On Games and Writing: Interview with Nick and Max Folkman
What does a game writer do?
Hi all,
Today's issue is a very special one because I had the chance to interview two highly experienced writers in the industry: Nick and Max Folkman. They have worked on many games like Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. But I first came to know them through one of my favorite podcasts, Script Lock, where they interview various game writers, talking about how they broke into the industry and the intricacies of their careers.
They were kind enough to answer my questions when I reached out to them as a desperate indie dev who is trying to write a visual novel. Let’s get into it!
Interview with Nick and Max Folkman
N: Thank you for accepting this interview! Let me start in Script Lock style: How did you guys get into the industry?
Nick & Max: We had both moved to Los Angeles and worked in the film industry for a few years when we attended Indiecade, which is a local indie game festival. Brad Muir, who was a game director at Double Fine at the time, was doing a Q&A with the devs of FTL, and we ended up striking up a conversation with him afterwards since we’re all from the midwest. We became friends, and fast forward a couple years and we ended up staying at Brad’s place during an SF trip. By this point he was leading development on Massive Chalice, but it was early and they were looking for a writer. He knew that Nick and I had chops, asked us if we wanted to do a writing test for it, which we did and ended up landing the job, much to our astonishment.
N: What would you recommend to someone who’s trying to become a game writer today?
Nick & Max: 1) Try to find your own community of developers, either near you or online. Being able to talk game development with people on a regular basis is so useful, and even better if you all do a game jam or even make something bigger together. 2) Work on writing samples that show strong character work. The kinds of samples that studios take can vary wildly, but generally everyone wants to see strong character work so you can at least focus on that initially. It can be a screenplay or an interactive scene or whatever; just show that you know how to create compelling characters. 3) Don’t take it personally if/when you apply to a studio for a position and they reject you. We’ve been rejected soooo many times in our careers, and rejections happen for a wide variety of reasons. And! It doesn’t mean you can’t apply again in the future for another role.
N: Can you walk us through your typical day as a game writer?
Nick & Max: It’s hard to say what a typical day is because every game is different and every team is different. One thing that may surprise people outside of the industry is that the majority of our days are not spent playing the games or writing scripts. They’re both definitely an important part of our jobs, but we spend just as much time in meetings with other writers, and other departments, working through problems in tight collaboration. Another huge part is documentation. The bigger the team, the harder it becomes to get everyone on the same page, so it becomes very important to write down not only what we’re doing, but why we’re doing it (and then update it accordingly as things inevitably change).
N: What are some insights you gained after talking to many different writers in Script Lock?
Nick & Max: One of the biggest is that there is no one way to break into the industry. All that matters is whether you have a voice (and you’re not a jerk to work with). Another is that imposter syndrome can affect anyone, even the most “successful” of us. It’s very easy to attach self-worth to your game succeeding or not, which makes it all the more important to shift your mindset to valuing the experiences you have and what you can learn from them.
N: Considering all the responsibilities of a game writer (worldbuilding, dialogue writing, character creation, etc.), which one do you think is the most important? (and which do you enjoy the most?)
Nick & Max: This might be a bit too general, but we really believe collaboration is the most important responsibility for a game writer. You should not be doing worldbuilding or dialogue writing or character writing or pretty much anything totally on your own. All departments are storytellers, and it’s only through working with them that you’ll be able to make the best story you can that can work for this interactive experience you’re helping create. As for which one we enjoy the most, both of us actually choose dialogue writing. There’s so much range with what you can do with it, and even the absence of it, and getting to hear actors speak any dialogue we write is always an incredible experience.
N: Have you ever been involved in a project that didn’t fully capture your interest or where you struggled with motivation? If so, how did you complete it?
Nick & Max: It can be worth reframing the project to being more of a puzzle to solve. By dialing into it more, I’ll often look for the parts that do interest me, and build from there. By making it more of a challenge, I can build those creative muscles I wouldn’t otherwise use because I’m going outside of my comfort zone, so to speak.
N: Sometimes I look at my writing and think, “This isn’t bad at all!” While other times I think “This couldn’t be any worse.” So my question is, how do you judge the quality of your own work?
Nick & Max: It’s key when you write anything to take a step back and return to it later with fresh eyes. At that point you can usually rely on your gut instinct to tell you whether it feels good or not, but if this isn’t a muscle you trust yourself with, the best thing you can do is just maintain a schedule of reading good writing. Additionally, having a writer’s group, or just showing your work to another person, is a great way to expose potential blind spots in your writing. At the same time, you should steer away from perfectionism. It’s unsustainable and you risk losing the forest for the trees. Better to shoot for a “B”, get to 80% of what you had in your head, and then reassess in the context of the whole.
N: Are there any (writing and/or productivity) tools you use?
Nick & Max: Our respective jobs at Insomniac and Riot require us to use specific software, but for personal work we’re big fans of Highland 2. It’s a lightweight text editor with templates for screenplays, novels, comics, and more. Among its many features, the thing I use the most with it is the built-in writing sprint tool, which allows you to set a timer and keeps track of how much you’re able to get done. It also crashes way less than other software we’ve used, which is probably the most important part, haha.
N: It might be a bit of a cliché, but how do you make sure each character has a distinct and unique voice?
Nick & Max: It all comes from the character creation process, and also looking at what characters have already been set, and making sure that we’re covering a decent range of voices. Often when you’re building out a character’s personality or backstory, it’ll tell you what their voice should be. Like if you have a character who is so lonely that they’ll latch onto anyone who comes near them and call them a friend, even if they mean them harm– that suggests an effusive, fast-talking personality that immediately feels distinctive. And then the other ingredient is if you have actors performing these lines, they’ll take what you give them and make it even better. And while you shouldn’t rely on actors to do all the heavy lifting in terms of providing a distinct and unique voice, you shouldn’t discount what they can bring to the table either.
N: How do you go about developing the lore and history of a game world, and how does this worldbuilding shape the narrative?
Nick & Max: For us, worldbuilding never comes before the narrative, unless we’re working on a pre-existing IP where it’s already there. Ideally the narrative should shape the worldbuilding and not the other way around because the narrative is the central experience. Additionally the game design should also inform the worldbuilding because the more they can align, the more connected everything else will feel.
N: And finally, what games have you been playing recently?
Nick & Max: I (Nick) have been losing too much of my life to Balatro, and having an absolute blast with Astro Bot! As for Max, he’s weaned himself off Balatro by starting a second playthrough of Red Dead 2. What a game! (N: Indeed!)
N: Is there anything else you would like to add or tell people about yourself?
Nick & Max: Just best of luck out there! It’s a difficult industry to break into, and the industry in general isn’t in the best shape right now, but things will get better, and writing games really is an incredible experience that is so different than every other medium.
Final Words
I would like to thank Max and Nick again for taking the time to answer these questions despite their busy schedules. I'm also very happy that this marks GDJ's first interview.
If you're particularly interested in the writing and storytelling side of things (like me), I highly recommend checking out Script Lock. You’ll get to know so much about other game writers and their experiences. For more about Nick and Max Folkman:
Thanks for reading!
And that’s it from today’s issue of GameDev’s Journey. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. If you did, please like and leave a comment. Reach out for suggestions, objections, questions, or just say hi.
But regardless, thank you so much for reading, and have a great game dev journey!
Nice interview. Thanks for sharing.