Hi! I’m Angel, and I’ve been a gamer, freelancer, and entrepreneur for a quarter of a century. In my day job, I’m a narrative designer for the MMO Guild Wars 2. At night, I change.
We’re making a 13-episode motion web comic as well as a game. The comic will serve as a prelude to the game and will tell the story of Valerie Matthews, a young school teacher who gets in over her head with the family of one of her students. The comic is titled, “Death of a School Teacher: A Dire Dilemma.”
I’ve begun researching interactive fiction because a little voice inside my game designer’s brain is telling me that what I really want to make is interactive fiction. This kind of fiction has a long history and an underground community of followers.
The games industry is unlike any other I’ve ever worked in. There are unspoken laws of quality, teamwork, and dedication that drive a studio. Although the studio may not ask you to, most game developers work more than 40 hours a week, often late into the night and on weekends—because they care so much about doing a good job. This is the competition you’re up against when you attempt to launch a career in game development.
So much work goes into getting a new business off the ground. You have to ask yourself so many questions in the beginning. Questions like…