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Types of game writing

Tacit · 2002-03-04T19:01:06

Hey people. I thought it might be an interesting exercise to examine all the different areas in game development in which a writer might find themselves being able to contribute. I think we all tend to concentrate on the 'writer as game designer' when there are actually other places you might find writing work to be done. Here are some I can think of off the top of my head... - writing and editing of technical documentation (relating to technology developed by the in-house R&D team) - writing and editing of the game manual - writing and editing of company or game Web site content - writing, editing, and maintenance of game design documents - writing and editing of interviews for PR - writing and editing of backstory material for game world - writing and editing of character dialogue - writing and editing of promotional copy for advertising, packaging, etc. - writing and editing screenplays for cutscenes (animated or acted) [thanks, Kylotan] - writing and editing of a strategy guide or hints booklet [thanks NightWraith] Some of these writing tasks could be the responsibility of game designers, producers/assistant producers, technical writers, PR/marketing writers, programmers (for the SDKs for example, code documentation, etc.), etc. So, I think we can all agree that there is some room for writers in the games industry, just not always in the areas we tend to focus on. Can you think of anything else to add to this list? R. Edited by - Tacit on February 28, 2002 4:59:30 PM Edited by - Tacit on March 1, 2002 10:21:08 AM

Writing for Games Game Design

Started by Tacit February 28, 2002 09:28 AM

12 comments, last by Tacit 22 years, 4 months ago

rrc2soft

139

March 04, 2002 09:32 AM

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(BTW Where "writing/editing for openings & endings" would fall? cutscenes?)

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Tacit

122

Author

March 04, 2002 10:36 AM

That''s where I would include it.

Ok well if at least one person will read it then I''ll put something together. I guess I should contact someone on staff to ask about length etc.

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Kylotan

10,512

March 04, 2002 05:26 PM

If you do it as an article, it would be good if there was an example of each style, and how they all vary (and what certain ones have in common). For example, we use very different language when writing to entertain compared to that used when writing to inform, and also compared to the writing used to persuade. A new writer may not immediately spot such distinctions. And of course there''s the big differences in writing screenplays compared to prose, etc.

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Tacit

122

Author

March 04, 2002 07:01 PM

I''ll certainly do my best to cover all these things, and I''ll see if I can''t leverage some of my industry contacts to get good solid quotes from people in the industry working as writers. I dislike how sometimes I read articles here and elsewhere written by completely unqualified people with absolutely no citations or referrals to experts in the subject matter. I''ll try not to make the same mistake.

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Types of game writing

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