Hi, I am in a four year school and I have in the past written a 15 page story for a game, im not sure if its setup exactly how a game story is setup or not, but my current knowledge is just to write! Anyways my question is this, I can take either creative writing as a degree or film - screen writing as a degree, I dont know which would better prepare me for writing for games. On one hand creative writing teaches you how to write fiction and setting it up and screen writing helps you learn how to setup a movie. Since a game(for example an rpg) is kinda like a mix of both of these things, but has heavy dialogue which would probably be more of a part of screen writing so I am kind of unsure which degree would better prepare me for writing games. The following 2 links are from my school on each degree if anyone wants to see the differences: Screen Writing: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/courses/acad/program_info.jsp?major=043÷=U&dept_code=36&dept_id=84#043 Creative Writing: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/courses/acad/program_info.jsp?major=033÷=U&dept_code=32&dept_id=83#033 Note: screen writing has less credits meaning id have to take more electives and I feel if screen writing is more suited for games(you could tell if you looked at the class offerings for both) then I would take alot of ancient art and history class electives to inspire me. Early Thanks for all your help!

Don't worry so much about appearances (that's what you're worrying about when you say "which one will prepare me better"). Which one would you like to go for? Which one seems like it would be more enjoyable? Which one do YOU think will "prepare you better"?
Since I am me, I would take the creative writing.
But since you are you, maybe you should take the screen writing.
How to make a decision grid.

I would have to say that it all depends on your strengths and weaknesses. Creative Writing would help prepare you to create stories, so it would be a good plan for you if you think that getting started on a story is an issue for you.

On the other hand, the screen-writing course will get you writing in the correct format. Currently, my experience with story-writing for games is that you will end up writing a screenplay script rather than a narrative. As a designer though, I would have to say that 90% of your stage directions will be tossed out or reinterpreted by the scripters and animators, but this will still be the preferred format.

One note for the future though; the IGDA's writing 'Special Interest Group' has been working with the Open Source CeltX team to create a games-specific format for writers. While the phrase 'herding kittens' springs to mind, it might well happen...

Probably screenwriting is the better of the two. But I hope there's room for a few literary theory and criticism classes, mythology, world literature, genre fiction, intro to linguistics, and persuasive speaking among the electives.

I did English myself - 2 creative writing courses, 2 publishing courses, and the rest were all Literature of different historical periods, cultures, and genres.

Well... if you know how to craft a compelling story, you'll be able to adapt to whatever medium. Screenplay is the form you want for a game, but it's like asking if you should learn functional or object oriented programming in school: the answer is... take whatever you want. If you learn one, you'll be able to pick up the other.

The real answer is that a writer becomes good by knowing a lot of "stuff." The more connections you can make it your mind, the more inspiration you'll have and the more insight (which is what storytelling is ultimately about, I think). Learn the craft however you see fit, then keep learning forever.

Remember this: they say there are about a million crappy words in a new author's mind. The faster you crank through those million words, the sooner you'll start writing worthwhile material! If you want to write, then start writing, and don't stop.

thanks really great help, I know what I should do now.