Game Writing at a Distance (aka Game Writing under Contract) - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 63

Unfamiliarity with the Tools Can Lead to Dissonance
Every part of the story must be realized in some fashion: cinematics must be animated
and rendered; levels and missions must be built in a tool or tools; dialog must be
acted and directed and then placed in game. Just like you must understand what is
possible with a film camera when you write a screenplay, you must fully understand
the capabilities of all the tools the development team has at their disposal when you
write your game story.
However, this is especially difficult because almost every dev team has their own
custom set of tools, and being off-site most of the time, you really won't have much
of a chance to use them. So, you may not really understand what is possible with this
team's set of tools.
The danger here is simple: story beats written by you that cannot be built, and
the odds are that you may be miles and time zones away when that part of the game
is finished. The fundamental nature of the beat might change, the story might not
make any sense, and you may get the blame. In this case, the blame is deserved
because it really is up to you to make sure the story element is buildable as written.
7.3 Steps You Can Take to Minimize Your Risk and the
Developer's Risk
In other words, steps you can take to minimize the feeling that you are being a pain
in the ass.
Get Local Build of the Game
My most successful remote jobs were the ones where, every morning, I logged onto
the developer's server and downloaded the latest build. I could play the game on my
remote machine, see yesterday's changes, and react. Not all developers will trust you
this way, because they may see letting their code base out of house as a security risk
(they wouldn't be wrong). But if you can swing this, many of the cons listed above
melt away.
Learn the Tools
Spend time while you are on site learning the tools the developers will use. Sit with
the staff and learn what strengths the tool has as well as the weaknesses. If possible,
write the final draft of any materials after you've had these training sessions. This
will serve two functions. First, the writing will be better. Second, you'll be viewed
as someone who isn't afraid to get their hands dirty, which always gains you brownie
points with the team.
Provide Your Own Software
When you determine your run rate (see below), be certain to allow for the purchase,
out of your own bank account, of any software needed for your job. Let's say they