Microsoft

It’s a common perception that professional game writers get to play for a living. It’s true.

It’s also true that in a highly competitive industry that now generates more revenue than the movie business, game writers often work long, hard hours. Most of those hours are not spent playing games.

Game writers must be skilled in technical and creative writing, be able to use a highly technical tools, understand HTML and XML, know how to write with localization in mind, know their game’s community, and be familiar with ESRB guidelines.

My experience at Microsoft was a superb training ground for delivering quality content under the pressure of deadlines that could not move. My resume details the responsibilities I carried while leading content teams.

Below is a sample of the high-profile products I worked on from 1994-2009.

Online content and project management

Print production

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Box copy

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The simulation products were highly sophisticated and technical. They required subject matter expertise of aviation and the ability to distill highly complex products down to easy-to-follow instructions for a popular audience. Flight Simulator models the entire world in 3-D and uses physics algorithms for flight characteristics.

The commercial version of the Flight Simulator simulation engine, Microsoft ESP, is used by the U.S. military and companies like Lockheed to create simulations of real-world scenarios for training.