I said, I appreciate the developers at least reading my post and commenting on my suggestions.

Since then I've been fueled to continue thinking up ideas for games and it's been a lot of fun for me. I could easily say Fallout was part of what sparked a lot of my creative interests.

[Matt Deller]

Hi,

I remember a while back I checked out the job listings here on this site. I noticed there was a job opening for people with a degree in english or creative writing. It caught my interest because ever since I've wanted to go into video game design I've thought the only two ways to get in are programming, and art. I am putting off getting into the science fields, because I believe I could effectively combine computer science with creative writing, because my brain is well balanced between right and left.

What would a game developer need from person like myself? I enjoy writing out the mechanics of games on paper, I've gone into great detail with previous projects of mine, just for fun. I'd love to work on things like character interaction and plot, because most games suffer from poor writing and that frustrates me.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

While I

[mysterious stranger]

While I

[Maevar]

The biggest problem with your situations seems to be that you maybe got it a little backwards: You want to get into the game industri and you think that your biggest chance would be as a writer.

In a perfect world it should have been: You are already a kickass writer that cant help making great stories just for fun and then you figure that you could do games also.

 

There are already so many ppl out there that can do great stories and you will have to compete with alot of them.

So i totally agree with:

 

1) Write like a fiend. Revel in the humiliation of seeing your works of fiction torn apart by pube-mustached high schoolers in fanboy forums. But keep it coming