Video games involve narrative, dialogue, text, instructions. Someone has to write that stuff. Could it be you? Breaking into the video game industry is difficult, particularly for those whose strength is crafting stories, not digital animation or coding. That said, it’s also a growth industry where new opportunities arise all the time.
Here’s a thoughtful overview of trends in video game writing.
Some practical advice on breaking into the industry:
- Do You Want to Write Video Games?
- How to Write for Video Games
- A Practical Guide for Game Writing
- 10 Tips on How to Become a Professional Games Writer
- Why you should Make Something This Summer
- Our alumni mentor T.J. Perillo adds, “The one thing I always advise is to find other would-be game makers and make something. Preferably multiple somethings. If an applicant has no professional credits on shipped titles, they need to be able to demonstrate a game they worked on. Preferably one they made with other people. The one thing I always advise is to find other would-be game makers and make something. Preferably multiple somethings. If an applicant has no professional credits on shipped titles, they need to be able to demonstrate a game they worked on. Preferably one they made with other people.”
If reading those links hasn’t scared you off, here are some places to start looking for opportunities.
- Game Industry job portal
- An interactive world map of video game developers (helpful for identifying small companies)
- How can I tell if a video game jobs website is a scam?
- Techniques for Finding Unlisted Game Internships.
If you’ve read the advice above carefully, you’ll know that your best strategy may involve networking, seeking contract work with a small company, or creating your own game. Internships at the big-name video game companies are highly competitive, but that’s not a reason not to compete. Here are links to a few that have internship programs OR extensive online job boards. As with any big-name internship, it’s a good idea to start your search for a summer 2018 internship in summer 2017.
- Activision
- Blizzard
- Disney
- EA
- Microsoft
- Naughty Dog
- Nintendo
- Ubisoft
- Valve
- Volition (not a big company, but it’s here in Champaign).
- Warner Brothers
- Zynga
Entire books, websites, library sections are devoted to the craft of resumes. For English/CW majors who are trying to put together their first resume — either to apply for a job or to have it handy in case a job comes up — we offer three “recipes” that range from easy-but-not-necessarily effective (“the resume kludge”) to hard-but-more-likely-to-advance-you-towards-your-goals (“the resume design”).
doing what?