One common task for writers is creating dialog. Sometimes the developers will already have an idea of what needs to happen for each line, and will write their own placeholder text which you then edit. Other times they have a much vaguer idea of the story, and just know which plot beats need to be hit. It’s good to ask questions to make sure everyone is on the same page. For example, if the devs have created a level which assumes a plot point has not been revealed, you need to make sure not to reveal it until after that level. These kinds of mistakes are easier to fix the earlier you catch them.
If you’re lucky you’ll be able to play a build of the game early enough to get a feel for where your text will go and how it will be displayed. You can also figure out what the game’s overall vibe will be once all the music, art and other assets are combined. Make sure you encourage devs to share these early builds with you. Tell them it’s ok if everything is janky and unpolished, but seeing where your text will sit can be incredibly helpful, and focus your creativity, when you’re writing.
This can also help you get a better sense of pacing and flow. Two lines which are adjacent in Excel may seem “close together”, but if they are separated by half an hour of combat-heavy gameplay then you may need to rewrite them to remind players what’s going on. Seeing a build can also clear up important questions: how much text will fit in each text box? What other resources accompany the text? Maybe character portraits, sound effects, musical cues? Is it possible to write in italics?
Writers might also have to be narrative designers. This is particularly common in small projects. This usually happens when a game developer knows what overall mechanics their game will have, but wants help structuring this into a story. Projects which need narrative design are probably either early in development – in which case you might be laying the groundwork for a lot of the game’s story – or already mid-development, but in need of some bespoke narrative elements. For example, part of my duties on Star Dynasties was planning out a series of endgame events for the game’s “final quest”. These events were to link together to form a continuous narrative which could lead the player to victory. The developer already knew how regular gameplay worked, but needed help with this unusual narrative structure.
In both these cases, it’s virtual to quiz the client on what they want from the story, and why they think they want it that way. There may be other ways to achieve those narrative goals which they never considered – after all, you’re the story expert, not them. This narrative work is often done in some kind of document, rather than a spreadsheet. This is because your deliverable is not game-ready data but a scaffolding which the devs can hang the game’s story from.
One final area you might be called on is editing and proofreading. Sometimes a game’s text is mostly ready, but needs another set of eyeballs on it to give it that little extra polish. This can range from a simple proofreading pass to an extended edit pass. Heavy editing is more common if the developers are not native English speakers and need help giving the text a believable tone and voice. Since the text you’re editing is usually game-ready by this point, you can expect to be reading it, and perhaps editing it directly, in some kind of spreadsheet or data system.
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