CHAPTER 26
Breaking and Entering

 

Christy Marx

This was the most challenging chapter of the book to write. Although it’s diffcult to break into any creative field, and difficult enough to break into animation, it was far more challenging for me to come up with cogent, useful advice for breaking into game writing. The advice in this chapter is culled from a large pool of game producers, designers, developers, and writers to supplement my personal experience. Given the rapid pace at which videogames and the videogame market evolves, my advice is subject to change at any time.

There’s one especially pesky question that is asked all the time, so let’s get it out of the way and move on.

THE $64,000 QUESTION

The question usually comes framed something like this: “I have a great idea for a game! How do I sell it to a game company?”

The short answer is—you don’t. Game companies do not buy game ideas from outside people. They don’t need to. That’s why they have designers working for them, or why designers establish their own companies (for example, Sid Meier, cofounder of Firaxis Games, creator of the Civilization game series; and Will Wright, cofounder of Maxis Software, creator of SimCity, The Sims and Spore).

This leaves you with three choices:

• Work your way up from within and try to get the company to do your idea, understanding that you will have to give the company ownership of the idea.
• Make it yourself. This would require creating a prototype or demo (dem-onstration) of your proposed game, which you could then show to game companies or venture capital investors in the hope that they’ll fund you to a full game. You would need to have the necessary programmers and artists to carry this out, or be so incredibly talented that you can do it yourself. There is some do-it-yourself game-creation software out there, such as DarkBASIC, if you have the inclination to master it, but this software provides only the programming end of the equation. You would need additional art software to add to it. If you have the courage and energy to go this route, you’ll need to find some books or courses on how to make games, which is way beyond the bounds of this book. One more alternative is software from online casual-games company PopCap. They offer free casual-game-creation software via their PopCap Developer Program (http://sourceforge.net/projects/popcapframework/). If PopCap is impressed enough with the game you create, they may publish it.
• Develop an intellectual property in some other format (book, comic book, movie, brand name, and so on) that you own so that you can sell the rights to a game company. If you can be the creator and owner of an IP, you will be in a position of power far better than being a designer. A classic example is Marc Ecko, a young hip-hop artist who created a multimillion-dollar line of clothes, shoes, watches, and accessories, then turned his brand-name power into a videogame.

© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-240-81343-1.00001-7

If you come from a teaching or educational background with a good educational résumé, you might have some luck breaking into educational children’s games (sometimes referred to as edutainment) as a consultant. Such games are more linear and focused on the teaching elements. It’s a rather specialized area of game development, and many of the educational-game companies have teaching experts on staff or as consultants. This is to ensure that the games follow the proper educational guidelines, especially if the company wants to sell them to schools. You should contact the game companies that make educational games, and put yourself forward as a consultant. From that position, you can learn more about creating a game and perhaps eventually move into designing them.

PUBLISHERS AND DEVELOPERS

When sorting out how to break in, it’s important to have a grasp on the business structure of game development. Making a game is one thing; having the know-how or resources to handle production, sales, promotion, and distribution is another. In the 1980s, some game companies did everything: created the game; had an art department that created covers, game booklets, ads, posters, fan magazine, and so on; had a production line where the disks were copied, packed into boxes, and shipped; and had sales reps who sold the games to stores. Rarely would a game developer now do all these things, especially the production end. They simply can’t afford to.

The business structure has sorted itself out in tiers of publishers and developers. Generally speaking, the development studios create the actual game, and the publisher handles everything else—production, marketing/promotion, sales, distribution, inventory. This may vary according to the type of deal that is worked out between publisher and developer, and it can apply to any kind of game—PC, console, or MMOG.

The tiers look like this:

• Publishers/Platform Owners: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are in a class by themselves because they are not only enormous publishers, they are the companies that invent and sell the hardware platforms on which console games are played—that is, PlayStation, Xbox, and Wii. They license to developer studios the rights to develop games for their platforms. They can control development by funding games to be made solely for their respective platforms.
• Publishers: The big-name publishers are companies such as EA (Electronic Arts) and Ubisoft, plus the games-publishing arms of major entertainment studios such as Buena Vista Games (Disney), Vivendi Universal Games, Warner Bros., and LucasArts. Other substantial publishers include Take-Two Interactive, THQ, Midway Games, and Activision. Overseas publishers include Capcom (Japan), Namco (Japan), NCsoft (South Korea), Webzen (South Korea), Atari/Infogrames Entertainment (France), 1C Company (Russia), SCI Entertainment Group (United Kingdom), and CDV (Germany).
• Internal (in-house) developers: These are usually independent or external development studios that were acquired by a publisher and have become subsidiaries run by the publisher. It’s easier to acquire an existing development studio than to build one from scratch. This allows a publisher more control over the development process than going to an external developer.
• External (third-party) developers: These studios either make their own games and make deals with publishers to distribute them, or they’re hired to make a game based on some project or property controlled by the publisher.

This publisher/developer structure affects writers in three ways: (a) where and how you look for work, (b) how much you are paid, and (c) whether the project makes it to completion.

One of the unhappy realities of game development is that many games don’t make it all the way through the development process to be released. Games can be cancelled for any number of reasons, most commonly because the entity funding the game loses confidence in the project and decides not to keep throwing money at it.

Ellen Guon Beeman, a highly experienced game producer with more than a dozen produced games on her credits, summed up the status of game-project development as a food chain. At the bottom of the food chain are those mostly likely to lose out in the event of a budget reduction or game cancellation, moving up the food chain to those least likely to be cut.

The food chain is also cyclical. Historically, game publishers have tended to shift every few years between funding in-house projects and using third-party (external) developers. In-house projects are generally more expensive, but the publisher can maintain more creative control. Third-party developers are often (but not always) less expensive, and the publisher can more easily cancel their projects in the event of a budget cutback.

At the moment, it looks like this in the game industry:

• The top of the food chain is made up of a publisher’s internally developed projects. These are the least likely to be cut off if the publisher decides it’s necessary to trim budgets—unless the publisher is a publicly traded company that wants to cut personnel to bump up their stock price. (It’s always advisable to track your publisher’s stock-price fluctuations.)
• Next down are internal producers who manage external projects; meaning a publisher’s salaried producer who shepherds an external project to completion. If the publisher needs to cut budgets, guess who is usually going to get hit first?
• Next down are the external developers themselves. See the point above.
• At the bottom are the subcontractors (say, for example, contract writers) who work for the external developers.

Does this mean you should work only for publishers or internal studios rather than independents? Not at all. It does mean that when accepting work, you should be aware of how well established a studio is. Have they been around for a while? Have they produced a number of successful games? If not, do the people in charge have experience and good credentials in the business? Who is their publisher? For what platform(s) will the game be made? For console games in particular, putting out versions of the game for more than one platform is an indication that this game is a big deal, and therefore less likely to be cancelled. If it’s made for only one platform, is that because the studio has an exclusive deal with that platform publisher? Don’t be afraid to research the studio or company before committing. If anything about the studio seems dubious, you will need to weigh how badly you want the work vs. how sure you are they will be able to pay you for it.

Looking For Work: Freelance or Employee

The first major decision you need to make is whether you want to have a career as a full-time employee at a game company, or as a contract writer (freelance) working for a variety of companies.

THE EMPLOYEE TRACK

As an employee, you will have a steady paycheck while you learn and hone your ability as a game writer and/or narrative designer, but it means dedicating yourself to that one type of writing full time. Once you’ve built up a track record as a game writer, and have a network of contacts in the business, you’ll be in a better position to try going freelance, if that appeals to you.

There aren’t many companies that hire a full-time writer or narrative designer to be on staff. Publishers are less likely to make that kind of hire, because they primarily oversee the work done by developers. Consequently, your focus will be on developer studios, and even more precisely, on studios that create the types of games that might call for a full-time writer on staff.

MMOGs require the largest amount of ongoing content creation, so studios that create MMOGs are the best places to start the search. After that, you would need to research studios that create RPGs, FPSs, adventure, action, or other story-driven games.

Because the notion of hiring a full-time writer is fairly new, there are no established rules for the job. For an MMOG, they may post a job for a writer, narrative designer, or story designer because the writer will probably also be involved in creating quests or missions. Consequently, you should familiarize yourself with MMOGs and the other story-driven types of games, so that you have a sense of the design issues. At least one MMOG developer that frequently hires writers requires applicants to create a game writing sample using their proprietary module-creation system. You must be technically prepared to learn, understand, and use their software—which is, of course, based on their game. Unfortunately, learning one piece of proprietary software doesn’t mean you can use that precise knowledge anywhere else, because each company’s software will be different, but it does show that you are capable of learning such software.

Today, there are more game design courses being offered in colleges, but still very few courses that deal specifically with game writing. A few schools touch upon game writing via game design courses or other media courses.

However, good writing is good writing, so you should have education or training that shows you can write engaging stories with compelling characters. Game writers have debated whether a liberal arts degree is suffuicient, whether journalism is valid, and what other forms of writing best prepare a writer to get work in games. There is no consensus.

My recommendation is to study film and TV scriptwriting. These are the forms most closely associated with what you might do for a game company. Get any kind of writing you can under your belt. Write for paper-based RPGs. Write reviews and articles for game magazines or online game sites. Write a good script of any kind (screenplay, teleplay) that can serve as a sample of your work. It’s hard to write a useful game writing sample, because each game and each studio can have such different needs or expectations, but any potential employer will know how to read a teleplay, screenplay, or short story. Any type of published/produced work—book, short story, script—will give you credibility.

With more and more games being based on existing properties—such as movies, TV series, and comics—you may also need to be familiar with those properties. One developer that was looking for writers asked the applicants to create a short sample to demonstrate that they could match the tone of the well-known TV property on which the game was based, as well as the manner in which the main characters spoke. The developer was appalled at how many applicants turned in utterly generic samples that completely lacked any favor of the property, as though all game characters came from some bland cookie-cutter mold. Other applicants were openly scornful of the notion that games needed story or character development!

These are really great ways not to get hired as a game writer.

Your résumé should emphasize your education, training, and other writing experience, especially anything you’ve done that relates to games or multimedia work. Be sure to mention any awards or honors you’ve gotten for your work.

For the most part when applying for a full-time job, you’ll be dealing with someone in the Human Resources (HR) Department. However, you should do the same kind of networking a freelancer would do. Making the right connection inside a company could be the break you need to get in the door. Read the following section to get more details on networking.

THE FREELANCE TRACK

About the only way to establish yourself as a contract writer is to have experience and credits in another area of writing. In other words, you should already be a professional writer. Because contract game writing work is scarce and hard to get, you are best advised to consider it as one of several arenas in which you can work rather than the only one. It is extremely dif-fcult to work full time, or even most of the time, solely as a contract game writer.

Developers that produce MMOGs, RPGs, FPSs, action, adventure, and other story-driven games are the most likely to want the services of a writer. Those that don’t want to keep a full-time writer on staff will instead look for contract writers.

Looking for contract work requires having professional credits and solid writing samples. Set up your game writing résumé to emphasize your writing strengths, especially anything that relates to games. If you have game writing credits along with other types of writing, be sure to place the game writing credits first on the résumé to call attention to them.

Note that if you are someone with both game design/narrative design and game writing credits, you need to create two separate résumés—one strictly for finding design work, and one strictly for writing work. Once you’re in with a company, you can demonstrate your various talents, but you really want them to be clear on who you are and what specific role they’re hiring you for.

However, you will rarely get contract work on the basis of a résumé alone. Most producers don’t know where to go to find the kind of writer they need— consequently, they’ll go for a known name, whether it’s known because of previous work the writer has done (on other games or in other media), known via a personal recommendation from a colleague (very important), or known because the producer is already acquainted with the writer in one way or another. Bob Bates, legendary game designer and writer, put it this way: “Producers are people with problems, and you want to be the solution to their problem.” The hard part is making a producer aware that you are an existing solution.

Constant, consistent networking is vital to finding contract work. This requires a variety of approaches, including, but not limited to:

• Be involved in the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) community (consider serving on committees).
• Become a speaker for a lecture, workshop, or seminar for the GDC (Game Developers Conference).
• Take part in email lists with other developers and writers (another benefit of belonging to the IGDA).
• Write articles about writing and game writing for whatever outlet you can (newspapers, magazines, Web sites, e-zines, blogs, and so on).
• Maintain a useful, informative personal Web site or blog that gives your credits, and have samples of your work available on the site. For the Internet search engines, include search tags such as game writer, narrative designer, and story designer.
• Attend every conference and trade show that you can, and schmooze like crazy (more info on conferences and trade shows later in this chapter).
• Speak at other conferences and trade shows (though GDC is always the best).

There are certain methods that are across-the-board not recommended, and it’s good to know about those as well. At all costs, do not:

• Send out generic email to any and all developers you can track down. They will treat you as spam, with everything that implies. Don’t email anyone at a developer studio or publisher unless you have already made contact with them so that they will know who you are and be receptive to your email, or you’re answering an online job posting in which you’re directed to send email to their HR department.
• Call producers, designers, or other people at the studio or publisher. They are insanely busy most of the time, and the last thing they want is a phone call from an unknown (and therefore unwanted) person looking for work. Call only if you have previously made contact, and they have positively indicated that you can or should call.
• Send out flashy brochures that cost a lot to produce and mail, but can end up tossed into a forgotten file in some Human Resources office. I speak from personal experience here, having once tried this approach. I sent out hundreds of such brochures—which led to exactly no response, except for two postcards with a generic “Thank you for your interest in our company.”

Sarah W. Stocker, producer extraordinaire, has worked as a game writer, game designer, and producer at a major independent developer for fourteen years as an executive producer of mobile games, and as a senior producer at Sony. She shares some exceptionally useful tips about searching for game writing.

Sarah points out that the need for writers, plus where and how writers are hired, also depends upon the budget and platform of the project. Here is a summary of her advice on that topic:

• Next-generation console games: Periodically the industry goes through what it calls a “transition year” when the major console makers are in the process of introducing their new, improved, and totally glitzy-awesome versions of their game consoles. The PS3 supersedes the PS2, the Xbox 360 supersedes the Xbox, and so forth. Games made for next-generation consoles are the equivalent of the blockbuster tent-pole summer movie that gets the megamillion budget and the big, big-name stars. The budgets for these games likewise reach into the tens of millions. Consequently, these are “star” games, and the company is going to be very selective about the writer to whom they entrust a megamillion-dollar project. The superior graphics and processing power of next-gen games raises the bar for quality storytelling to match. What producers on these games are looking for is credibility, and they will go for the writer who has the kind of credits that provides them with that credibility.

The qualities these producers are looking for go beyond raw talent and creativity. They are looking for experience, professionalism, a proven ability to produce, and someone who knows how to work in a collaborative medium. This is where the writer with a name in movies or TV is most likely to be hired, especially if that writer happened to work on the original property on which such a game was based. These producers will be open to a writer with a track record of working on best-selling or critically acclaimed games. A name novelist with credits in the same genre as the game might also be hired to develop the story, though probably not for the more interactive elements of the writing.

• Last-generation console games: There are still plenty of games being made for the previous models of consoles (the ones being replaced by the next generation), but at lower budgets and with less stress on having to get a top name. Although producers of these games are equally concerned with having excellent content, the budget risk is lower, allowing them to take more risks with talent. These games provide a better chance for a writer to break in.
• MMOGs: As stated elsewhere, they have enormous writing demands, and some of them can have ten to fifteen writers working on them. Producers hiring for an MMOG would likely look for a writer with RPG or game writing background, and would be thrilled if the writer had TV writing on top of it. They might also consider a novelist to do the story.
• PC: Huge numbers of PC games are still being made, so the opportunities for writing are out there. Given the many different genres and types of PC games, you should focus on the types that interest you the most.
• Casual games: This market is exploding. Many of these games are free downloads, and although there isn’t a lot of writing in these games at the moment, there is at least some. This could be an easier way for someone without a lot of credits to break in, especially if you’re willing to work for less money.
• Mobile games: This is another expanding market, largely powered by huge amounts of iPhone development. Producers of mobile games use writers to create story and take the text that is written in-house by the company and rewrite it. This is short, limited writing (due to the limitations of mobile phones and handheld units), so it’s not big money. Once again, though, this might be a way to break into the interactive field.

In contrast to my flashy brochures that didn’t work, there is a type of mailed presentation that Sarah Stocker thinks is a good approach. She recommends an excellent, professional-looking presentation package that consists of the following:

• A short, well-written cover letter on letterhead and personalized to the producer (not a generic letter)—meaning that you should mention or compliment the producer on his or her latest game, or at least on the company’s games. The letter should emphasize your strengths and what type of writing you could best contribute.
• Your résumé.
• Short samples of your writing. Note the emphasis on short samples. Although producers will appreciate the credibility of a published novel, they won’t necessarily have time to read it. That’s why sending a script is a better choice. The script could be a spec rather than something that has been produced, but if you have a produced script, so much the better. The producer will be looking for storytelling that shows the writer has a sense of visual direction, character development, and good dialogue. Although animation scripts don’t have the same level of credibility as live action, one thing that an animation script shows is the writer’s ability to story-board a script. It’s acceptable to include samples of game writing work if they’re in an easy-to-read format, but generally a producer will be more interested in a TV or movie script. A short story would also be acceptable, provided it demonstrates a cinematic sense of storytelling.

Where To Network

Various conferences and trade shows deal with games and electronic entertainment. For writers, it comes down to one that is absolutely vital, the Game Developers Conference (http://www.gdconf.com), which is held in March in San Jose, California. GDC describes itself as the official trade event “by game developers for developers” of computer, console, mobile, arcade, online games, and location-based entertainment.

GDC consists of an expo hall and job fair, plus workshops, lectures, and seminars covering all aspects of making games. It is the single most important event to attend in order to network and look for work. Unfortunately, doing the entire conference is highly expensive. As an alternative, go for an expo pass so that you can access the job fair and expo. Most companies have booths with HR people at the job fair. This is most useful if you’re looking for an employee situation, not so useful for contract work.

For a contract writer, it’s best to send in your résumé and samples ahead of time, then attempt to arrange follow-up meetings with someone at GDC. This gives the producer time to check out your credits and determine whether a meeting would be a good idea. Most people are solidly booked by the time they get to GDC, so spur-of-the-moment meetings just aren’t going to happen.

Your strongest position for attending GDC is as a speaker. Each year, GDC invites people to submit proposals for workshops, lectures, and seminars. If your proposal is accepted, you will attend GDC free in exchange for being a speaker, with the extra benefit of a lot of free publicity. The conference lists its requirements for speaker submissions on the GDC Web site sometime in the summer for the conference the following March.

Another route for those on a tight budget to get in free is to volunteer as a conference associate (http://www.gdconf.com/attend/volunteer.html). As a CA, you get free entry in exchange for doing such work as guarding doors, monitoring conference sessions, checking badges at meals and special events, stuffing conference bags, and performing data entry.

In previous years, the monster trade show was E³, which stands for Electronic Entertainment Expo. After the E³ of 2006, the magnitude and expense of the show was no longer proving as effective as some of the major exhibitors desired, consequently at the time this book went to press, E³ put out this announcement: “To better address the needs of today’s global computer and videogame industry, the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) is evolving into a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities.…”

While E³ wasn’t a great place to go job hunting, it had some usefulness as a place to network, set up meetings (in advance), and get a feel for what was happening in the business. How this “evolution” will affect the use of the show for writers, I can’t say, but you’ll want to keep an eye on it.

Another version of GDC offers a special two-day Game Writers Summit (http://www.gdcaustin.com/conference/writers.html). It’s held in September in Austin, Texas, and focuses specifically on game writing and narrative design.

For additional trade-show links and information, look at the GDC Web site and regularly visit gamasutra.com.

Timing

To understand when to send out your writing-sample package, you should be aware of another reality of game production—many companies aim to have a new game on the shelves no later than Thanksgiving in order to cash in on the all-important Christmas gift-buying season. A PC or console game can take anywhere from eighteen months and up to complete, meaning that it’s common for new-game development to ramp up between January and March. This schedule doesn’t apply to every game, of course—in fact, it has become more common for games to be released at other times of the year—so consider this only a rough guideline. In addition, companies often suddenly decide they need a writer when the project is halfway or more done, so they could suddenly be looking for a writer at any time of the year.

That said, it is often the case that in the months immediately leading up to Thanksgiving, projects are in crunch mode, with people working frantic overtime to finish a game and get it out the door no later than September in order to go through production and reach the shelves by November. Consequently, the least effective time to send out résumés and sample packages is probably between June and September.

Another time to avoid is immediately prior to and during GDC when producers are distracted by preparing for the conference.

MMOGs could need writers at any time. Development for something as large and complex as an MMOG could cover three to four years before it’s ready to launch. And once it goes live (meaning in full operation online with paid subscribers), an MMOG continues to need writers.

How to Find The Right Person

Figuring out the right person to approach when you’re looking for game work is one of the most difficult parts of this process. The employee track and the contract-writer track break out quite differently.

THE EMPLOYEE TRACK

You have two options—try to find a job on your own or go through a recruiter. Doing it on your own will take a lot of time and research, and writing jobs are rarely posted. Your search will have to be constant and thorough. This is a very tough way to go. You will need to do the following:

• Contact each company’s HR Department to inquire about writing jobs, then send your résumé and samples (if requested).
• Check the company’s job listings on their Web site, on the slim chance of a writing job being posted.
• Follow up with HR every couple of months so they won’t forget you exist.
• Network and make contacts that might alert you to writing jobs or help you get a foot in the door.

The other option is to go through a recruiter. The difficulty here is that because it’s such a rare job, most recruiters don’t place writers. Recruiters know exactly how to place a producer, designer, programmer, or artist. They don’t usually know what to do with a person who is looking solely for writing work.

Also, be aware that recruiters cannot represent you to a company to which you have submitted your résumé in the past twelve months. If you decide to try using a recruiter, you need to take this route first before sending résumés to companies on your own.

Professional Electronic Entertainment Recruiters (PEER) is an organization of game recruiters. Their Web site (http://www.peer-org.com/members.htm) lists several reputable recruiters, along with links to the recruiters’ Web sites. Be prepared to fill out the recruiters’ online forms, and be sure to regularly check the job listings on their Web sites.

A lot of game jobs are listed on http://www.creativeheads.net, with a writing job occasionally among them. Once you sign up at their Web site, they will send you emails with job listings.

An important site for job listings is http://www.gamasutra.com, which is also a resource for learning about the art and business of making games.

Likewise, http://www.datascope.co.uk/jobs_by_email.html will send job listings after you fill out the form on their Web site. They cover both the United Kingdom and the United States.

Other sites to check include the following:

http://www.gamesjobnews.com

http://www.games-match.com

http://www.gignews.com/jobs/index.htm

http://jobs.awn.com (Note: this is the Animation World Network, but has been covering games as well as animation. Writing jobs occasionally show up here, but approach these jobs with caution. They often seem to be of dubious quality or are looking for people who will work for free.)

If you want to try getting in the door via technical writing, there are a few temp agencies that handle technical writers. Recommended ones include Sakson & Taylor (http://www.sakson.com), FILTER (http://www.fltertalent.com), Excell Data (http://www.excell.com), and Volt Services Group (http://www.volt.com). However, doing technical writing may require you to live in a particular area to qualify for work, usually West Coast tech centers such as the Bay Area or Seattle.

THE FREELANCE TRACK

There is no quick or easy way to get your résumé to the right person. This is why networking is so vital—much of the time, writing jobs are never posted, and someone is hired long before you might ever hear that a producer was even looking.

The next question is whether to go after producers at the publisher level or the developer level. A producer at a publisher can consider you for more games than can a developer who might work on only one game at a time, but more often it will be the developer that does the hiring. Publishers may be more involved in hiring a contract writer for a high-profile game based on a major entertainment property, but less involved with lower-profile games. The best bet is to go after producers at either tier.

True, you could approach the lead designers, because in most cases they are the ones who have the creative vision for the game and could be crucial in making the recommendation that gets you the job. Usually producers make the decisions about hiring, firing, and budget—and that is why you may do better to focus on producers.

More specifically, first go after a senior producer on a project. If no one has the title of senior producer, go for producer. Avoid contacting executive producers. Executive producers are at such a high level that they tend to be more removed from the day-to-day running of a project, and may have multiple projects to handle at once making them far less likely to read your sample. This will often be true of creative directors as well. A senior producer is more likely to be focused on a particular project, and consequently more aware of when a writer might be needed.

I wish I could tell you there was a simple, easy formula for finding producers, or a nice handy list somewhere. There isn’t. This step takes time and research. You will have to look at the credits on games, search out credit listings on the Net, in magazines, and anywhere else you can think of to track down the names of producers. The Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com) has some game-credit listings, as does the game-oriented MobyGames (http://www.mobYgames.com).

Getting hired may involve a number of introductory steps. You might be asked to produce a sample of game work based on their specifications, which could be for free or could be paid work. You might be asked to come to the company and meet the development team, perhaps do some brainstorming, so they can get a feel for how well you work on a collaborative basis.

When you do finally get that meeting, the interviewer(s) will want to hear you talk about story and character. Game people in general have become more savvy about story arcs and character arcs. They’ll want to hear what sort of writing or stories grab your enthusiasm. Feel free to gush about your favorite movie or TV series. What they don’t want to hear a writer talk about is game design— unless, by some fluke, they are also hiring you to do design such as narrative design. In fact, talking about design could even lose you a job if they worry that you’ll try to interfere with design issues rather than being focused on the writing. Understanding and being aware of design issues is a plus; trying to come across like a level or systems designer is a minus.

GETTING PAID

The Employee Track

Game Developer magazine does an annual salary report on what people are making in the games business. Gamasutra posts the results on their site. Unfortunately, “writing” isn’t treated as a category by itself, and instead is folded into “design.” In the 2003 survey (the most recent one posted at this time), annual salaries in the design category ranged anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000, depending on level of job and level of experience. Because the data collected are provided on an entirely volunteer basis, this survey can be considered a rough guide at best, but it’s pretty much all there is, other than what a recruiter might tell you. It also depends on the location of the job. In expensive areas to live, such as the Bay area, California, you can expect to see higher salaries than in a more reasonably priced area such as Austin, Texas.

The Freelance Track

You should aim to be paid a fat fee for your work (one overall amount), which will be broken out into milestone payments. There are no established guidelines for what to charge for a game bible, cinematics, or other writing work. The best you can do is try to estimate how much time the project will take you to complete, and what you feel is adequate compensation for your time.

The amount also depends on various other factors: size of the company, status and budget of the project, type of writing that is needed, and your experience and credits. A big-name writer who is brought in on a high-profile (big-budget) game to create the entire story, lore, and game world from scratch is a higher level of work that might command around $60,000. The pay might be half that if a writer is brought in to polish an existing game bible, or simply to write a script based on existing gameplay. A small developer needing a simple bible might be able to pay only around $15,000 or less.

At the low end, for mobile games, they might pay around $300 to $1,000 to come up with a story for a very short game and a limited script of around thirty to sixty lines.

Some companies will want you to quote an hourly or weekly rate, especially for straightforward writing work such as dialogue, but there are no established rates and no easy sense of what to charge. Depending on the size of the company, the type of writing, and your level of experience, that rate can vary widely, anywhere from $50 an hour to $150 an hour. Rates between $1,500 and $2,500 a week are reasonable.

Note that game scheduling is built around milestones (as defined in Chapter 10). Consequently, you will be asked to turn in a certain amount of work (the deliverable) by a certain milestone (a date). As mentioned earlier, most games have a long development cycle—from one and a half years to many years. A contract writer is likely to be involved for only a number of weeks or a few months.

Whether talking about a fat fee or hourly/weekly rate, here are some additional factors to take into account when figuring out what to charge:

• Amount of work: If it’s a game bible, get them to specify how many pages they are expecting, how detailed they want it to be, and precisely what it will cover. For cutscenes/cinematics, find out how many they plan to have in the game. Dialogue is much more difficult, but get them to be as specific as possible about how many characters or NPCs are involved, and how many lines for each (be sure to have them define what they mean by “lines,” because game companies can view this differently than a TV or film company does). Then you have to do your best guesstimate on how much time you feel you need to create that work. Take into account the ramping-up time to absorb their game design, the time to get a handle on the interface and gameplay and possibly time to play previous games (if this is a sequel).
• Scheduling: The company may be on a tight schedule with demanding milestones, though most of the time they will work out the milestones with you. You need to do a hard, honest assessment of whether you can meet their milestones, and whether there is any flexibility in the schedule.
• Approvals: Be sure to find out how many people can have notes, input, or right of approval on the work. Ideally, you will work with only one company representative who is the gatekeeper for all such input. Work out how many days the gatekeeper will require to evaluate your work and give you notes. If there are other entities (such as a movie studio) that require approval over scripts, be sure to add extra days in the schedule for that turnaround time. You don’t want to have fixed milestones that suddenly become a scheduling nightmare because you had to wait a week to get notes from a third party. In fact, you should aim to include language in your contract to the effect that you must be given one compiled set of non-conficting notes from one person. Notice the emphasis on non-conficting notes. That is to prevent a long list of changes from numerous people who have contradictory notes on what they want you to do. Make them decide what the right direction is before giving you the notes.
• Rewrites: Specify how many rewrites you will do, and how those rewrites will be covered in payment and in the milestones. This is extremely important if you’ve worked out a fat fee—otherwise you could find yourself doing a lot of free rewrites.
• Additional work: Specify additional writing or work they may want you to do, such as promotional or Web site material, or attending voice-recording sessions. You should be paid separate fees for that work, and the company should cover your expenses for attending voice-recording sessions.
• Travel expenses: It will be common for a game company to ask you to spend some time at their studio or office, particularly at the beginning of the project. They may have software to teach you, aspects of the game to share with you, and people you need to meet and work with over the course of the project. If the company is outside your immediate area, all travel expenses should be covered.

If you happen to be represented by an agent, the agent can handle most of the price negotiation and will handle invoicing and payments.

If no agent is involved, be sure to clarify who should receive the invoice, what the payment period will be (immediately upon receipt of invoice? in fourteen days? twenty days? thirty days?), and keep careful track of your payment schedule. Make sure you specify precisely what deliverables are covered by each invoice.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

In the United States, there are some definite hot spots of videogame work. The main clusters are Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas. Other major locations include Chicago, San Diego, and various cities on the East Coast. Game companies are popping up across the country, however.

In Canada, the main hot spot is Vancouver, with companies also in Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere.

There are many companies in the United Kingdom. Scotland especially has been pushing the digital-media and creative industries established there. In 2006, Scotland boasted of an estimated annual sales of $6.1 billion, providing more than 100,000 jobs.

China, South Korea, and Japan are also strong international hot spots for game creation.

The employee Track

Obviously you must be ready to move to wherever the game company is located. If you have a definite preference for where you want to live, concentrate on companies in that area. But if you’re willing to be flexible, you might find you have a better chance breaking into companies located outside the major game-production cities.

A major issue that has been a hot topic of discussion in the game business for the past few years is quality of life (QoL). Basically it refers to what sort of working conditions a company provides for its employees.

The reason QoL has become such a significant issue has to do with the nature of the games business itself. Namely it attracts a great many young and hungry workers who are so enthusiastic about working in games that they accept any kind of working conditions. Unfortunately too many game companies have happily gone along with this, creating a workplace culture in which employees are expected to put in ten- to twelve-hour days, six to seven days a week. Theoretically, this should be restricted to extremely short time periods (meaning a few days to maybe a week) during crunch time. Crunch time is the all-out, last-minute push to get a game completed so it can ship by a certain date. However, some companies abuse this concept. They’ll have extended crunch times, failing to understand that extended crunch times are the result of poor management, poor planning, and a poor grasp of what makes for effective productivity Productivity actually declines after eight hours of intensive work.

A management that has disdain for QoL issues makes for a miserable place to work. It leads to exhaustion, burnout, and people who are unable to have any kind of life outside the workplace. You are strongly advised to ask questions about the company’s attitude toward QoL issues, what sort of working hours are routinely expected, and how frequent or long are their crunch times. If you get the sense they expect endless hours of work just because working on their games is so very special, run away as fast as you can.

The Freelance Track

Although there is less emphasis on being in a specific location to do contract work, it certainly doesn’t hurt to be in L.A., Austin, Seattle, or the Bay Area. You should be prepared to travel and spend some time on-site at the game company, especially at the beginning of the project—when you need to meet the team, become familiar with the design, and learn any software tools they may want you to use.

AGENTS

Having an agent to handle game writing work is relevant only to the contract writer. You obviously won’t be dealing with an agent if you’re seeking full-time employment.

Until recently, there was no such thing as a game agent. For the most part, that remains true, though a couple of enterprising souls in LA. have attempted to provide a talent pool of writers for whom they more or less work as an agent (though one such person rejected the term “agent,” feeling that he was providing more of a production service). As far as I know, none of these people have made significant inroads in representing game writers. One producing entity that deals with game writers is Union Entertainment, a company that has set itself up to concurrently develop properties such as films, videogames, and comic books (and whatever else they can make happen).

The big Hollywood agencies have been adding some agents who deal with game writing to their rosters, but that is primarily as a service to their existing base of Hollywood scriptwriters. So far, there hasn’t been enough demand to justify taking on clients who do nothing but write games. I suspect that mostly what that type of agent does is field inquiries that happen to come in from a game producer who is interested in a known Hollywood name.

Note also that it’s important to understand that Hollywood agents are licensed and regulated. They can’t take more than 10 percent of a writer’s income. Other people or firms that set out to represent game writers may not be licensed, because this type of work is so new. If you should happen to find someone who claims to be a game writing agent, check carefully into his background and experience, find out whether he’s licensed in the same way as other talent agents, and determine what percentage of your money he wants, or how he intends to make money off you. Finally, have a serious discussion up front about how the agent can realistically find work for you or make contacts that you can’t make yourself. Be extremely wary of anyone wanting more than ten or fifteen percent as a commission fee.

In the United Kingdom, there are script agencies or script consultancies, which are game writers who have pooled their resources to provide game scripts to companies as a group service. Joining a script agency isn’t easy, but it’s worth a try. This idea hasn’t caught on in the States as yet, though one or two people are trying to make something work along these lines. The best you can do is keep your eyes and ears open for such agencies.

Is having an agent necessary? That depends. For the next-gen console producer who likes to find big-name writers, you might be considered an amateur if you don’t have an agent. On the other hand, some producers and companies are resistant to dealing with agents. This is another one of those gray areas with no easy answer. If you’re an established scriptwriter or novelist, you’ll already have an agent. Then you can decide whether or not your agent or someone at their agency is qualified to handle repping you for game work.

Otherwise, worry first about getting in the door and getting game work before being concerned with the need for an agent. You may do fine without one.

UNIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS

The WGA (Writers Guild of America) is working hard to represent the interests of game writers. I strongly recommend that you read the information in Chapter 8 (the animation section of this book) about the protections and benefits the WGA can provide to you as a writer.

Within the WGA, the Videogame Writers Caucus (VWC) deals specifically with games, new and evolving media, and interactive entertainment in any form. Operating under the WGA’s Organizing Department, the VWC has drafted two simple contract forms to use for interactive work—one for a single-game project, and one for online games. These contracts are for use as an addition to the basic deal you negotiate and their purpose is to guarantee that you also receive key WGA benefits.

The VWC has also initiated a WGA writing award for game writing. For more information about the Videogame Writers Caucus, the qualifications for membership, how to join, or to download the contracts, visit their Web site (http://www.wga.organd look under the organize tab).

If you are a contract writer, you should seriously consider negotiating to have your work covered by the WGA. That way, you will gain pension and health benefits, as well as have a strong organization at your back in case of problems, such as ensuring that you receive a fair credit on the game. Realistically, many companies are uncomfortable negotiating with the WGA. Dealing with a union is unknown territory for them. Ask the company for WGA terms, but decide ahead of time how important that is to you. If a company balks at the notion of paying the additional pension and health benefits, you may be able to restructure the payment so that pension and health benefits come out of the overall fee. This means less in your hands up front, but the benefits can be worth it. That’s a personal decision.

However, you will never lose a job by asking for WGA coverage. Furthermore, the WGA will bend over backward to help you achieve it in a way that works equally well for both the company and you. One more thing to consider—if a company doesn’t think you should be entitled to have health insurance or a pension (via the WGA), then perhaps they don’t value you much as a writer either.

The other equally important group to join is the IGDA (International Game Developers Association). According to their mission statement, “The IGDA is committed to advancing the careers and enhancing the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community.”

The IGDA has numerous SIGs (Special Interest Groups), but the one you want to become involved in is the Game Writers SIG, a great place to network and learn about the business. Go to http://www.igda.org/writingfor more information.

The IGDA Web site also has white papers about writing for games, as well as a quarterly newsletter that is full of useful interviews and info.