How to find game writing work
If you write stories, dialogue or quests and want to do it for games, the work shows up in a handful of places: IndieGuild, Work With Indies, r/gameDevClassifieds for paid gigs, r/INAT for rev share and hobby teams, the IGDA Game Writing SIG, and jams and contests like Arcjam, NaNoRenO and IFComp. Wherever you look, devs hire writers by reading, so the sample you send matters even more than where you found the post.
I founded IndieGuild, so keep that in mind when I talk about it. I've tried to be fair to everyone here, because each of these is the right pick for somebody.
- Want devs to find you, with matching roles in your inbox? Make a free profile on IndieGuild with a few excerpts.
- Want paid gigs? Check the Writing and Design sections of Work With Indies, and [PAID] writer posts on r/gameDevClassifieds.
- Want credits and a team? Try r/INAT, itch.io jams, and NaNoRenO if you love visual novels.
- Want to meet other game writers? Join the IGDA Game Writing SIG and enter its Arcjam.
- Wherever you apply, send samples in game formats: branching dialogue, barks, item text and a short playable Twine, Ink or Yarn Spinner piece.
| Where | Better pick when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| IndieGuild | You want indie devs to find you by craft and genre, with your excerpts and rates on the page and roles that fit you sent to your inbox. | It's new, so there are fewer roles than on the big boards. |
| Work With Indies | You want a paid writer or narrative designer role at an indie studio, freelance or staff. | The Writing section is small, so check Design too, and you're applying alongside everyone else. |
| r/gameDevClassifieds | You want paid one-off gigs, and a free place to post your own [FOR HIRE] thread. | Budgets vary a lot, there's plenty of competition, and you need to watch for scams. |
| r/INAT | You'll write for rev share or a hobby project to get credits and a team. | Lots of writers post there looking for teams too, and many projects never finish. |
| IGDA Game Writing SIG | You want a community of game writers, a jobs list, and a writing jam with judge feedback. | Its jobs list leans toward bigger studios, not small indie gigs. |
| itch.io jams and NaNoRenO | You need finished games with your writing in them, fast. | Jam teams are short-term and usually unpaid. |
| IFComp | You want to make a solo text game that shows off nothing but your writing. | It runs once a year, and it's a competition, not a job board. |
Where game writing gigs actually get posted
IndieGuild
This one's mine. You make a free profile with writing excerpts right on the page, your rates up front, and tags like "Rev share OK", "Hobby projects OK" and "Human-made". Devs browse creators by craft and genre on Discover or use Find my match, and when a dev posts a role that fits you, it lands in your inbox. Every role on the Job board shows the pay type up front (Paid, Rev share, Paid or rev share, Hobby, or Not sure yet), and some show a budget in USD. Messaging is free, and taking the conversation off the site is fine. It's free, I don't take a cut, there are no ads, and nobody can pay to be seen first.
Better pick when you want devs to come to you. Not the best pick if you want the biggest pool of jobs today, since it's newer than the big boards.
Work With Indies
Work With Indies is a job board for working with indie game studios. Its Writing section lists writer and narrative designer roles, and some of them are freelance and remote. It's a smaller section than art or programming, so also check Design, where narrative designer roles sometimes land. When a listing asks for examples of your work, send the excerpt closest to their game, not a link to everything you've written.
r/gameDevClassifieds and r/INAT
r/gameDevClassifieds is for paid game work. Writing gigs share a flair with voice acting ("PAID - Writer | Voice Actor"), so filter by that, and use the matching [FOR HIRE] flair for your own post: a short intro, your rates and two or three excerpts. For rev share and hobby teams, r/INAT has a "Writer Needed" flair for devs and a "Writing Offer" flair for writers. Plenty of writers post offers there, so replying to a team's post with a few lines written for their game will stand out more than one more offer post. Read each sub's rules first, because they remove posts that break them.
The IGDA Game Writing SIG
The IGDA Game Writing SIG is a group for game writers, narrative designers and the people who hire them. Its about page says it was founded in 2002. It has a Discord server and a mailing list, plus a jobs list that collects open roles for game writers, narrative designers and editors. Most of those are at bigger studios, which makes the list a great way to see what studio roles ask for, even before you're ready to apply.
The SIG also runs Arcjam, a game writing jam. For the 2025 edition, jammers had 72 hours to make an interactive story, solo text-only games were welcome, and shortlisted games got feedback from the judges on how well they work as a portfolio piece. Watch the SIG's site for the next one.
Jams and contests
Most jams on itch.io have a community tab where teams post "looking for a writer." If you love visual novels, NaNoRenO is an annual month-long jam in March where people make a visual novel from start to finish, and building a team before it starts is allowed. IFComp, the Interactive Fiction Competition, is a yearly event for new text-driven games, and it's a good home for a solo Twine or Ink piece. On IndieGuild, tap "I'm in" on a jam in Jam Crew so teams can find you too.
Bluesky and X
Devs post things like "looking for a writer" or "need a narrative designer" on social media. Search those phrases, sort by latest, and reply with one short excerpt that fits their game instead of a link to your whole portfolio.
Write samples that look like a game, not a novel
Here's the big one. A dev reading your sample is asking one question: can I picture these words in my game? A short story doesn't answer that. Game formats do. I'd make a small set like this:
- A branching scene. One conversation with two or three real choices, where the choice changes what happens or how a character treats the player. Show the branches, not just the happy path.
- Barks. A set of short lines for one character: spotting the player, taking a hit, winning, standing around. They have to sound like the same person and still be fine the tenth time a player hears them.
- Item and lore text. A few item descriptions or codex entries written to a tight character limit. Saying a lot in one line is a real game writing skill.
- Quest text. The quest giver's pitch, the objective line in the quest log, and what they say when you turn it in.
- A short playable piece. A few minutes long, made in Twine, Ink or Yarn Spinner, that a dev can click through in a browser.
You don't need to be a programmer for that last one. Twine is an open-source tool for interactive, nonlinear stories. You don't need code for a simple story, and it publishes to HTML, so you can post it almost anywhere, including itch.io. Ink is inkle's narrative scripting language, the one they used for 80 Days and Heaven's Vault, and its Inky editor lets you write and test as you go. Yarn Spinner is a dialogue tool with official integrations for Unity, Godot and Unreal. If a dev names their engine or tool in a post, a sample in that tool says "I can drop right into your project."
Put one line of context above every excerpt: the game, who's talking, what just happened, and any limit you wrote to. "Cozy farming sim, the shopkeeper, the player just broke her fence, 80 characters per line" makes a sample much easier to judge.
Narrative designers: add one piece that shows structure, like a flowchart of a branching quest or a one-page doc on how your story is told through play. Writers write the lines and narrative designers decide how the story works in the game, and on small indie teams you'll often do both.
Small gigs that lead to bigger ones
The usual climb is jams and contests, then small paid gigs, then bigger indie narratives, then studio roles. Here's what I'd do along the way:
- Take the small paid jobs. Item descriptions, barks, tutorial text and Steam store copy are real writing jobs, and they're an easy first yes from a dev who isn't sure they need "a writer."
- Get your words into a build. A finished jam game or a released demo with your name in the credits beats an unproduced script.
- Learn how text gets into the game. Spreadsheets of string IDs, Ink or Yarn files, character limits, notes for translators. Devs love a writer who hands over files they can actually use.
- Read studio listings early. The SIG's jobs list has titles like quest designer, story designer and narrative designer. What they ask for tells you which samples to write next.
- Pitch games you actually like. My guide to pitching a game dev has a first message you can adapt.
Rates
I'm not going to make up numbers. Game writers are usually paid per word, per page, per quest, per line or per hour, and rates vary a lot with experience and how much of the work is implementation. A few habits help: ask for a word or line count before you quote, price a short paid test scene first, split bigger jobs into milestones, and put the number of revisions in the quote. My guide for devs hiring a writer shows what they're thinking about on their side.
Red flags
- A "test" that's the whole job. A short paid test scene is normal. Writing their whole first act for free isn't.
- Rev share with nothing to show. No build, no plan, no timeline. Ask to see the game before you write a word.
- Nothing about credit or rights. Get pay, credit (in the game and on the store page), revisions, who owns the text, and whether you can show it in your portfolio in writing.
- Paying to apply. Nobody legit charges you to apply for a writing gig.
- Fake job board emails. Work With Indies shows a banner warning that a scam is impersonating them, and says they only email from @workwithindies.com. Check who an "offer" really came from before you reply.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find game writing work?
Check the Writing and Design sections of Work With Indies, [PAID] writer posts on r/gameDevClassifieds, r/INAT for rev share and hobby teams, the IGDA Game Writing SIG's community and jobs list, itch.io jams like NaNoRenO, and IFComp for solo text games. Make a free IndieGuild profile with a few excerpts so devs can find you and matching roles land in your inbox.
How do I get game writing work with no experience?
Write a few samples in game formats, like a branching scene, a set of barks and some item text, plus a short playable Twine or Ink piece. Then join jams to get your words into finished games, and take small paid jobs like item descriptions or Steam store copy to build credits.
What should a game writing portfolio include?
A branching dialogue scene, a set of barks for one character, a few item or lore descriptions written to a character limit, some quest text, and a short playable piece made in Twine, Ink or Yarn Spinner. Put one line of context above each excerpt: the game, the character and the situation.
Do I need to know Twine, Ink or Yarn Spinner?
Not for every gig, but it helps a lot. Branching dialogue often lives in tools like these, so a playable sample shows you can write for choices, and a dev who already uses one of them can use your files directly.
What's the difference between a game writer and a narrative designer?
A game writer writes the words: dialogue, barks, quest text and item descriptions. A narrative designer decides how the story is told through play, like the choices, the quest structure and how the text gets into the game. On small indie teams, one person often does both.
Is IndieGuild free for game writers?
Yes. Making a profile is free, and I don't take a cut of your gigs. You and the dev agree on pay and rights directly.
Let devs find you
Make a free writer profile with your excerpts on the page, your rates and what you're open to (paid, rev share or hobby). When a dev posts a role that fits you, it lands in your inbox. It's free, and I don't take a cut of your gigs.
Make my profileMore guides
- How to find work as an indie game developer
- How to pitch a game dev (for creators)
- How to find game translation work
- How to find voice acting work for indie games
- How to find game programming and game design work
- How to find a writer for your indie game
- Game writers on IndieGuild