Finding Authors

Is it possible to find authors that would be willing to give away their novel or story? I would like to use a good story for an JRPG instead of coming up with my own story.

Does that sound like a bad idea?

 

Would you want to give up all your models for someone who doesn't feel like making their own? Or all your code? You can't assume someone is going to give you a good, well written story just because you're too lazy to write your own.

What's in it for them? They spent a lot of time writing it and are at least good enough for someone to make a game from their work. They have no reason to give that away.

 

Come on, with gutenberg.org why did you even respond to such a request? It's not like the Michael Crichton estate is going to donate the rights to his books.

 

Hey, Michael Crichton happens to be my favorite author

Though that website has plenty of stories you can use!

 

Yes, maybe he never heard of that web site. So much material between gutenburg.org and nature how can you lack for an angle to make an original game with?

 

Plus there's plenty of writers who like working on games and may happily collaborate on one. Just because he says "author" doesn't mean he's expecting a bestseller to jump on him.

 

Well you can see there are plenty of writers working on games from the response to his inquiry. With Gutenberg.org he has a list of proven bestsellers and classics if none do come forth.

 

Which published game titles have you worked on previously?
What is the game development budget going to be for the game title based on my book?

Those would be the first questions I'd ask you if I was a writer and somebody wanted to make a game based on my books.

 

All,

Thank you for the feedback. My opening post may seem as though I am looking for an easy way up but in reality, my JRPG project is on a shoestring budget. I have already determined that the most effective way for my company to get published on Steam, MacStore and GooglePlay will be by focusing the gameplay on the story, versus powerful graphics.

I was speaking with some of my friends and they mentioned that there are authors who want their work (novels/stories) repurposed, just to get some recognition for their work. Based on everyones responses, that seems to not be the case?

Thanks!

 

Try putting up notices in colleges or universities, there are usually many students who are willing to provide works for free. I'd be careful tying a game into verbal agreements (which is where the internet can be a problem without physical law binding documents), I've seen many people give things away on such agreements and when money is made they start lawsuits.

 

If the author was smart, they would charge you a licensing fee for using their intellectual property. I think it's pretty far fetched to expect someone to give up their creative for free. (though,not impossible... )

 

They would be must likely but you would have to pay I could make a story

 

I don't think most novels are suited as a story for an rpg game. Of course you can use the universe, a background story and characters of existing novels but what actually happens has to be controlled by the player - at least a bit - otherwise it would be an animated graphic novel and not a game.
(There is the option to split gameplay and story like in an adventure or even COD, but the story is then just there to connect the different levels / screens).

I'm pretty sure there are authors out there who would lend their invented universe and characters to you to implement in your game as a good game could reflect in a positive way back on the author.
E.g. "The Walking Dead", if you played the game without knowing about the TV show and comics you probably would be interested in them as well.

But this is probably the wrong forum for what you are looking for. There should be forums specially for writers out there...

 

For some reason, people think writers snap their fingers and will stuff into existence. Do you know how many lines of dialogue are in games like Final Fantasy? Do you know that the writer also has to produce scene composition, contribute to character design, and outline key objects that have to be produced by the artists? It's not as simple as taking a novel and throwing it at a programmer. Writing for video games is not the same as writing book, articles, or graphic novels. I encourage you to do some research on the subject so you have a better idea of what it is that you're asking your writer to do, and to evaluate if they have the skills necessary to complete the project.

Even a brilliant writer can struggle with producing a viable game script. The last thing you want is for dozens of objects that need to be coded, modeled, textured, and only show up for 5 seconds.