Getting Started

Virtually every day I get email from people who want to get published in the game industry. They want to know the secret in breaking in, and I can't blame them. It does seem like there must be a trick to it.

What should you do to become a game designer? Perhaps not what you think. If you're thinking about getting into game design, chances are it's because you've been a DM for a while now and people have really enjoyed your creations. You have a wealth of material developed and your own campaign setting and/or rules system already all worked up and playtested. That's great.

Now, put all that away.

Instead, download the Dragon Magazine or Dungeon Magazine submissions guidelines. Put together a submission, following the guidelines as closely and as carefully as you can. Send it in, and hope for the best.

Why Dungeon and Dragon? They're the most widely read magazines in the industry, by far. Even if you have no interest in writing D&D or d20 material, if you want to be a game designer, try to get published in one of these magazines. Most professionals in the industry at least look through this magazine, and every one of them will be impressed if you have been published there. Dragon Magazine, particularly, is simply the place to break into the industry. Maybe not everyone got their start there (I, for example, did not), but lots of people did. I can attest, for example, that the powers that be in RPGs at Wizards of the Coast watch both Dungeon and Dragon magazines, looking for quality designers. Get your name on a few good articles there, and your foot will be firmly in the door. Note, I did not say you were in -- just your foot. The rest is up to you.

Take something great that you thought of -- some new feats or monsters or whatever, or perhaps a particularly good adventure -- and pitch it to one of those magazines. If they don't want it, pitch something else. Keep trying. When I said put all your previous game creations away, I didn't really mean everything. Pull out a few good bits and turn them into articles. Be prepared to have to change a lot of what you've created to suit the article's needs and the editors' desires, however. Be prepared to rewrite it all from scratch. You are writing for them, now -- this isn't just an excuse to get someone to publish your house rules or some adventure from your campaign exactly as you originally designed it. What suits the needs of your personal game is not necessarily what will make for a great article or Dungeon Magazine adventure.

Now, you might be thinking, "An article in Dragon is fine, but I have a whole world I've created and I'm ready to send it to a publisher." Well, if that's what you really want to do, good luck to you, but you are taking the most difficult approach to the obstacle ahead of you. Trying to sell a publisher a whole campaign setting is probably the hardest thing to do in the game industry. Wizards of the Coast's recent call for submissions "contest" was the exception to the rule, not the rule. Virtually no one is looking to publish a new setting. And here's why: Most publishers started their own publishing company because they had a setting and they couldn't get it published anywhere, either. They aren't interested in yours because they're busy working on their own setting. If you are an unpublished writer, ask yourself, "Why would a publisher want to publish my world over the setting of a published writer, or even over his own?" The harsh answer is: He wouldn't. Even if it's great. That's why you want to start small -- like with articles in the magazines. You want to prove yourself first.

All Companies Are Not the Same

So now let me take a moment to talk a little about the game publishing field. Think of it as a teeter-totter. Realize right now that Wizards of the Coast sits on one end of the teeter-totter, and absolutely everyone else balances together on the other end. And still the Wizards side is too heavy for the teeter-totter to move. Here's the math: If a d20 company puts out a book and sells N number of copies, Wizards of the Coast would sell N times 10 to 50 copies of that exact same book. (And if it's not d20 AND not it's published by Wizards, cut N in half.)

What does that mean to a prospective game designer? It means that you shouldn't think of all companies as being the same. Not in pay scale, not in copies sold, and not in what they expect. Even if you want to work as a writer for Wizards, you might be better off working for a smaller company first. It's easier to get noticed by a smaller company, and smaller companies accept proposals and submissions. Wizards never accepts outside submissions -- they only give out specific freelance assignments. On the other hand, you might find that only Wizards (and perhaps a few other companies) pay enough to really make a go of writing, even on a part-time basis. Thus perhaps working for Wizards or a larger company should be your eventual goal.

And when I say "working for Wizards," I mean on a freelance basis. Don't look for Wizards of the Coast to be hiring full-time game designers anytime soon.

Once you get going, don't burn your bridges. If you get a rejection letter from an editor, don't send a snippy reply back. Don't agree to a deadline and then miss it. Don't botch your assignment. All of these things are going to lead to that editor not working with you again. What's more, the game industry is very, very small. If you burn your bridges with an editor and you don't think that that editor is going to be chatting with another editor and telling her about what you did, then you don't understand how things work. Editors do indeed talk with one another -- even editors at different magazines and companies. The industry is too small for us not to know each other. And if you do good work for Erik Mona (the editor at Dragon Magazine, and a very nice guy), rest assured he's going to not only want to work with you some more, but he'll tell other editors about you. And if you have a few Dragon credits on your resume, other industry people will look at that with respect. Likewise, if Erik cautions other editors to watch out for a certain unreliable designer, that writer's not going to get a lot more work.

The last thing I would add to all of this is when you do get something published, if you're still interested in continuing, use the contact you just made to get more work. If you've worked with an editor and your project or article is finished, follow that up almost immediately with another proposal or idea to see if they want more. If you've done good work, delivered it on time, and acted professionally, chances are, your editor would love to work with you again (there are surprisingly few people who can pull off all three of those things, particularly on their first assignment). Keep pitching new ideas, and use the credit(s) you've just earned to get a job working for someone else as well.

The whole "breaking in" process can be frustrating and confusing. Sometimes it's nice to just chat with others who are going through the same thing you are. To help, Sue and I have created a "Writers and Editors Workshops" web page. Check out the web page for resources on getting started, and hop on the boards to compare notes with others trying to break into the business.

Getting firmly established as a designer in the industry is a slow process. Even people who got lucky breaks right at the start say it's hard work to get the next deal and to get some name recognition. It's like climbing a ladder. Each article you write is another rung, and once you've climbed enough rungs you can get an assignment to write a portion of a book, and then, finally, a book of your own. Slow and steady, doing good, quality work on time, is the best way to try to climb that ladder.

Good luck.