Writing for The Computer Games Industry

by Aidan Doyle
 

The computer games industry is an exciting and expanding field. Opportunities exist for creative and talented writers to become involved in a new medium that is still evolving. Every game developed requires at least one writer or designer. The two most common ways for a writer to get involved in the industry are to apply for a job with a games developer or to submit a games proposal.

Applying for a Job
The most important requirement when applying for a job at a games developer is a love of computer games. If you don’t regularly play computer games, this will count against you. In a typical interview, you'd likely be asked to describe your favorite game and explain why you like it. You should be familiar with the most successful computer games. If you get asked what you think of Tomb Raider and you don’t know who Lara Croft is, then you haven’t done your homework.

As well as a love of games, a degree in the humanities will help you get a job as a writer in the games industry. It helps if you have had stories published, particularly in the science fiction or fantasy genres, as these are two of the most prominent game genres. One of the other most prized attributes is prior industry experience. This means that sometimes those new to the industry have to take entry-level positions, such as a playtester or level designer, and work their way up. Playtesting games can often be done part-time and can be a source of revenue in addition to writing or studying.

There are many ways of finding game developers. One possibility is to seek out a company that has made games that you admire. The main factor will be where you live and what developers are nearby. A good place to start looking is on the Internet. Most developers have web sites giving details of the games they have made and how to apply for jobs at their company. The Video Game Yellow Pages has a reasonable listing of links to the web sites of many developers. When I finished university I posted a message on a gaming newsgroup asking if there were any game developers in my home city. One of the senior staff at Beam Software saw my post and asked me to send in my resume.
 

Typical Tasks Involved
Some companies distinguish between game designers and additional writers; in other companies, these jobs overlap. The game designer is responsible for the overall game narrative and objectives. Additional writers may be given the task of completing the writing requirements, which may include character dialogue and descriptive text.

The amount of work available varies with the type of game. Role-playing and adventure games have far more work for a writer than action games, but even action games usually have a "world background" that needs creating. Games such as Myst, the Monkey Island series, and the Tex Murphy series have detailed story lines. The writer is responsible for deciding what quest the player will undertake, who they will meet, and what puzzles they will have to solve. Dialogue must be written for game characters – they should respond appropriately when a player asks them something. Someone must write the game manual. And if the game is being released in multiple languages, someone must keep track of all the text that needs to be translated.

Skills
The ability to think in a nonlinear fashion is very important. Computer games are different from novels and films; a game writer does not always have control of the order in which the player will experience story elements. Players usually want the freedom to do things their own way. In some senses, it's similar to constructing a Choose Your Own Adventure book -- there are multiple narrative paths, and the writer must take into account the choices the player is likely to make. For example, if the player visits a knight in his castle, the knight’s reaction may differ depending on the player’s prior actions. (If the player has killed the knight’s brother, then the knight will behave differently than if the player saved the knight’s brother's life.) The writer should prepare a list of the responses that the character makes in each possible situation.

Many games that were promoted as "interactive movies" were criticized for not providing enough interaction--the player just clicked the mouse and watched videos run. Writers should give players genuine choices to make and allow them to alter the game world.

A game writer also needs the ability to think laterally and look beyond the obvious solution. This is particularly true when designing puzzles. The simplest form of puzzle presents the player with a locked door and hides a key somewhere else in the game.  Hopefully the writer can come up with some more inventive puzzles than this. For example, in Space Quest 2 the player must wade across a swamp containing a monster that will eat the player. To get past the monster, players must smear their clothes with some foul-tasting berries they discovered earlier; the monster spits them out and players can escape. Obviously not all puzzles should be that unusual, but it helps if at least some of them challenge players' creativity.

The writer also needs to be mindful of technological restraints and artwork budgets. Before starting on a design, you should have an idea of how big the final game is to be. The more game locations and characters specified, the more artwork required, and the longer the project will take to finish. 

Submitting Designs
If you don’t want to work full time for a computer games developer, another way to get involved is to submit a game design. (However, the chances of success are minimal.) Even if you have an excellent idea, there are external factors that can prevent the acceptance of your game design.

First of all, you should do some background research on the developer you plan to submit to. It’s no good submitting a design for a 3D-action game to a company that doesn’t have a 3D-game engine and specializes in strategy games. Even if the company you send your submission to has the required technology, their development teams may be tied up in current projects, and they simply won't have time to work on your proposal.

The type of games that are selling well at the moment will also determine whether developers are interested in your design. In recent years the best-selling games have been 3D-action games and real-time strategy games, so many companies have been focusing on such games.

Another factor to consider is that, on average, it takes between twelve to eighteen months to develop a game. That means that your proposal will be competing with games that are being released in two years' time. Two years is a long time in the games industry, and unless you’re looking to the future, your game will be outdated even before it is released.

When submitting a proposal, don’t go into exhaustive detail. It means more work for the person reading your proposal, and chances are that, if the game is implemented, the details will change depending on the artists and programmers involved.

Writers Involved in Developing Computer Games
There have been a number of famous fiction writers who have made the jump to writing for computer games. The level of involvement by the writer varies for each adaptation. Sometimes they just get paid for the license and that’s all; other times they pass on suggestions and point out where the game world is inconsistent with the books.

Science fiction writer Orson Scott Card (the only writer to ever win both the Hugo and Nebula awards in consecutive years) wrote the dialogue for the LucasArts game, The Dig.

Other writers have become involved when developers have adapted their stories to a computer game format. The world created by Raymond E. Feist, author of Magician, was used as the setting for the game Betrayal at Krondor. British comic fantasy writer Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels have been translated into several adventure games. When PC Zone magazine asked Terry Pratchett what his role in the creation of the game was, he replied, “Mainly to say, 'Sure, go ahead.' They've been pretty good at not getting things wrong, so I haven't had to shout at them too much.”

Other writers have been more extensively involved in the process. Harlan Ellison helped design the game based on his short story, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream."  Douglas Adams, author of The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, founded his own company, The Digital Village, to develop computer games, the first of which was Starship Titanic. Adams designed the game, which was later turned into a novel by Monty Python’s Terry Jones. In an interview with IDG Net, Adams stated, “As much as I love crafting a piece of prose and getting every first comma in the right place, I also love throwing caution to the wind and getting together with a bunch of people and saying, 'Okay, this is the direction we're going in; let's do it together.' And then all sorts of stuff  comes bubbling out of the mix that you simply wouldn't get if you were working by yourself. . . . I wrote the story line and the original script [for Starship Titanic]. But I'd add that working on a CD-ROM or a Web site is an intensively collaborative project. I wrote the dialogue along with our Digital Village writing team.”

If you’ve always wanted your own published novel to be adapted to computer game format, you could approach a developer with this proposal. Before a developer would consider paying for a license, they would want to ensure the book they were adapting was very successful. So unless your novel was a runaway bestseller, the chances of it being adapted aren’t good. Given the most popular areas of the market, developers are also much more likely to be interested in books in the science fiction and fantasy genres.

References
There are some books available that provide information about writing for interactive media, but they are sometimes of limited value as the games industry changes so quickly and books become quickly outdated. A search of an online bookseller such as Amazon will list some of the titles available.

There are a literally dozens of websites that have information and news about computer games.  Some of the more popular and comprehensive are:

Gamespot
http://www.gamespot.com

Next Generation
http://www.next-generation.com/

Adrenaline Vault
http://www.avault.com/

Games Domain
http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk/

Happy Puppy
http://www.happypuppy.com/

Imagine Games Network
http://pc.ign.com/

Gamecenter
http://www.gamecenter.com/

All Game Guide
http://www.allgame.com/
 

Information on and for Game Developers:
Gamasutra - The Art & Science of Making Games
http://www.gamasutra.com/

Video Game Yellow Pages Listing of Publishers and Developers
http://www.ugo.net/yellowpages/developers/
 

   -- AD
   ©1998 Aidan Doyle

Aidan Doyle works for Beam Software, Australia’s largest computer game developer. He has been involved in the production of several games, including Lost Vikings 2, Alien Earth, KKND 2 and the forthcoming Dethkarz.