Video Game Writing

With increasingly sophisticated video games being consumed by an enthusiastic and expanding audience, the pressure is on game developers like never before to deliver exciting stories and engaging characters. With Video Game Storytelling, game writer and producer Evan Skolnick provides a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow guide to storytelling basics and how they can be applied at every stage of the development process - by all members of the team.

This is an excerpt from the book Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books. This section comprises the entire section on video game writing, to include video game writer interviews, and is Part Five of the book.

Everyone wants to be a writer, and they want to know what they can do to make that dream come true. However, most aspiring writers do not understand how to position themselves so they are ready when presented with an opportunity. They identify themselves as writers but have no writing samples, or their websites and social media talk all about their paintings or music but say nothing of who they are as writers.

This comprehensive guide walks listeners through the entire process of getting and keeping a writing job in the games industry. It outlines exactly what a beginner needs to know about education requirements, finding opportunities, applying for roles, and acing studio interviews. Professional writers will learn how to navigate studio hierarchies, transfer roles and companies, work overseas, and keep developing their careers. This book will be of great interest to all beginner and aspiring games writers and narrative designers, as well as more experienced writers looking to hone their skills.

In Canada, volunteers are raising money for charity by playing marathon stints of Penn & Teller's Desert Bus, probably the worst video game ever created. Across the globe, thousands of viewers tune in to Kurt J. Mac's epic but seemingly pointless voyage towards the outer realms of Minecraft's procedurally-generated world. In Iraq, mothers encourage their children to enter Call of Duty competitions to keep them off the bomb-ravaged streets of Baghdad.

In this sequel to Creative Writing Career: Becoming a Writer of Movies, Video Games, and Books, Stephan and Justin continue to bring you industry advice as well as interviews with screenwriters, video game writers, and authors of books and comics. These writers' credits include such amazing titles as: Big Fish; Batman; Game of Thrones; The Crow; Divergent; Brave; Yesterday's Gone; Sandman Slim; Jurassic World; and many more!

An epic convention. An epic cosplay. An epic engagement. It was the best night of Kaito’s life - until the ground opened up beneath him. Well, technically, a portal did. Either way, it sucked. Now, trapped in another world with rampaging monsters, he’ll have to learn to survive. Fortunately, this world is conveniently similar to his favorite video game. And he’s got monster hunting experts (?) Pix and Jaz to show him the ropes. With their help, he might last long enough to find a way home. But if not, at least he’ll have fun hunting monsters before he dies!

Pix and Jaz are two girls who just want to hunt monsters, craft armor, and pay off their college loans - but when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, it’ll take all their skills to survive it. Their skill levels? Slightly above noob. Fortunately, they have their oversized swords, a lot of sass…and one giant monster friend who might help them out.

Losing a trusty weapon is like losing a close friend, and Pix’s beloved capacitor blade is on its last legs. Fortunately, she has a plan to craft a new and even better weapon. Unfortunately, her plan involves hunting down a vicious migrating monster that has more teeth than some hunters have brain cells. Even worse, this new creature has riled up the apex monster of Skull Harbor, and both of them are spoiling for a fight.

Do you love to write, but aren't sure what to do with it? Wondering how to approach the industry, find a market, or get an in with the right folks? Stephan Bugaj (Pixar, Telltale Games) and Justin Sloan (Roku's Cypher, the Reclaiming Honor novels) have come together to share advice on living the writer dream. Let them show you exactly what it takes to make it in the world of creative writing. What follows is a collection of their advice and interviews with the experts. This includes screenwriters, video game writers, and authors of books and comics. In this book you'll read interviews with ...

This Highlights Listen & Learn! Audio Study, intended for those in grade five, features a story called The Video Game Hero and focuses on vocabulary, plot, and characterization. The story follows Jack, a very talented video-game player who also uses a wheelchair. Jack often feels lonely at school because he doesn't have many friends. When Jack wins a video-gaming competition, his classmates seem to take more of an interest in him. At the end of the story, Jack learns a very interesting lesson about the people around him.