Getting into Game Writing Part 4

This weeks continuation installment of how to get into game writing contains the most important bit of advice in the whole shebang!

Using Tools!

 

The next step in developing yourself to be ready when the moment comes along: write game mods. There are a number of toolsets you can get that will allow you to create playable scenarios. Unreal engine has a free version, as does Unity 3D. StarCraft and Dragon Age have very powerful toolsets available to the public. RPG Maker VX Ace has both a very long name and a powerful toolset. Twine is a free downloadable toolset to make text games. There are student discounts in abundance, and a thriving community of freeware.

Use these toolsets to create mods that show off your strengths as a writer – characterization, plot, etc. Don’t try to make the first one a Game of the Year Mod. Create several smaller ones – and learn with each. Just making them will teach you quite a bit about game writing – specifically how a narrative has to weave in and out of gameplay. Play your mods over and over as you write them, making small adjustments to pacing, character, dialogue, etc.

Another important thing you will learn making mods is some level of comfort with the technical side of game creation. Toolsets are often complex beasts, and some of the things you’ll want to do in your mod will involve scripting. Writing for games differs from novel or screenplay writing in any number of ways, but one of the biggest is the need to be at least comfortable with, if not proficient in, technical matters. Even if the scripting you learn in your mod isn’t the same kind you will need in your first job, you will still benefit from the confidence of knowing you can learn this kind of stuff. It’s invaluable.

After friends have played your mods and you’ve revised them, upload them to various sites on the web – communities for people who play mods of that kind. Read the feedback you get on them. Make more changes.

This will be useful for learning, but is also a great way to apply for work – it is easier to get developers to play a 10 minute mod than to read 10 minutes worth of samples.