Ready for the #WGGB Creating Interactive Portfolios talk!

There's no real standardisation of what should go into a games writing portfolio - it will entirely depend on the studio. - @tomabernathy

Have a pool of samples to draw from and pull them together depending on the studio. Range is important. - @tomabernathy

What you can put on the page is important to get across quickly and accessibly as hiring managers won't have time to go through an entire screenplay! If you have a video of how your writing translated into gameplay, that's also brilliant. - @cynixy

Portfolio should display the rudiments of what the studio are looking for from the role, and understands what the company they're applying for is creating. 10 pages max! - @thing_stuff

Writing tests should be used as an extra chance for you to display what the company wants to see, don't rely on them as it should be clear from the portfolio first! - @cynixy

Ask recruiters what they're looking for in your portfolio! They want to see your best work and give you a chance! - @cynixy

Don't apply blindly! Do the work and talk to the recruiters, look into their previous work and figure out the style of the studio so you can tailor your portfolio as best you can. - @smnthawbb

Radio/TV scripts or prose are relevant as long as they display the values the recruiter's looking for, samples don't have to be specifically from games! - @thing_stuff

"Life's too short to work with jerks." - Just a generally good point from @tomabernathy

Theatre writing is really applicable to games! It's the same sort of collaborative writing as you have to deal with different disciplines and restraints etc. - @thing_stuff

It's possible to be too fixated on interactive writing - just a list of barks isn't clear to the recruiter what your skills are, they need to be contextualised so that they understand what the lines you've written are doing! - @cynixy

Give the hiring manager a good place to start! - @thing_stuff

Almost write a guided tour of your work for them so they're drawn to your best work and have full context of each piece! It shows who you are as a writer and a person. - @cynixy

Make sure it's easy for people to see your work... namely don't hide it behind a patreon wall - @cynixy

A website or dropbox is great - direct recruiters to what you want them to read, but maybe they'll be interested and check out your other stuff! This is also a lot easier to parse than just a combined pdf. - @cynixy

Examples of twine games etc. should be punchy and straight to the point - maybe create a stripped down version that gets to the bits you want to show off? - @thing_stuff

Generally don't send examples that are directly of a studio's IP! Partly legal reasons, but mostly because there is no way you understand their game better than they do and they will notice everything which is off compared to how it "should" be written. - @tomabernathy

Use spellcheck, and don't write bigoted content into your portfolio. Is that the first thing you want an employer to see? - @thing_stuff

Economy of writing! If dialogue is bloated or overlong that's not respecting the time of the people who are going over your portfolio, and shows you're not considering limitations e.g. voice acting. - @tomabernathy

Have other people read your samples and let you know how you're coming across as a person. Example given of a writing portfolio that just read as very mean spirited, which is not the sort of person people want to work with! - @cynixy

A lot of the points raised in this are about putting yourself into your portfolio. A lot of people who apply will also have the same skills as you, so what is it that makes you you, and therefore stand out, so they know who they're going to be working with?

What an incredible panel! Thank you so much @cynixy @thing_stuff @smnthawbb @tomabernathy!