Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall, the book is a well written introduction to writing for video games. Calling this book an "ultimate guide" is a bit of an exaggeration, but it's a good jumping-off point for an aspiring game writer.

Unfortunately, the book is lacking in content on design. I can't really fault the authors on this one... their experience is primarily in writing, not game design.

The final part of the book contains realistic advice on breaking in to the industry and surviving once you get in.

The book also contains several creative exercises (called "Action Items") peppered throughout. Although they weren't the focus of the book, the action items were (in my opinion) one of the best parts of this book. If I buy this book, it will be because of the exercises.

I recommend picking up this book at your local public library if you're looking to break into the game industry and work as a script writer for games. If you're already writing for games, then chances are that you already know most of what this book has to teach.

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!

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!

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.

The book is an excellent introduction to the subject of video game writing. And with there being no intermediate or advanced book on the topic, this book is the best on this topic. As some other reviewers pointed out, there is not much about game design in here. So don't be misled by the title.

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.

I was looking for some kind of beginner's guide to this world which would provide me essential knowledge and also useful hints and tips. After I saw a lot of people reviewing it positive here, I decided to give it a try. Few times in my life I was so satisfied to buy a book. The writing is concise and clear and take you straight to the point. There is no waste of time, the book is almost like a good game experience, it never stops, we never get bored.

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.

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.

First thing I want to say about this book is that it is indeed well written, easy to understand and gives some good hints and practices for the design of a video game. The last section also is very insightful as to how a game scenario idea should be presented ( this last part is at least worth a star out of five ). These were the pros.
About the cons. I think a book like that should give some more information about the differences between the stages of production and some more information on the stages themselves. Anyone interested in gaming programming will feel a bit disappointed as there is barely a mention in this book regarding it (except the occasional remark that we should consider the programming limitations when thinking of a scenario...). The hints though clever, are nothing that an able storyteller won't be able to find for himself after a good night's sleep and some creative thinking and if you don't have the latter you should not consider making video games either way. All in all maybe a four would also be appropriate but considering I couldn't manage to read it all ( some sections I found too boring to read ) I think for me a three would suffice.