Writing for a Games Company

ionapaul

Something I've been curious about before - where do games companies source their writers / writing resources from? Surely they don't just use freelance copywriters?

I ask as I'm a full time in-house copywriter / content manager for a large e-gaming company, know a good few others who are doing similar jobs for medium to large companies, but don't know anyone who is working full time or part time writing for games companies. I imagine any medium sized company needs to call on considerable writing resources over the course of normal business (from creative writing to internal communication to social media marketing and so on), but wonder where the companies go to fulfil these requirements - any idea?

RedXIV

The thing is, and don't take this the wrong way, everyone who wants to get into games at some stage, the very first inkling that kicks off that journey is "I'd love to make THIS game".

Honest to god, ideas are very very rarely an issue, either is content, or the actual script usually. We're all aware of the the exceptions, the games like MGS or Assassin's Creed that follow an intricate story line, and I do know that while Peter Molyneux was with Lionhead Studios, he hired screenwriters and actual actors for the Fable 3 but, this happens for 0.001% of all games made. Usually its a case of the team of programmers, artists, designers all bouncing ideas off each other and the good ones stick.

In saying that, if you find a position for some games company looking for a guy to purely come up with stories, go for it, but be aware, almost everyone else contributing to the game content has additional skills that make them valuable to the team.

Hope this doesn't come across too harsh, its a bitter pill to swallow for most of us when we realise, but if its any consolation, I think EVERYONE goes through it

DesperateDan

Writing for games is a huge and often unsung aspect of the development cycle for any major title (that isn't obviously some form of sim/racer/sports game). Developers hire script writers to work in tandem with the lead games designers. Here is an old gamasutra article that may be of interest with some people of note in the field. You won't find a studio in this country needing a full time games writer though :P

ionapaul

RedXIV wrote: »

The thing is, and don't take this the wrong way, everyone who wants to get into games at some stage, the very first inkling that kicks off that journey is "I'd love to make THIS game".

Honest to god, ideas are very very rarely an issue, either is content, or the actual script usually. We're all aware of the the exceptions, the games like MGS or Assassin's Creed that follow an intricate story line, and I do know that while Peter Molyneux was with Lionhead Studios, he hired screenwriters and actual actors for the Fable 3 but, this happens for 0.001% of all games made. Usually its a case of the team of programmers, artists, designers all bouncing ideas off each other and the good ones stick.

In saying that, if you find a position for some games company looking for a guy to purely come up with stories, go for it, but be aware, almost everyone else contributing to the game content has additional skills that make them valuable to the team.

Hope this doesn't come across too harsh, its a bitter pill to swallow for most of us when we realise, but if its any consolation, I think EVERYONE goes through it

Thanks for the reply; I think I didn't make myself clear in my opening post - I'm not asking about what games companies do with regard game writers or anything that creative, I'm just curious about the more pedestrian writing that medium-sized companies need, such a press releases, blog posts, promotional webpages, technical writing, community work on the forums, etc...

The really small companies obviously can't afford a full time copywriter, or even pay for a freelancer (I should know, a friend runs a 3-man games company and is always harassing me to write for them for free ), and it shows when you visit their website or examine their woeful social media efforts. I would have assumed the medium-sized companies would be better equipped though, just wondering who / what they use.

DesperateDan wrote: »

Writing for games is a huge and often unsung aspect of the development cycle for any major title (that isn't obviously some form of sim/racer/sports game). Developers hire script writers to work in tandem with the lead games designers. Here is an old gamasutra article that may be of interest with some people of note in the field. You won't find a studio in this country needing a full time games writer though :P

Yeah, I figured as much; I know that hardly any studios here have a big enough operation or creative services team to warrant a full time copywriter and / or creative writers. That said, a well-known medium-sized games company that employ a decent sized team in Ireland have a combined copywriting / creative writing team of over 20 based in their overseas HQ, and a friend is a copywriter for EA in California and I'd guess they employ over 100 copywriters and creative writers in total.

As the Irish games industry grows, the size of the studios grow and perhaps consolidate, I would imagine that internal copywriters and creative writers will be sought inhouse. Until then, I wonder if a versatile freelancer could make a good living working primarily for the smaller studios here? Not something I'd be particularly interested in (working as a full time employee has its benefits!), but something I'm curious about.

RedXIV

Ah, my apologies, I did completely miss your point

It's an interesting point actually, and something that may appeal to studios starting to take off, if they were to hire a freelance guy to do up some content, for a modest fee, chances are you could subsidise yourself nicely with a few contracts and a few hours work in the evening.

Hmmm, thanks OP, I may look into this a bit more remind me to buy you a pint

megaten

I'd imagine most copywriting is handled by the publishers PR or marketing.

Kyotokid

Oh topical, I'm currently applying for a scriptwriter/designer role right now.

In my limited experience, on games that don't feature a large volume of text, the writing has all been done in-house by the design team itself. In the initial stages of the project, when tasks are being dished out, designers can ask for ownership over specific components such as camera, environments, writing, handling etc. People play to their strengths; some guys love to write and some love to build or tweak and its the Lead Designers job to make sure that each component is up to scratch and improve the work if needs be. Other designers / team members can chip in their 2 eurocents but that's why Perforce was invented; to roll back unwanted revisions (joke).

On large text heavy games, there would be dedicated writers. With the possible exception of Digit in Dublin I doubt any Irish studio would have the resources for this (...?)

On one recent game (team size <10) it was my job to write character, mission and story text (apologies to anyone who might have been emotionally scarred). This text went through my lead\the rest of the team so mistakes or incongruities were easily caught (phew).

-Ivan