Not everybody is cut out to be a programmer, game designer, artist or audio engineer. It’s the unfortunate truth that keeps a lot of people out of the games industry despite wanting to be involved in some way or the other. While it’s certainly not as glamorous as being a game designer, one avenue available to aspiring game makers is to be a video game writer.
In a new video from PlayStation UK, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag’s lead writer Darby McDevitt shares some tips on how to write video games for a living. It should be obvious, but his first suggestion is to find a love for writing. If you don’t love writing, you’re not going to love writing video games. Once you find that love, start writing for all kinds of mediums – film, novels, games and poetry.
The other tip that may not be as apparent is the fact that games writers rarely start off as such. You’re going to need experience in other aspects of game making, especially game design. McDevitt notes that a major problem in the industry today is that there are writers who have no design experience and designers who have no writing experience.
In short, take whatever job you can get in the games industry. It’s rare for anybody in games to only have one skill set anymore. You’re going to have to wear multiple hats to be successful in the games industry.
Image via sonyplaystation/YouTube