I've been working on a fantasy story (currently on second book of a trilogy) for the past couple of years, with very extensive background info and a detailed world established - cities, races, major and minor characters, history and magic. Although firmly planted in the traditions set by Lord of the Rings, Dragonlance, Chronicles of Narnia and others, I consider the story and world fully able to stand on their own in a crowded fantasy fiction genre. The time and effort spent so far has been worth it because I love writing, but I am a long-time gamer and created much of the aforementioned story and world with a possible RPG in mind, either MMO or single-player. I grew up tinkering with Electronic Arts' Adventure Construction Set on an Apple II as a kid and dabbled in GMing various tabletop and turn-based BBS games during high school and college, so I have a fair amount of "traditional" experience. That being said, I'm not a programmer, and I'm not an artist outside the realm of pencil and ink. If I was an established, published author, there might be a number of avenues available for me to enter the gaming industry, but I'm NOT established or published at this time. Are there any particular tried-and-true methods for someone in my position to get into the game-design field? I already have a career, so this is presently more a matter of testing the waters and see where I could find my niche. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Really speaking, you need to be able to prove what you put on an application form - either through published writing to a good standard, or through existing game designs. This can be done through a hobbyist form just as well as any other. Try putting a proposal for an RPG on help wanted.

I would avoid mentioning MMO's though - as the gameworlds for these require a certain level of balancing and explicit design from a technological standpoint.

That said, simply your hobby experience, if you can speak technically about it (game mechanics, statistical analysis to some extent) can look very good on a resume. It's all about presentation.

Why don't you ask it in the "Writing For Games" forum? I'm pretty sure you can get more help there. Also, I belive there are few similar topics over there.

Stay away from MMORPGs. They don't really have storylines, so you don't have a place there. RPGs and advanture games are the thing for you.

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Original post by someboddy ... Stay away from MMORPGs. They don't really have storylines...

Actually I'd argue they *can't* have storylines. At least, not non-emergent ones, but that's a whole different school of thought, never mind writing.

A book does not a game story make. To make your story game-ready, you ought to outline the part that will go in the first game, break it up into levels, and convert it into script format if it's a linear story or hybrid script/flowchart format if it's a branching story. Then if you are decent at sketching, make storyboard illustrations to go with it.

Thanks for the replies. I actually posted here instead of in the Writing forum because someone with questions similar to mine had been directed here.

I'm not suggesting that a novel-format story can translate to a game story at the drop of a hat, but rather that general themes can carry over. Certain characters provide examples for various classes and races, locations visited by those characters in a book can be fleshed out in a game, and so on. I hadn't considered the complications of writing for a MMORPG, although my experience in that area is limited to playing EverQuest for several years...and watching the "writing" deteriorate after a couple of expansions. I was approached about working on a MUD, but that was mostly wishful thinking by other people.

Other suggestions are welcome. I'll keep searching through earlier posts for past responses to questions like mine.

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Original post by Inazone Other suggestions are welcome. I'll keep searching through earlier posts for past responses to questions like mine.

You have three options:
1. Give up your current career and get a job in the industry. As you have no proven experience in development and aren't a successful published writer it would have to be an entry level position (most likely as a game tester). Work for a few years until you work your way up to the level where someone trusts you enough to give you a design/writing role.
2. Offer you writing skills on hobby projects/Mods. Given the very very high failure rate of such projects it will likely take some time before you find a team that will hold together long enough to get a mod finished. Use that as a portfolio piece to get a job or just continue doing more mods.
3. Get your books published. If they are successful then you might be able to get a publisher interested in licensing them for games.

Team up with an established game designer (if you say your work is good find a team mate of your level).

1. Focus on a certain timeline in your defined universe and define a basic plot for it.
2. Choose a number of "chapters" = game levels = major events.
3. Write concept about characters that will make into these levels.
4. Closely working with the designer, write scripts based on each level design.

My 50 Cent ;)

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Original post by Codman 1. Focus on a certain timeline in your defined universe and define a basic plot for it. 2. Choose a number of "chapters" = game levels = major events. 3. Write concept about characters that will make into these levels. 4. Closely working with the designer, write scripts based on each level design.

I've made a very conscious effort to follow a level/chapter format. Either in a single- or multi-player environment, the book characters could easily make the transition to PC or NPC roles. From everything I've read here, the greatest hurdle for me now is to either 1) get published or 2) find a designer who is in a position to translate the story and world I've come up with into the framework of a game.