Novel to Game! How?

Someone contacted me recently with this question. He wanted to know how to get his novel turned into a video game. Here's my response: I'm afraid I don't have very good news for you. There are certain novels that are made into mainstream top-shelf games, but they're typically big-name series. A grade-A game costs millions of dollars to make, so…
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Working Backwards by Morva Shepley

Guest Blogger: Morva Shepley Here are a couple of tips I thought I’d pass along to fellow writers. They’re from no less a person than Jane Espenson, who has written for such TV shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and the new version of Torchwood, Torchwood: The New World. She was in Australia during September to talk…

Video Game Writing Tip #10

Slow and Steady Wins the Race Many games include races that are non-human, and these are the toughest to write for. It's so easy to fall into the trap of thinking like a human writer, which you are, and writing dialogue that your fictional race would never say. In order to write for any character, you have to activate your…
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Teach Your Kids to Game Week

There are many reasons you might want to turn your kids onto tabletop roleplaying games (like Dungeons and Dragons). Let me just list a few that come immediately to mind: Encourage storytelling, imagination, and creativity. Encourage social interaction with live people. Give siblings a common interest. Encourage reading. Family time! Keep them off the real streets and out of real…
The Horror Genre and Video Games

The Horror Genre and Video Games

"The Horror genre has long been a cornerstone in computer and console games, from Phantasmagoria to Doom, Alone in the Dark to Plants versus Zombies--and many in-between. In the early days, game developers themselves wrote all the text for a game, but in more recent times, many game companies have come to value the polish only trained and experienced writers…

Confessions of a Wily Newb, Part 4, by Paris Crenshaw

Guest blogger: Paris Crenshaw (Go back and read Lesson #3) Lesson 4: Play with formats. This lesson is kind of related to lessons 2 and 3. In the vein of keeping things short and actually finishing a project, I also encourage you to try working with different types of writing. As I said, even if your goal is to write…