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With your help, we've raised almost $1,000, and can now afford printing, shipping, proofreading, cover art and more!
While we will only be printing 45 copies of the book (including contributor copies), the .pdf and .mobi versions of this book will be available for free.
Please follow the Updates section of the project if you'd like to keep tabs on our progress.
Peace & love,
Maxim
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There are dozens of books about video game writing out there. But as somebody who's had a chance to work on a couple of titles, I can tell you that it's not the theory that counts; it's the practice.
Which is why it's surprising that nobody had interviewed professional video game writers in a single book, magazine, or web page, asking them, in extensive detail, about the process of writing the actual games that they'd worked on.
This is such a book.
Here is the line-up of the games that this book will cover (as per the confirmed video game writers as of May 17, 2016):
- Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon
- Choice of the Vampire
- F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon
- FTL: Faster Than Light
- Gemini Rue
- Guild Wars 2
- Half-Life
- Half-Life 2
- Heroes of Might & Magic V
- Mirror's Edge
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- No One Lives Forever
- No One Lives Forever 2
- Overlord
- Penumbra
- Pillars of Eternity
- Planescape: Torment
- Prince of Persia (2008)
- Risen
- Shadowrun: Dragonfall
- Shadowrun: Hong Kong
- Rhianna Ford and the Da Vinci Letters
- Royal Trouble: Honeymoon Havoc
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2
- The Talos Principle
- Tomb Raider (2013)
It is a book of case studies, a book of experiences; a book that every professional or aspiring video game writer can find entertaining and useful, no matter where they are in their video game writing career.
Moreover, this book is designed to be available as a free download to anyone who wants it.
I believe that video games are the future of entertainment, and I believe that for video game writers, the future is bright.
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The book will contain interviews with video game writers who had worked on at least 20 successful video games across different genres. Some writers have already agreed to contribute. Some I am yet to approach, and the successful funding of this campaign will make that much easier.
As of May 17, 2016, these are the writers who kindly agreed to participate in this project:
- Andrew McIntosh (Shadowrun: Dragonfall, Shhadowrun: Hong Kong)
- Andrew Walsh (NFS: Most Wanted, Prince of Persia, Risen)
- Chris Avellone (Planescape: Torment, Pillars of Eternity, KotoR2)
- Craig Hubbard (No One Lives Forever, F.E.A.R.)
- James Dearden (Technobabylon)
- Jason Stevan Hill (Choice of the Vampire)
- Jeff Spock (Heroes of Might & Magic)
- Jonas Kyratzes (The Talos Principle)
- John Ryan (Guild Wars 2)
- Joshua Nuernberger (Gemini Rue)
- Marc Laidlaw (Half-Life, Half-Life 2)
- Rhianna Pratchett (Overlord, Mirror's Edge, Tomb Raider)
- Steve Ince (Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon)
- Tom Jubert (Penumbra, The Talos Principle, FTL: Faster Than Light)
Different genres, different approaches, different technologies, different teams ... the only thing these games have in common is that somebody wrote their scripts.
I, for one, would love to learn what these writers have to say about the work that went into the process.
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Let's say you're interested (fingers crossed)!
What do you get for supporting this project? First of all, a top-notch quality book that will be available for free to everyone as a digital download after the crowdfunding is complete, and softcover copies to all backers at Game Master level and above.
Most of the funds will go to finance professional layout, formatting, and the printing and mailing of softcover copies to backers ... all delivered within 3 months from hitting the funding goal.
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Make sure to check out the different reward perks on the bar to the right if you consider helping making this book a reality.
Even if you can not afford to contribute money, you can still help! Share this project on your social media, send e-mails about it to your friends, tell about it to everyone you know. With your help, we can make a book like the video game industry has never seen before.
How's that for a modest proposal?
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Why $7,950?
Check out the graph below to see where the money is going to go; the annotations for why are right under the graph.
It goes without saying that if we hit our goal, the backers will receive regular updates on the project's progress.
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Printing
Calculated with 200 colored softcover copies in mind, as per discussions with local high quality book printing presses in Budapest.
Shipping
Since I live in Hungary, shipping around the world can be costly. Calculated with the average of $12.5 per package.
Cover Art
These are professional rates. Worth every penny.
Layout
How much it costs to hire a professional layout artist to make the book as sexy on the inside as it's going to be on the outside.
Editing
This is professional proofreading, editing, spellchecking, etc. Requires at least one person other than me.
Work
To be able to release the project within 3 months of hitting the funding goal, I would have to dedicate at least 2 months of my life to it. I'm a freelance writer, which means that it's time spent not working on anything else ... $600 a month is the absolute minimum I need to support myself and my family during that time.
Other
These are IndieGoGo fees together with payment processing fees; a cumulative average of 10%.
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No crowdfunding is complete without stretch goals, so here is some cool stuff we'd be able to do if the funding exceeds the original goal.
$7,950
If we get fully funded (a stretch goal in itself!), we would commission the artist Yvan Quinet to paint custom covers for the writer contributor copies of the books. The game-related digital painting will be included as a print for backers who will receive the softcover copies of the book. We would also be able to afford to translate the book into Russian, Polish, German, Brazilian Portuguese, and Spanish.
$9,300
In addition to helping create the finest book possible, every backer at the PRO level and above will also receive a print of an original game-related painting by the Hollywood concept artist Brion Verkler.
But that's not all!
Add to that five (5!) more video game case studies, with the games chosen and voted on by the contributors of any tier. Curious how that would work in practice? Check out the Google+ vote for choosing the title of this book, in which more than 150 people had chosen to go with Video Game Writing by Video Game Writers.
$12,300
Everything above and commissioned portraits of video game writers in the .pdf and print versions of the book preceding every chapter.
Because, hey, writers are cool.
$15,000
At $15,000, you will allow me to fund an audio version of this book read by professional voice actors, made available as a free download to anyone who wants it.
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What can possibly go wrong, right?
Actually, not much. I've written and put together at least half a dozen books for my clients as a freelancer, so I've some experience in getting books done. And before I became a full time writer, I managed pharmaceutical trial IT tech at Oracle for 5 years, so I know a few things about project management and accountability ... but not everything depends on Yours Truly.
This is a collaborative project, and what if some of those writers that I haven't contacted yet don't get back to me, or what if they're too busy to participate?
It's a valid question, but let me put it this way: Drew Karpyshyn didn't write Mass Effect alone.
And in the case I fail to secure any of the writers on one of the games, as improbable as that seems, I'll change the lineup and include a few other titles instead as long as their writers are good to go. It's the successful funding of this project that will prove that people are interested in such a book, so if the funding goal is met, I'm sure persuading the writers to contribute is not going to be a problem. And, once again, some awesome writers already agreed to participate months ago.
But what if the funding goal is not met? As sad as such an outcome would be, preparing for the worst is a sound strategy.
Depending on the funds raised, I will still create the book (as such a book should exist), with the following differences:
- No custom art for the cover
- No professional proofreading, layout, or editing
- No (or fewer) translated versions
- It will take longer to put the book together
