WRITE, WRITE AND WRITE MORE 

Andrew S. Walsh is an award-winning British writer, director and narrative designer. He has worked on more than 80 games including Prince of Persia, Watch Dogs Legion, The Division 2, Shadow of War and James Bond. He is also a guest lecturer at Karma Play Academy.  

You have worked on more than 80 games so far. Can you remember the first game that you worked on? 

Yes, seems incredible looking back on it, but I’ve worked on around 80 titles now as a writer, consultant, director, narrative designer, speech designer or combination of all those roles.  

The first game I worked on…? That was a project called Citadel way back in the days of Ocean. You won’t have heard of it because the game was a full and proper introduction to the industry as the title was cancelled partway through development and so never released. Despite that little hiccup, Citadel gave me an introduction to working with and on a non-linear script, as well as the chance to explore barks, triggers and quests. It also (importantly!) gave me experience and a credit that I could put on my resume which helped when it came to applying for other work.  

Although I’d worked in theatre, animation and TV by this point, having a games credit opened doors that would, otherwise, have remained closed. Most importantly meeting the team and learning about games from the inside had given me a taste for the medium.  

I knew I wanted to work on more. The first game I did from the ground up was several years later. When I got chance to work on X3 Reunion I was able to get involved in creating the story and characters, but also got to do level design, speech design, narrative design and directed the voice overs. I learned a huge amount from this project 

What was your academic background before you got into creative writing? 

I’d completed school and sixth form college and then did 4 years of law. That said, I had got involved with creative writing from an early age. As a result, I’d been writing for a long time as a hobby before turning professional. Outside of paper RPGs and general scribblings, I did a lot of theatre writing and even some student television while at university (doing a law degree). By the time I had finished my degree, I had already taken the decision to become a writer/director. Fortunately, at this point I found an MA in Television and Radio scriptwriting and took this course.  

This was my journey; it doesn’t have to be yours. All sorts of backgrounds can give you interesting elements to draw on when writing, but that said I do think it is important to learn your craft. Even now, twenty or so years into my career, I still go to conferences and read books on writing. You need to learn, keep learning and to refresh your skills. 

Would you still recommend a creative writing course for aspiring writers? 

Yes, see above. Courses can be incredibly helpful. That said, you need to do your research and make sure that you find the right course and that you are sensible over the costs involved. A good course will give you a place to learn, practise and experiment so that you don’t make mistakes once you’re doing work for real.  

They should have a practical content, particularly if you are looking at joining the industry rather than academia. Courses can also help you make contacts, allow you to create samples of writing and they make your resume stand out. There are a lot of people trying to get into games development in every craft, so building your resume and portfolio is immensely important.  

What differentiates video game writing from writing for film or TV? Is it less or more difficult? 

There are many skills that transfer across between media. Understanding of character, narrative, plot, and structure are important whatever variety writing you are doing. While games writing can make use of such knowledge, a video games writer has to understand how the player and their agency alter each of these narrative elements.  

Player agency creates many of the challenges an interactive writer will face. On top of this, games give writers a much wider range of narrative forms to master than other industries. There are projects that have characters and dialogue, but no story.  

There are 100-hour non-linear epics. There are text only interactive fiction and audio games to play while you are out running with many other forms in-between. This means that while some writers working in other industries can choose to focus on cinematic storytelling, or audio storytelling, games writers often have to grapple with all of these forms from project to project.  

Add this to the fact writing and story isn’t always as understood in games as in say television or film, then throw in the fact that the production requirements can be more complex than in other industries and… yes, I would argue that games writing can be considerably more difficult than working in other media. 

The number of triple A studios throughout the world has decreased dramatically in the last 10 years. Has that affected your work? 

I’d argue that AAA (a term that’s never really been defined) has shifted, rather than the number of projects diminishing. Certainly there are fewer studios labelled as AAA that are producing games which push the limits of technology, but there are many studios producing the sorts of games that would have been considered AAA on earlier platforms.  

So, whilst there are fewer ‘AAA’ projects, that doesn’t mean there’s been a reduction in the sorts of projects that give a writer space to work. Indeed, with Steam and other distribution systems, the range of games has increased. This, in turn, has led to an increase in the range of tools that writers have at their disposal.  

During this time, some amazingly innovative narrative games have come out of AAA studios. Alongside this, the widening of the indie marketplace has led to more storytelling, an improvement in the diversity of voices and stories and so more opportunities for writers. Another change that has happened is that the AAA studios that have continued often employ more writers than they did in the past.  

As the sizes of studios have got bigger, they often now have writing teams instead of ‘a’ writer. So, where a studio used to employ, one or two writers, they now have six to ten. Oh, yeah, there was a question there, so in answer…no idea. AAA studios do some amazing work, but you don’t have to work in AAA to push the boundaries, or to have a good career. 

Do you get any work from small indie studios? 

Yes. Every writer is different, but most writers look for projects that interest them. That doesn’t always mean AAA. I’m delighted to have worked with a number of AAA studios and there’s work you can do there which indies just can’t produce because they don’t have the budget, the tech, or the playerbase.  

That said, some of my favourite projects have been with Indie studios. Indie projects can sometimes allow you to produce work with a voice that wouldn’t be found in bigger projects. It also can give you the chance to work more closely with the whole team. This is much easier if there are 3 or 30 of you rather than 300.  

What was the most challenging game that you worked on and why? 

I suppose that depends on what you mean by ‘challenging’! Every project has its own rewards and obstacles. Large teams can have issues when it comes to communication. Some projects have had incredibly tight deadlines. Others have faced technical issues.  

Then there’ve been creative challenges for instance, the need to match the voice of an existing IP that players already know, whilst also producing new content. Need for Speed: Most Wanted, on the other hand, was challenging as we wanted to give a feel of a world, but without a story and with a very limited tool set. Prince of Persia, in contrast, we had to reinvent the franchise whilst juggling new technology and a whole new story engine that we created for the title.  

The Dirk Dagger titles (mobile phone game film noir, cartoon detective games) were developed as the platform was still being defined as we worked on the games. All of those projects were fun, rewarding and creative whilst having challenges along the way.  

Do game designers and producers really understand the importance of good stories and characters? 

There are many game designers who love story and who are really enthusiastic about working with writers and to making the game story as good as it can be. There are also, sadly some designers who can be openly hostile.  

I’ve even had people on a team tell me directly that ‘games don’t need story’. This is an old argument and it is heard less today than ten years ago. At their base, in can be argued, games do not need story. However, once a decision is made to include a story, it makes sense to make it a good story! This means giving the story enough resources and space to be successful. It means ensuring the story is incorporated into the game in a way that intertwines the narrative and the gameplay mechanics.  

Success also means including the writer/writing team in work flows and communication. Giving the writing team space and parity starts with understanding that writing is a specialist role. Just as not everyone can program, create the art, or produce the game, writing is a specialism too.  

Is directing voice actors different in games compared to radio? 

As with writing, there are skills and experience that can be brought over into games from other media. However, there are also peculiarities that mean you should look to find directors and actors that understand the medium if you are to get the best out of them.  

Voiceover actors often work in isolation rather than alongside the rest of the cast as they would do in theatre, or television, for instance. This isolation makes is much harder for the actor and director to gauge performances. It is more difficult for practitioners to understand the context of lines and so weight performances correctly.  

If you’re working in mocap, actors can be on their own reacting to an empty room while onscreen they can be addressing a crowd on a burning spacecraft, or being attacked by a dragon. The actor will need to convey the right performance without anyone, or anything to play off. This is a hard/specific skill. The lack of preparation time that is common in games is also problematic.  

In radio there is the usual rehearsal as part of the process. In games sadly this is rare. Directors also often have to protect their actors, making sure they get proper breaks in arduous sessions. So, finding experienced audio actors and directors is a good start, but there are many and important differences between radio and games. 

What would you recommend to aspiring writers in games or other creative industries? 

Play games, read a lot, write a lot, listen a lot and learn how your chosen industry works. Central to this – write, write and write more. If you want to write you need to be writing, editing, reviewing and constantly experimenting. Go and make something, a play, a short film, or a Twine game. Get the words off the page and into action. Make contacts, stay in touch and be polite. Always listen and learn – you don’t arrive fully formed and you never stop discovering more about your craft. 

What are you currently working on? 

Ah, welcome to the wonderful world of NDAs. Non-Disclosure Agreements mean you often can’t say what you are working on until the company you’re working for says that you can. I can say that this year I’ve worked in television, theatre, comics and games. I’ve done additional writing on The Division 2 as well as a set of writing and consulting on another AAA that I can’t talk about.  I’ve done a children’s game for the BBC and two really fun mid-core games – Fort Stars and Legend of Solgard and I am really excited to say that I’m about to start work as a writer at……..‘NDA, sorry I can’t discuss it’.