Writing for Video Games with Andy Schmidt (Transformers: Devastation)

Nerd For A Living

In this episode, Andy Schmidt drops by again, this time to talk about writing for video games. Andy is the founder of Comics Experience, an online school that connects students with industry professionals to learn the craft of making comics. But beyond his vast experience in comics, Andy has also written for a number of video games - most notably, the recent hit Activision game, Transformers: Devastation. A love-letter to fans of classic Generation One Transformers characters and stories, Devastation features legendary voice actors including Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Adron talks with Andy about the experience of writing dialogue for the characters and actors he’s loved since he was a kid growing up with the Transformers animated franchise. They discuss the storytelling challenges of writing for video games, how the writer interfaces with the production teams, and elements unique to gaming like “battle chatter”. There’s also a fair amount of geeking out about Transformers in there as well. This April, Andy will be teaching a 5 week online course called If you’re a writer who’s interested in the video game industry, you should definitely check it out. Space is limited, so This is a really fun chat full of great info, both for game writing hopefuls, and fans of Transformers and gaming in general.