When Jobs Choose You By: Kaylyn Gabbert March 30, 2020 I'm Kaylyn Gabbert, and I've been writing since I was a kid. I tried writing for all mediums until I found that I love writing novels and blogging the most. In an effort to further my education I attended Full Sail University going after my Bachelor's in Creative Writing for Entertainment. After earning my degree I took time off to relax. In early 2018, I saw a Facebook post about doing a table read for a video game script, and I got excited. After two table reads with StrideStar I was welcomed to the writing team. StrideStar is an upcoming, indie game company. I get to work remotely because my boss is in Florida. I was sent a contract that I signed after carefully reading it. I made sure that I have a physical copy of that contract. For the first game, I researched, edited, and shared ideas. The second game we were given more creative freedom. We created secondary characters, a boss, a level of our own. Our own boss was there to help if we needed it every step of the way. I also reached out to employees if they miss a meeting or need help. I created a biography document to share with all the employees at StrideStar. The biography document lets everyone get to know all employees of StrideStar. At StrideStar we work with our own departments. I'm on the writers team with five other writers. Occasionally we sit in on other teams' meetings. The other teams are the art team, audio team, level development team, and the programmers. We met with the art team and shared our thoughts with their character designs, and we recently met with the level design team. I was asked by a coworker at StrideStar if I could help him with a private project, and after seeing how organized he was, I was happy to join his team. Through that, I worked at Atomedia Studios. Atomedia Studios is another up-and-coming, indie game studio. While there, I was promoted to Writing Team Lead, managing six other writers. I had never been a leader before, but my boss had a lot of confidence in me. I learned a lot running meetings and being in charge of other people. Before leaving the company due to time issues, I was able to help two artists get hired with Atomedia Studios. During the month of August I decided to audit one of the game writing classes I took at Full Sail University back in 2015/2016. I wanted to learn more about game writing. While attending, I went to the live class. Since I was the only one there, my teacher and I just talked about my work at both companies. He unlocked a few assignments early for me to work on. I met by phone with him once a week for the following month. On the last live class, about what to write on our resumes and where to find game writing work, he asked me where I found my jobs. I explained how Facebook and word of mouth helped. In addition to the artists who joined Atomedia, I was able to help two other writers get hired at StrideStar. One thing I feel I should add is when I talk to people about working for game companies, many ask if I'm treated fairly since I'm a woman. Before then, I didn't know about the rampant sexism in the game industry. There is no sexism or ageism in either company that I noticed. We are always asked to share our ideas, and we are always heard. I love that these jobs found me, because before this I never would have thought that I'd want to be in the game writing industry. Employee bios: https://www.facebook.com/notes/stridestar-studios/stridestar-employees/970380193152499/ If you want to see more of my work visit my site at Kaylynsworldinwords.com or find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by searching @KaylChels. Username is the same on all platforms. ——— Thank you, Kaylyn, for giving us a glimpse into the world of video game writing! Who here is a fan of video games? What are some of your favorites?
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