We’re thrilled to introduce Kelly Bender, who will be judging the Game Writing SIG Arcjam!
Kelly Bender has worked in the video game industry for over 8 years as a Narrative Designer & Game Writer, and has worked on 30+ published video games (AAA, AA, indie, mobile & VR). He also teaches the Game Writing Bootcamp at Game Design Skills.
Let’s get to know you! How did you originally get into game development?
“I wrote indie comic books for a few years (had 40+ published comics), and one day I met some game designers at a Comic Con event, and they suggested I should write for games, and then as luck would have it (and yes luck takes a part in all our journeys) I met a few of the producers from Ubisoft and was asked to come in and do a writer’s test as they were in the process of hiring writers for their latest game (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey). The rest as they say is history.”
We’ve been going through incredibly tough times in the industry. What keeps you going?
“The people and the games I get to work on. I keep telling myself when times get bad and I’m in-between contracts, that even the worst day working in games is still better than a good day working a corporate gig. But the main thing is the comradery and teamwork that comes with games, and the fact I get to meet people from around the world who are just as passionate about games as I am, is the real treat.”
We shared some basic advice for our jammers in this blog post. What’s your #1 tip for our game jammers?
“Focus on quality over quantity. Write an interesting story with unique characters and meaningful choices and be mindful of your scope. Be cautious of the more you add the more chances you have of making a tiny mistake that could break your game or negatively affect your player’s experience.”
Learning new tech can be quite daunting, but is vital to a career in game narrative. How do you approach learning new technical skills?
“The more I’ve been in this industry (8+ years) the more new advancements and technology have come along, and with every new one it’s important to remember that they are just tools that we as writers have at our disposal to help us tell our stories. They are not crutches that we lean on or used to replace our actual work, they are tools. It’s also important to add that different studios require us to use different tools and it’s up to us to learn them (with onboarding and IT help), such as Ubisoft’s proprietary software OASIS, or being asked to use JIRA or TRELLO to maintain your project management and tasks.”
Finally — What do you like to see in a game narrative portfolio piece?
“I like seeing dialogue that leads to gameplay, with interesting characters that sound unique (not bland), and with personality choices that allow me as the player to choose my path, and not the path the writer wants me to go on. It also should be formatted properly, and all spelling and grammar checked.”
Check out our other judge spotlights below:
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