As noted here, I started a new job as a Game Writer at KIXEYE in August. Lots of you have wanted to know about my experience thus far, so here's the scoop. It's awesome! Seriously, I can't think of one thing to complain about. Great people, great games, and the ability to actually get paid for writing fiction. I consider myself very, very lucky. I've had the opportunity to come up with some very interesting characters including a slightly nympho passive-agressive AI, a slightly unstable programmer, a resentful housewife, a religious fanatic, and a ruthless mobster, among others.
That said, I'm not always writing stories or even dialogue. If you've played any social games, you know there's lots of words in them that don't really have anything to do with story. I'm talking about stuff like item descriptions, instructions, and even what it says on your Facebook wall if you choose to post something. I have to write all of that stuff as well. And that's where the challenge comes in. Thesaurus.com is my new favorite website simply because I have to come up with a gazillion different ways to say the player has destroyed something, sometimes all in the same day. For example, in the past two days I have had to come up with 30 different variations of smack talk that basically said, "We're better than you. Prepare to die." Believe me, it's a lot harder than it sounds.
There's also the question of writing for space. I'm no stranger to editing myself, so this one isn't that big of a deal, but sometimes it can be really hard to come up with a short-enough word, even with the help of Thesaurus.com.
Besides coming up with the story, I've also had a hand in suggesting how the story gets delivered to the player. We're going to be trying a couple of different things in our games, and I can't wait to see how the players respond to them. I haven't seen some of these things in social games before, so I feel like we're going to be breaking new ground. So that's game writing so far. It's pretty much in line with my expectations, and I'm loving it.
2 comments:
I bookmarked this page weeks ago [it seems] and kept it tabbed. I needed a 'writing pick-me-up' so I decided to go through my cluttered Chrome tabs.
I was wondering what you've been up to! Though I do miss Girlfight, it seems like you're in a much better space now.
Would love to pick your brain in a future interview on this whole transition and your history in the industry.
Sorry for the delay in responding! I'd be happy to talk to you for an interview. Ping me on twitter @nicoletanner if you're still interested!
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