Word Play: A New Avenue For Game Writing

In case you hadn’t noticed, many of us here at the Velocity Gamer Network are advocates of the improvement of writing in video games. The medium is so young that its potential as a storytelling platform hasn’t come close to being tapped, in spite of some exemplary efforts in recent years. We seem to be seeing more AAA developers focussing on this with every passing year, both internally and by hiring professional writers from the realms of film and literature. This is a tactic that has paid off in spades, and now seems to have spawned an endeavour to unite developers with writers on a more frequent basis.

Word Play is the brainchild of Dan Whitehead, a veteran journalist with over twenty years experience in critiquing both films and games. The goal of this new company is to enhance the general writing of games by finding a way to put willing writers from outside the industry into direct contact with developers. Services offered include everything from script feedback to drafting and even undertaking full writing duties. I must say that I’m intrigued by this. It’s a novel idea that could be very beneficial for the industry as a whole.

Right now, there are four writers available for contracting, with histories stretching across novels, comics, films, theatre and previous work within games. Personally, I can’t wait to hear about the developers that elect to take these guys on, as I feel it could really be a boon for them, and instantly make their games worth keeping an eye on.