The current status of everything the Game Writing SIG currently has in the works. We’re all very busy, so we try not to rush anything unless absolutely necessary. We accept every half-minute a volunteer can donate to our cause. Take a look at what’s going on right now:

Game Writing SIG Initiative Report For June 2007

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Detailed Wiki Project Pages For Each Initiative

Improving industry exposure and conditions

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* EDUCATION OUTREACH
Our current IGDA Education SIG Liason is Stephen Jacobs. He’s coordinating with them as they create game writing curricula and spearheading an online Game Writing Library of sample game documents we can all learn from.

* HIRING HALL
Sande Chen is heading up this initiative. (Sande, please correct me if I get any of this wrong.) It is intended to bring together companies looking for writers, and writers looking for work. We already have a list of writers available for hire on our website. (Contact Wendy Despain if you’d like your name added to it.) The Hiring Hall is aiming to get in contact with hiring managers at companies, find out what they’re looking for in a writer, what kind of samples are best, etc. and let them know the SIG and our resources exist. Also included in this effort is a survey we’d like these companies to fill out so we can aggregate the data and learn about the state of the business. The survey is still being written and contact lists are being built up.

* MAGAZINE ARTICLES
There’s a standing initiative to help raise the profile of game writers by publishing articles highlighting the profession in as many magazines as possible. We’re writers here, we can take this into our own hands and not wait for other people to realize we’ve got a good story here. Recently Gamasutra.com has published several articles about story in games. It’s a hot topic - jump on the bandwagon and get us all some publicity.

* GAME CREDITS
Another long-standing initiative, Stephen Dinehart recently volunteered to be the SIG’s new liaison to the IGDA credits committee so we can coordinate our efforts with them. Also, don’t forget to check http://imdb.com and http://www.mobygames.com and make sure they list your credits correctly. It’s up to you to police your credits in those venues.

* ACADEMIC EVIDENCE OF THE VALUE OF GAME WRITING
This initiative hasn’t had much movement in a while. At one time we were hoping to get a graduate student attached to the project and at least produce a literature review. Speak up if you’d like to take this on.

* GAME WRITERS SIG QUARTERLY
J. is the current editor of our Game Writing Quarterly publication. He can always use article ideas, volunteers to write content, and editorial assistance. New content is generated twice a year and the quarterly is published on good old-fashioned paper at every game conference we can get into. Just speak up if you’d like to distribute it at a conference you’ll be attending. Wendy Despain is the current production manager for this (coordinating printing and shipping) but if someone else would like the job… don’t hesitate to say something.

Providing resources to writers

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* GAME REVIEWS
In other genres of writing, writers study the classics to learn how to improve the state of the art. Yet game writing doesn’t yet have a canon of classics. The first step to creating such a thing is our Game Reviews initiative. These are reviews of games written with an eye toward how good the game writing/narrative/story elements were. They don’t have to be long. Anyone can contribute, either by posting to the general mailing list or adding them directly to the wiki.

* GAME WRITING BOOKS
Our first book written by the SIG has been quite successful, but we have more to say about game writing. Wendy Despain is editor for this project and is currently in negotiations with publishers. Writers will be moving ahead with chapters shortly. Deadlines will slide a bit because of the delay.

* WHITEPAPER REVISIONS
Richard Dansky and his gang of volunteers are nearing completion of this update to our classic game writing whitepaper. We look forward to its publication…soon.

* IMPROVE GAME CONFERENCE OFFERINGS FOR WRITERS
We now have our very own Game Writers Conference as part of Austin GDC in September, but this doesn’t mean we should ignore other game conferences. Kim Sparks and friends are coordinating Write Club for FuturePlay in November. You too can propose Write Club as a session at a conference you will be attending. (Or hold an informal Write Club as a pub game after hours.)

* MAINTAIN TIES WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
We like to stay friendly with WGA, WGGB, the horror writers… we don’t currently have connections with SFWA, and I’m sure there are other writers organizations we can team up with. (wonder twin powers…)

* FORMAT FOR SCRIPTS USED IN VOICE-OVER SESSIONS
We’re pooling our collective knowledge, trying to come up with a script format that’s comfortable for writers, audio engineers, programmers, designers and voice-over actors. All suggestions welcome!

* LIBRARY OF GAME DOCUMENTS/SCRIPTS
See above initiative on education outreach. It’ll be a resource for students and for working professionals. We look forward to it.

Thanks for reading this long wrap-up of everything the Writing SIG has underway. We intend to publish it once a month, highlighting progress and updating it with new initiatives. If you found this report useful, or think you could do better , please volunteer to take it over from the very busy Wendy Despain.