ORIGINALLY POSTED BY: Labyrinthine Psyche

(( I had posted this in the Writers forum, but I figure I could post it here as well ))

So one of my all-time passions is video games. Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, God of War, Knights of the Old Republic, Final Fantasy, Fallout, etc. Chances are, you've heard of at least one of these games and I'd be surprised if you hadn't heard of the majority of them. Video games are an excellent means of storytelling. They combine cinematography with interactivity (interactivity on a similar scale to those of novels). I once read an article where children that watched a Harry Potter movie and said "I felt like I was with Harry Potter", while children that played a Harry Potter game and said "I felt like I was Harry Potter." Just look at how huge the community that surrounds these stories are. Game characters are far more personal to us than characters found elsewhere. I think Final Fantasy VII depicts this wonderfully. The amount of fanfics and fan art alone is unfathomable.

This new means of storytelling is fascinating, and I'd love to find myself in a position of developing these stories professionally. I was wondering if anyone here had any experience or advice with writing for games.

I've done some research, myself, and some ideas I've gathered are:
- Develop a story for a game mod (such as for Half-Life 2)
- Develop a story for a flash game (this one seems more limited)
- Develop stories for tabletop games (I could rant about this for days on end. Tabletop if fascinating as well)
- Write screen plays for something like an anime (easier to achieve a final product than a TV show or movie)
- Write "traditional" stories

I wouldn't want to spread myself too thin, and I'd like to begin working towards something. Also, if anyone has any links to networking sites, that would be greatly appreciated.

Links I've gathered so far:
Gamastura