? Authors are top game designers
? Aspiring game writers and designers must have this complete bible

There are other books about creating video games out there. Sure, they cover the basics. But The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design goes way beyond the basics. The authors, top game designers, focus on creating games that are an involving, emotional experience for the gamer. Topics include integrating story into the game, writing the game script, putting together the game bible, creating the design document, and working on original intellectual property versus working with licenses. Finally, there?s complete information on how to present a visionary new idea to developers and publishers. Got game? Get The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design.

Not only for writing games, also stories

This is a very good book about the art of writing and designing videogames. It has opened my eyes to many important factors of the process of creating a story (characters, plot, "the hook",...) and it included interesting exercises to assure you are following the pages and exercising your creativity. I think is not only useful for the digital world but also to writing stories in other medias.

Great for both veterans and beginners

I have seen reviews written by seasoned game designers praising the quality of this book. However, this book also helps experience writers get in grips with designing and writing games. The book may seem a bit thin (physically) considering its massive title, but it is really a fast paced, well-balanced and informative guide to the world of game design and writing. I would call this book a 0-fat book in that it contains nothing that is not truly important.

Dog-Eared and Book-marked

I haven’t even finished this book yet and already it’s in rough shape! It’s highlighted, dog-eared, bookmarked, etc. This is a fantastic book to use alongside your first project. It’s not just a book, it’s a work-study course on the subject. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in game writing.

The guide to giving your game a real story

I’m a would-be game developer and this book really gets you into how to add story elements to your game. It tells you what make good story elements and how to balance them against the needs of the game.

The book is filled with practical tips and exercises. Definitely the best book I’ve read on the topic.

The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design

The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design balances the artistic and the technical sides of writing smoothly. The incorporation of writing exercises throughout coupled with examples in the back allows the fledgling writer to evaluate their own writing compared to the author’s. The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design starts with basics for an beginning writer, continues with the nitty gritty of game specific writing, and finishes with a valuable look into the business aspects of writing for video games. Over all The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design is a comprehensive, easy-to-use tool for the first time writer and a great resource for the veteran as well.

Worth The Price

From what I’ve read, this book does a good job of covering many aspects of general game creation and can be used as a starter for ideas, especially for its price tag.

For anyone looking to write/design for video games

As a screenwriter, I wanted to dive into the challenges of writing for video games as I believe that it is the future medium of choice for storytelling and entertainment. Taking the advice of the many other consumer reviewers before me on Amazon, I bought this book and I haven’t looked back since. It is very complete and helpful covering almost every aspect of game design and writing, but more importantly, how writing for games is a totally different craft than writing for film or literature, and how to tackle the many different challenges involved. The book takes you into the psyche of an average gamer and deconstructs what they’re expectations are, and should be.

I believe it helps greatly to have some storytelling experience, preferably screenwriting, to make the most use of this book and to understand it better. Otherwise, you might feel a bit confused and left out if you have never written narrative storytelling before.

A great book for noobs and pros alike!

A book that really explores game writing/design and what the entails

Though I’ve been mostly interested in writing for animation and comics, while playing video games I questioned who came up with it’s stories. Many games have little to no stories and focus mostly on mindless entertainment...which isn’t always a bad thing. But some video game stories really touch the viewer (Half Life 2, Final Fantasy, Bioshock, etc. come to mind.)

On a whim I bought this book and have enjoyed it immensely. Both the authors provided much more than I was hoping for. Both are seasoned game writers/designers who have worked on many games you know, and are still working on games. Stuff like UNCHARTED - DRAKE’S FORTUNE, CRIMSON SKIES, PROJECT ORIGIN, and FRANK MILLER’S SIN CITY - THE GAME. These guys know what they are doing.

The book breaks down not only how to write for games, but what that entails, hardships you will find along the way (both with writing and people), they provide sheets you can fill out to create your own game bible to pitch. And as an added bonus they occasionally have writing exercises to help you hone your craft or understnad a point better.

Leave no stone unturned and that’s what these two have done. It has my highest regards! Buy it and truly educate yourself.

Great help

As a member of the student team who needed to produce video game in rather short amount of time, I have found this book extremely helpful. I did like one-sheet summary that allowed us to summarize everything. The content was very helpful. Thank you.

Essential for any future game developer!

I am a Multimedia student in Community College.

This book has given me a ton of good ideas on how to create a top-notch game!

I reccomend it to anybody (Like Me.) who wants to design a hit videogame!

Awesomeness

This book, is a no nonsense guide to the video game industry and more specifically to game design. It gives relevant realistic experience written in an upbeat humorous and succinct style.

There aren’t any cons to it that I can think of.

great book for both beginners and pros

this book is chock-full of incredibly useful information about writing and game design. many of the classic traps in this area of game development can be avoided by following flint and john’s advice here. everything is outlined in a very clean and (not surprisingly) fun and witty read.

as a game developer for 10 years now, i found information in this book that i’ll be using in the future and i can’t recommend this book enough. these guys get it, and so should you.

A Real "How To" Direct From the Front Lines

When I read The Ultimate Guide to Videogame Writing and Design I was expecting quite a lot from a title like that. As a well read veteran game designer with over 34 million units sold to date, as well as game design professor at USC, I thought I had seen every element and angle in game development. Not only that, at USC we have developed a pretty robust curriculum on how to build great narrative into a solid game. To my amazement, my high expectations were not only met, but exceeded by a wide margin with this book! Ultimate Guide is extremely well thought out and presented in a no nonsense manner, with many excellent examples, points, and tips on not only writing, but also how to survive and prosper in the game industry. I guess it comes as no surprise since this book is practically a FedEx straight from the front lines, as these authors are still writing top games, and have written a number of "Story of the Year" games over the last five years. These guys have written for both film and interactive, and they know how to bring solid storytelling craft into the game space. I recommend this book to all my students as well as colleagues as a must read. You will not find a more straight forward and to the point book packed with real world examples anywhere. This is more than a "how to" book, but also a "how come" as it focuses down precisely on the challenges and pitfalls of game design and writing today from a variety of angles. I guarantee it will provide insights and value to both new and veteran game writers, as well as designers who are looking to bridge the gap between solid storytelling and great gameplay. I wish I’d had this book when I was starting out! But I’m sure glad I have it now!

EXCELLENT!

Dille and Platten present a very cogent overview of videogame narrative. A must have for any aspiring designers of games.

I edited this book and it’s great

When I was asked by publisher Jeff Black of Lone Eagle Publishing about doing a book with him, I thought of John Platten and Flint Dille, who are two of the top video game writers alive. Hollywood’s Variety magazine selected them in the "Twelve Most Influential" in the video game business in an issue about that business. I got together with John & Flint, went over what should be in the book, we made the deal, and they wrote it, with my editing and commenting on the first draft. Lone Eagle then sold to the current publisher, and the transition of the buyout delayed the publication of the book. The cover you’ll see has "edited by Skip Press" on it (that’s the one I have) and even though I was involved, I can say objectively it’s excellent. You can find John & Flint’s website at www.filmandgames.com and my own site at www.skippress.com . Hope you like the book.