Rebecca M @Rebeccamwrites@mastodon.gamedev.place

Feels like the time to give Mastodon another try. I'm Rebecca a Writer/Narrative designer with almost 15 years dev experience. First in QA then Narrative.
Blog at http://www.gameswriting.coffee

I'm going to move soon and I'm hoping to finally have space for a proper home office. Having fun trying to find tasteful.geeky decor. Any recs? *

* I also need to find a place to live.

I tried a pixel app on my phone. Was a fun little exercise.

To be a good writer there's a ton of things you need to do.

You also have to write.

#amwriting #writing

It's nice to look at old work and to think how far I have come.

Good bit of morning book post. One thing that can be easy to miss. Even when you get a narrative job, it doesn't stop there. You have to to keep working on your skills. #amwriting #bookpost #gamedev

Currently reading "Writing for games theory and practice" by Hannah Ricklin. It's really good. It doesn't just dive into plot but talks about the realities of game writing and processes. Recommended to non narrative devs too as I think it explains the job wonderfully. So much of the job can be explaining what it is.
There's even a section recommending what functionality your tools need.
https://www.routledge.com/Writing-for-Games-Theory-and-Practice/Nicklin/p/book/9781032023052?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnNyUBhCZARIsAI9AYlFI_62az_o44EmvhAYDdn0Ktnkm-drFJ-ukr2RhZoG03zFh0owxKpoaAopuEALw_wcB
#gamedev #writing

Going to have a few months free soon. Really want to complete one creative project, but deciding what is so hard.

Is there a decent source of royalty free live2d models? Tempted to make another freeware visual novel over the Summer. There's no way I'd have the budget to commission art but free or low cost assets would work I think.

I'm happy to pay and support authors, but ooof does most game narrative books having academic publishers keep prices up.
Obviously a lot of great resources are available online, but it's nice to sit down with a book and get away from the screen.

Honestly this talk changed my entire approach to narrative.

Just seen one of my favourite narrative design talks is now on medium.
https://medium.com/@Tracey_Watson/storytelling-in-small-spaces-practical-narrative-design-for-mobile-games-1a080d0d3732

A free game making tool and helpful community does way more to get people into games than a glitzy award show. Its great to nominate and celebrate people but the real heroes are the people who work on tools, tutorials and community management.

I don't think is coincidental a lot of these resources come from the lgbtq+ community either. Practical support for people that has measurable effect.

Tbh I did both. I had a long career in QA but hit a wall. Learned a lot from friendly devs but also took more crap than I needed.
Attending indie events, chatting with hobby, part time and full time devs taught me so much more. Just because someone's work isn't commercial doesn't mean they don't have insight to share.
The whole zine/micro indie/ itch scene has done so much to provide entry ways into gaming.

When we talk about getting started in gamedev, we often miss out "learning to talk dev". Understanding the way we look at and talk about games from a dev perspective. QA is the classicly route that often led to it being looked at as a stepping stone rather than its own discipline. You're also going to get more experience at a well run dev than a temp publisher job where you'll never see a dev.
Now if you attend indie game events, engage in dev communities you're just as likely to pick it up.