Veteran writer (and scion of Tom Clancy) Richard Dansky asked an interesting question:

So what knowledge do you think is absolutely essential to working in games writing? Concepts? Elements of craft? Specific terminologies? Legal and professional issues?

I responded with eleven tenets that have served me well. Most of these were learned the hard way so I thought I’d (hopefully) save other writers and would-be writers the hassle and headache. Feedback and anecdotes from other writers is most certainly appreciated.

11 Things I’ve Learned About Writing for Video Games

1. A writer’s role in a project varies not only from studio to studio and from project to project but from stage of production to stage of production.

2. Many aspects of writing are the easiest thing to change when developing a game. More than anyone, you must be flexible.

3. Chances are, no one will care more about the story than you. You will be called upon to champion ideas and fight for story elements but you cannot be precious about small things and must be able to compromise.

4. You must be able to find your voice in any project, work-for-hire or not. If you cannot put yourself into another’s project, you need to work on that first and foremost.

5. When I freelanced, I was often called in near the end of a project to give context and structure to pre-existing characters, locations, and situations. If you intend to freelance, be really good at assembling LEGO bricks.

6. Understand that seemingly small decisions–such as locations, animations, costume changes, and characters–can have a huge impact on budgets and workflows within other departments. You must be able to own the budgets, both time and money.

7. Games are a team project. Learn the lingo used by other departments and disciplines. Learn what they need to get their job done. Learn what their priorities are. They are your best friends. And if you get in good with them, they will do what they can for you when you absolutely, positively need a new location, animation, costume change, or character.

8. You are a step in the process. Be mindful that audio, cinematics, animation, level design, scripting, and others will work from what you create. Be realistic about your deadlines and, once set: HIT. YOUR. DEADLINES.

9. You are a step in the process. Others must be mindful of your deadlines and, when they are not, you must be comfortable addressing that issue and telling them how their delays affect you.

10. Changes happen. All the time. Notes come down from directors, producers, marketing, publishers, and changes must be made. Sometimes the deadline will shift to allow for those changes; often, it won’t.

11. Games are great but it’s your life that’s important. Don’t be so in love with writing for games that your quality of life suffers.

The holidays are here and they’ve brought new DLC for Saints Row IV. Cozy up to the fire and enjoy this delightful—and delightfully twisted—trip to save St. Nick and restore the holidays to the world. Here’s the sell text:

How the Saints Save Christmas (1953) – Santa is trapped inside the Simulation but the Scrooge-like Boss of the Third Street Saints can’t muster enough Christmas spirit to save him. Can the Saints help the Boss discover the true meaning of the season in time? A holiday classic for the whole family.

Most owners of the Season Pass should already have this (Europe releases tomorrow). If you’re buying a la carte, you can pick it up on Steam, 360, and PSN now.

Happy holidays, everybody!

I don’t want to get into the habit of calling out all the Saints Row IV DLC but I have to talk about this one.

Anthony, Ash, and Papa Burch, from the insanely popular webseries Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’ are now available as homies for Saints Row IV.

No, seriously.

I am absolutely giddy over this. I was a huge fan of the series before this came together and was ecstatic to work on this. It’s out now for all platforms: PS3, 360, and Steam.

Be sure to check out the trailer below, featuring a rare glimpse at the briefly-mustachioed Tony Bedard.

The first story/mission DLC pack for Saints Row IV is out today! (In most territories anyway. Tomorrow for the UK!) Introducing Enter the Dominatrix.

I was one of the writers on this pack and it was a blast. In addition to more crazy Saints Row antics, some old characters come back as well which gave me the opportunity to work with some voice actors I was eager to see in action.

I don’t want to say too much because there is some true madness on display here. But I will paste up the official blurb:

Enter the Dominatrix reveals the wild hijinx of the original vision of the canceled SR3 expansion. Steelport has been taken over by the Dominatrix and only the Saints can stop her from trapping everyone in a virtual prison! Includes behind-the-scenes commentary and the return of some fan-favorite characters.

So there you go. It’s out now for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 for $6.99.

Oh, and in case it’s not evident, it’s rated M for Mature.

Happy birthday, Saints Row IV! Congratulations to everyone at Volition. The hard work, long hours, numerous headaches, and putting up with the writing department really paid off!

Click here to buy!

Saints Row IV comes out on PC, PS3 and 360 Tuesday, August 20th (Friday, August 23rd in Europe) and I cannot wait for you all to play it. It’s been a labor of love at Volition. We’ve poured our hearts and souls into this game to give you the best open-world playground we could. I know that all sounds like I’m shilling but I am speaking not only as a writer on the game but a huge fan as well.

From reviews:

“Saints Row IV is a fantastic game, keeping up the series’ tradition of giving players a wide open world and the tools to go absolutely bonkers within it. It’s hilarious, it’s action-packed, and most of all, its fun to play.” — The Escapist – 5/5

“I highly recommend it – Volition’s latest is a non-stop cavalcade of self-aware meta-humor and surprising, bombastic gameplay decisions from stem to stern, and to enter the experience with even the slightest knowledge of what’s coming would be doing yourself a major disservice.” — Joystiq – 5/5

“I honestly haven’t enjoyed a game quite so thoroughly as Saints Row IV, nor laughed as hard at one. On that note, Saints Row IV has my vote of emphatic approval for doing what it does so well: making us laugh until we cry.” — Neoseeker – 10/10

“I declare Saints Row IV perhaps one of the best open world sandbox games you could ever hope to play, and practically a culmination of everything the genre’s worked toward this generation.” — Destructoid – 9.5/10

“Saints Row IV made me feel superhuman — and that’s what this kind of game is all about.” — Polygon 9/10

“Volition did something it seems few developers are brave enough to do at this point: They were willing to reinvent the Saints Row series instead of just reiterating on it. The result is a game that I had an absolute blast with from beginning to end, but also one that—due to the escalation it exhibits—left me dumbfounded on what they’ll offer as a follow-up.” — EGMNow – 9/10

And that’s just a sampling.

A huge thank you to everyone out there supporting Volition and Saints Row, and an enormous congratulations to everyone at Volition, my adopted home, for putting out such an amazing game. I am incredibly proud of what we put together.

(For those on the fence about pre-ordering, trust me when I saw the free Commander-in-Chief upgrade is totally worth it. You haven’t flown until you’ve taken control of the American Eagle Jet.)

Hot on the heels of the cover reveal comes the latest trailer for Saints Row IV. There’s really no preamble that will do this justice so I’ll just put this here:

(Caution: Language, Pixelated Nudity)

Saints Row IV is only a handful of months away and I can’t wait for you all to get your hands on it. Until then, though, check out the newly-released cover art for the standard and Commander-in-Chief editions of the game. (All you need to do to get the C-in-C edition is pre-order the game. If you do, it comes with some pretty sweet extras.)

Here’s the cover to the standard edition (click for larger):

And here’s the Commander-in-Chief edition (click for larger):

The game is out on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on August 20th!

I spent last week at the largest gathering of video game developers in the world: the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California.

It was amazing. It was five intense days of lectures, networking, and learning. I met a wide array of folks in the business from journalists to fellow game writers. I had a blast, and more than any other time in my life I realized that square in the video games industry is exactly where I want to be.

I was inspired, not only to push my own contribution to games but to push games in general.

I want to do more. I want to do better.

I listened to Walt D. Williams, Lead Writer at 2K Games, talk about constructing Sgt. Walker’s arc in Spec Ops: The Line. He spoke about crafting player dialogue and NPC responses to the place in the story, about the difference between actions justified by circumstance and actions rationalized by characters.

I listened to Jay Posey, from Red Storm, talk about real experiences versus authentic experiences, how perception deceives us and how gamemakers must play toward that, even when it veers away from reality, to deliver a more convincing experience.

I listened to Harvey Smith and Raphael Colantonio, from the studio behind Dishonored, talk about abstracting causality into interrelated systems rather than scripted events.

I listened to Tom Abernathy from Microsoft talk about wanting games in which his biracial daughter can see herself as the hero of the story.

I listed to Elizabeth Sampat, Brenda Romero, Leigh Alexander, and other women from within and around the games industry talk about their experiences getting into and working in the industry, how women are portrayed in games and the show floor, and what they want for future generations of women at the #1ReasonToBe panel.

I listened to all these amazing people, and more, and came away inspired as never before.

I want to do more. I want to do better.

I want to work on games that have something to say beyond “Press RT to Shoot.”

I want to write for characters other than the blandly handsome 30-year old white guy that marketing approved.

I want to explore motivations beyond revenge.

I want to explore emotions beyond anger.

I want to play AAA video games where more time is spent on creating authentic characters than crafting realistic gun sounds.

I want to spend time exploring the vast array of stories that relate to all of us as well as those that shine light into areas I would have otherwise never seen.

I want to do more than justify murder for a living.

Because, as a game writer, that’s what I do.

“Here’s why it’s okay for you to go here and kill these people.”

“Here’s why it’s okay for you to go here and kill these people.”

“Here’s why it’s okay for you to go here and kill these other people.”

It’s lazy. And it’s shallow.

And, yes, it can be fun. But surely we as an industry have more to say than “Nazis/aliens/robots/zombies/thugs are bad.”

I want to do more. I want to do better.

We will always have our summer blockbusters. But we need games that address more. Backed with solid mechanics, yes. Backed with engaging gameplay, yes. Presenting a challenge for the core gamer, yes. That takes advantage of the current social media paradigm, yes. We can have all those things and still do more than tell Major John Dragonwolf to Press RT to Shoot all the Bad Guys. All of this already exists in the indie scene, in the downloadable scene, in the tablet scene, but the Face of Video Games—the midnight openings, the eight-figure marketing budgets, the exclusive magazine covers—are almost entirely the same old thing.

We are an industry of incredibly smart people, each with a unique history and perspective. We’re puzzlemakers. And this is our challenge: Do more. Do better.

We can. If enough of us want to.

The higher-ups in the decision-making offices have officially made the announcement so I can now share it all with you. This is the title I’ve been working on since I joined the amazing team at Volition last summer:

Saints Row IV is coming to PC and current-gen consoles on August 20th (the 23rd in Europe)!

I *love* the Saints Row franchise and am very excited to write for it. My ideas have directly influenced and shaped aspects of the game, and I am working with a slew of talented folks in executing our sometimes insane ambitions. Saints Row IV is bold and crazy and an amazing amount of fun. I can’t wait for you all to play this game.

For more information, check out the official Saints Row Facebook page and watch the announcement trailer below.