Curious of Game Developers AND Authors Fused Together?

[StrawberrySmiles]

Does anyone know of any published authors who are also into, or apart of, game development? I kind of want to avoid the Dungeons & Dragons/Forgotten Realms writers, because I think most of those were "commissioned" or whatever, or exclusive to THOSE worlds.

I'm kind of curious to how they do things, or balance things. My writing and my games are usually different stories in different worlds. Maybe one might cross over to the other, but I dunno. XD

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Don't really know of any, but as for me, for my games that need a story I always try to write them down first. I also do upload these stories for the public to read.

 

[Wavelength]

There have been several video game stories that have been written by established authors.  I wish I could name them offhand, but I can't.  Definitely do some searching for them, because they are out there.

 

[Sharm]

All the ones I know were commissioned. They still geeked out about it, it's just that they were approached instead of approaching the company. I can't think of any that do indie projects on the side though. Doing both game development and professional writing would be like holding two jobs, both of which are highly creatively demanding. Usually if a writer has a second job it's something boring and completely unrelated. (I say if but most writers have to hold a second job.) Doing it with game development sounds like a good way to get burned out.

 

[Clord]

My upcoming commercial game has a plot written by me, albeit game's focus is not to be too serious which directly simplifies the plot.


The Clans - Cursed Souls was also written by me and partially proofread by Blood-Fury.


I have also written a book.


I do the "core development" and commission stuff I'm not good at.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

I thought it would be difficult to find!

So it'd be hard for me to do both indie game development and write novels? I have a lot of free time, but still. I always want to turn my ideas into games, though some are better suited as novels.

It's my main struggle. D:

 

[Sharm]

Hard? Well, as long as you're doing both as a career, yes. Impossible? Nope. If you do one as a hobby and one as a career, that's different, because then you know which one is a priority. That's what I chose to do, I'm writing books as a hobby. The more I've learned about the life of a published author the more I've realized that I really don't want to be a pro at it.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

...What if I don't know my career choice. A published author nor an indie game developer don't sound like good career choices. xD

 

[Sharm]

Well, you were asking about published authors.  To get published you have to pursue writing with a career level of dedication.  It can still be a hobby but it will require as much work as any skill based job would.  I don't know as much about making games (I just make art) but I would assume that making a commercial quality game is a similar difficulty level to making a publishable novel.

Edit:  Just realized I was responding to everything with my "I'm a freelancer" mindset, which confuses hobbyists.  Doing this purely as a fun hobby is perfectly acceptable, it just has different priorities and often different end results than something done as a potential income source.  In a discussion like this those differences are highlighted.

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

All I know is that I want to tell stories, and both writing and game making appeal to me; so I couldn't choose one over the other. I also have my art, but meh.

I'm thinking I shouldn't do either too seriously, though that leaves me with nothing. XD

Whatever finishes first, right..? xD

 

[Sharm]

I keep rewriting this response and I keep coming to a point where I just don't have enough information.  I'd hate to start talking in depth about something only to find out that you really meant to talk about something completely different again.  So I have a few questions.  What is the specific problem that caused you to ask the question in the first place?  Once the problem is solved, what do you want as an end results of your efforts?  Is the main goal to enjoy the process or is the main goal to have something that is finished and good?

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I know that Clive Barker has written several games. Of course, he has been all over the place as far as artistic mediums, but he did start out more as an author.

 

[EternalShadow]

Do Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone count as game devs/writers?

 

[Tornado Samurai]

All I know is that I want to tell stories, and both writing and game making appeal to me; so I couldn't choose one over the other. I also have my art, but meh.

I'm thinking I shouldn't do either too seriously, though that leaves me with nothing. XD

Whatever finishes first, right..? xD

I'm having almost the same problem. I want to write stories and I want to make games as well. Lately, making games has been all I've been doing even though last year I was writing and participating in NaNoWriMo. When I discovered RPG Maker on the first day of January, it's all I've been into. It's kind of like jumping ship: When I want to tell stories I can't describe well (locations/worlds), I make them in RPG Maker. When I want to include detail I can't implement (dialogue/extra scenes), I write it.

I am dead-set to be a author, but game making is getting more than a hobby these days...

 

[StrawberrySmiles]

What is the specific problem that caused you to ask the question in the first place?

I find like since I was little, I either wanted to write books or make games. At the time I found writing was going to be easier, so I just placed my characters IN games that had customization. Of course, now I have RPG Maker and I like the process of making a game and following other developers.


Now that I know I could *do* both, and enjoy both, I can't seem to figure out which one I should focus on first. And when I think more on it, none of them are plausible career choices from the start. And I'm in this process where I keep trying to figure what I CAN focus on, but then I realize I'll never go to college or get a job because my disabilities really hold me back.


So thus, I have a lot of free time sitting at home, so I COULD do both. But going between all these ideas and projects, means nothing will get finished and my brain will explode.


Also, I think of the fact that I'm an artist as well, and most people think I'm good at that too. Sure, in game-making I get to use my art-talent, so it almost seems obvious. At the same time, I like reading books and I want to see my writing in book form as well, and I can imagine my drawings being used for illustrations for something like a book.


And now... My brain hurts.

Once the problem is solved, what do you want as an end results of your efforts?

I want to feel like I'm capable of something. I'm turning 27 in two weeks, or less than, I feel so unaccomplished. If I can figure out what to focus on, maybe I'll finally get somewhere. I've been having this identity crisis for awhile...

Is the main goal to enjoy the process or is the main goal to have something that is finished and good?

The main is goal is both. Easy, I know.


I didn't expect to have a such a long response. o.o

 

[Sharm]

Oh my gosh, it's like talking to myself at your age!  You told me exactly what I needed to know, thank you.  I put my advice behind a spoiler to hide the wall of text.

Spoiler

 
Don't worry about whether or not a job seems viable.  If you love it and you're really good at it (or willing to get good at it) you can find or make a niche for yourself.  Better to do something you love and get paid less than do something you hate and let it drain your life away.  As you get better at it you'll learn more about how everything works from a business standpoint and more about yourself and better tailor what you're doing to suit you and get paid more.  Let's face it now, if you're not making games and writing stories, you'd feel like there was a major hole in your life.  Might as well take advantage of that passion and let it work for you.  I remember realizing that I wanted to make pixel art for games way back then was when FF7 came out, when all the games were either 3D or getting panned on graphics if they weren't 3D.  I didn't pursue pixel art as much as I wanted because I thought it wasn't going to be possible to make a living that way.  Boy was that ever the wrong choice!


I'm disabled too.  At your age I was in a pretty bad place because I was trying to figure out how to make my disabilities and life needs fit into external expectations, and it was making everything worse.  Get help when you need it, don't feel guilty about it. Your needs are different than other people's. Be okay with the possibility of never being self sufficient but also don't let that stop you from pursuing the things that you love.  It's really easy to judge your self worth on what you've accomplished or produced, but that will actually stop you from being able to accomplish things and it's a terrible way to figure out if you're doing what you should.


You do not have to choose between your interests.  I never did, that's why I became a freelancer. (Okay that's not entirely true, I once did and it ended badly.)  The whole concept of choosing between your goals is stifling for people like us and completely unnecessary.  The most you have to do is chose a project to work on at the moment.  Then when that's done, pick another, whichever one you want to pursue the most at that moment.  Eventually the choice may end up making itself, because you'll be spending all your time at one thing or the other, but if you'd made a choice to only do that you'd go nuts and get nowhere.


Set realistic expectations on yourself.  If you're like me the reason why you're spinning in circles is because you've got this expectation that you *should* do everything at once and you haven't stopped to map it out and consider if it's physically possible.  When I'm being especially stubborn about being hard on myself I'll write down a list of all the things I expect to be able to do every day, then write out exactly how long it will take to do each and every thing on that list.  It's amazing how often it all adds up to something ridiculously high, like trying to fit a 72 hour task list into one day.  It also never takes into account that I'm disabled. Generally, even when parred down to fit in a simple 8 hour work day the things I'm expecting of myself would be hard or impossible even for someone super motivated and healthy.


If you don't know how to get to where you want to go, try breaking the task down into smaller pieces until gets small enough that you say "Oh, I could do that right now, it would only take a few minutes." Getting advice from people who are accomplished in the things you want to do is a good idea too. Either way, I've found that working backwards from the result you want is a really good way to sort out where to go next.


Practice finishing things. Make your projects small and simple and easy to finish as you can. Constantly get rid of all those great ideas that would just take a little more time. Make a note of them for later. If possible, throw something together that you don't care about just to have something done. Then, when you have one done, don't scale up to full "this is what I really want to make" level right away. Just add ONE of your "this would make it so much cooler" ideas and focus on using that to it's fullest extent. Realize that each project will come with its own challenges and setbacks that will always make things take longer than you thought. When you finish something take the time to enjoy it. Internalize the complements don't dismiss them with an internal "if only you knew how much I'm faking this" or "but it's really garbage, why don't you see that?"


FYI, unless you're self publishing doing your own illustrations is just not going to happen. Reality of the publishing world, I'm afraid. Authors get absolutely no say on who the illustrator is unless they're well established and asking for someone the publisher already has a relationship with.


It's funny, your "end result" actually answered the question of "main goal", you just didn't realize it. I'm glad it did because you can't actually have both as your answer. Your main goal is to have something finished and good. This doesn't exclude the whole having fun goal in any way, they aren't mutually exclusive. It's just a question of which goal has the highest priority. For you, getting something done is a big part of the fun, and you can't enjoy the process unless you know you'll get to the end at some point.


This is important, now that you know which one is the highest priority it helps you sort out the goals that you need to accomplish it. It lets you know where you should be spending your time. This is the difference in mind set between the commercial artist and the fine artist. Both make awesome art. Both goals are equally valid. But a commercial artist is all about the result and a fine artist is all about the process. Get it done vs. make it perfect. A fine artist mind set will get you nowhere as a commercial artist, and vice versa. You're on the "get it done" side of things, at least right now, so you need to try and keep your "make it perfect" tendencies in check to reach that goal. That doesn't mean the "make it perfect" side of you has no place, just that it has to be watched and held back a bit so that you get where you want to be instead of spinning your wheels hoping to finish something someday. If you were someone who was all about the process you'd be just fine if you never finished anything.


Okay, I think that's everything I had to say. Hopefully some of it was actually helpful and not just me wishing I could talk to my younger self.

@Tornado Summoner: I don't see a problem with this. Enjoy both. You may need to plan things out so that you make sure you have time set aside for both but there's no reason to choose.

 

[Gui]

Neal Stephenson is a well established SF author who did, or at least tried to create a video game named CLANG and labeled as "a realistic swordfighting fantasy game" on Wikipedia: he said on this failure that "I probably focused too much on historical accuracy and not enough on making it sufficiently fun to attract additional investment" which may be a lesson to keep in mind for everyone attempting to make games...

Otherwise, Douglas Adams, designed his own video game, Starship Titanic. He's the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which wasn't a series of novels at the beginning either while I'm at it but a radio comedy, proof that one can tell a story on any media with enough talent and work.