Gaming

Be Clear We've all seen game writing that was cumbersome to read. Every sentence began with a subordinate clause or had a stream-of-consciousness feel that lost you halfway through it. I can only imagine that these writers thought they were being artsy. Unfortunately, artsy does you no good if your audience doesn't know what the Hell you're saying. Keep your…

Be Concise There are two reasons to be concise when writing dialogue for a video game. Space is limited. Player attention span is limited. The first limitation is the user interface (U.I.). If the game uses a text pop-up, then you have a character limitation. Since writing for Guild Wars 2, I've had to get better at relaying as much…

Writing Tip #1: Be the player. When you're creating a video game, you're not doing it for yourself. You're creating something that you hope will please your fellow human beings. Therefore, when you're writing dialogue, skill descriptions, lore bits, or even marketing content, you keep your audience in mind, and for your video game, that's the player. Filter everything through…