Game industry survival tip: learn "one step away" skills while you're employed.
Narrative designer? Learn basic scripting
Writer? Understand design principles
Junior dev? Pick up production basics
when layoffs hit (they will), you'll have more options than just your exact same role 💪

"I want to be a little stonemason on a cathedral." — theater director explaining why he didn't try to become a creative lead in games right away. Sometimes the best career move is learning from people who know more than you do, even if it feels like a step back. (He's now a game designer at Paradox)

Hot take: The most important relationships for game writers aren't with other writers.
They're with:
Level designers (environmental storytelling goldmines)
Programmers (know what's actually possible)
QA (see your content like players do)

That moment when feedback says "explore different directions" and you realize they mean "start over," but they're just beating around the bush. 😅
Game writing is 50% actual writing, 50% learning to decode what people actually mean when they're trying to be diplomatic.

This is how you write for games: by designing story with design in mind.

By understanding what’s possible — and what your teammates care about.

Hi game writers! When you pitch a story idea to a designer, your goal isn’t to sell them on it.

It’s to start a conversation.

1/ As a college freshman, Ash Poprik decided she wanted to write for games. Now she's a senior narrative designer at Bungie.💥 How did she make it happen? It was about the connections she built along the way. Let's talk about why community matters in game writing. 🧵👇