The Game Writer’s Guild is the place for students who love video games and story-telling.
The guild is a group of avid gamers who meet every two weeks on the Marietta campus to discuss the different aspects of video games, such as plot, characters and genre, and to talk about how writing plays an important part in each category, affecting the overall game.
Anyone can join, whether they are gamers, have an interest in writing stories or are just looking for something to do in general.
Discussions of these topics give writers a basic idea of how to put together a script for a game, paying close attention to how things such as quests, character backgrounds and gameplay mechanics contribute to the overall story. The genre of the game must be taken into account during the scripting process.
The Game Writer’s Guild has a cyclical system.
“The first meeting of the month is a Powerpoint covering key points of a game, like genres, which will be further explored in the next meeting,” says senior secondary English major and one of the guild leaders Ryan Strasser. “[The meetings] have hands-on activities, which help people figure out what they want to create.”
This system allows for members to formulate ideas and be ready to present them at the next meeting. The guild’s most recent meeting was Oct. 11, where the topic of game genres was covered. The term “genre” refers to any category of literature, including game writing, with a certain set of criteria.
John Thornton, a junior political science major and another leader of the guild, says at the next meeting, “members will choose a genre and write something about the game with that chosen genre in mind and how the writing will relate to gameplay.”
This particular meeting was the first of the month, setting the stage for the next meeting on Oct. 25.
“You get to sit and talk to people about a common interest,” said Bradley Engwer, a senior computer game design and development major, about why he loves the club.
For more details on when the Game Writer’s Guild meets, visit the Writing Center’s website at writingcenter.kennesaw.edu/workshops-and-events.php.