Hey folks!

I just wanted to give a shout out to an underappreciated segment of the game artist population -- namely writers.  In terms of game development, writing is a different animal from audio and graphics, in that it's not something that can be easily re-used.  Writing, by its very nature, is unique from game to game.  It's one thing to share graphics and audio between game projects, but it's quite another to share plot and dialogue.

There's a common misconception that good writing will happen on its own.  When people form development teams, often times writing falls by the wayside, and it's assumed that the group will pull together and come up with a plot.  What you often end up with in this case is a game engine and some art but nowhere to go, because no actual plot has materialized.  When you're putting your dev team together, don't let that spot go un-filled -- and if possible, make sure you're getting someone with some prior experience or natural talent (preferably both).  It's true that "anyone" can write, but only to the extent that "anyone" can draw or compose music -- in other words, people will know if your writing is done poorly, and they'll also know if it's done particularly well.

Unfortunately, it would be kind of pointless to archive game writing here, but I'd love to use OGA to provide assistance to writers.  To this end, I've created a writers' forum, which can be used for writing questions, discussions, and C&C requests.  Please feel free to post there and strike up a conversation. :)

Peace,
Bart

P.S.  This is off the subject, but if you check out our "Feed" link at the top of the page, you'll find that we now aggregate a lot of blogs from major FOSS game projects and the like.  If you'd like your blog added, please let me know.

I highly recommend checking out CODE:FREE Magazine, which is an online magazine that showcases art made with Free / Open Source software, such as Xara, Glips, Krita, K-3D, 3D Canvas, Gogh, Blender, and others.  While it's not game-specific, it's a great way to see what kinds of art people are producing with Open Source software.