How to Start Writing Video Game Walkthroughs

[edit] Approved Video Game Walkthrough Freelancers

1. Matthew Pittman: Mpittman17
2. Jack Baldwin: Jackb
3. Nir Paniry: Npaniry
4. Nate Chang: Nate c
5. Shawn Norris: Shawnn
6. Pamela Ferdinand: Pumkin
7. David Taylor: Dave g
8. Benjamin Pulley: Phoenix mal fet
9. Mitchell Saltzman: Mitchell S
10. Brittany Hillen: Blair m
11. Timothy McLellan: tdm5003
12. Eric Pico: Pico
13. Colin Roberts: Ectos
14. Kyle Mull: Kylemull
15. Nathaniel Edwards: Nathaniel e
16. Andrew Testa: Andrew t
17. Aaron Reed: Avarianparakeet
18. Andrew Shrout: Ashrout-
19. Evan Minter: Minter
20. Mike Curley: Burningstickman
21. Jason Lomeli: Jasonl
22. Stevenson Marroquin: Steve.
23. Mike Flacy: Mike flacy
24. Andy Yen: Andy y
25. Alexander Grunberg: Alexj
26. Douglas Burchill: Doug b
27. Justin Krumme: Paranoia
28. Michael Shrout: Mtshrout
29. Joshua Reding: Josh r
30. James Elrick: Saber0307
31. Steven Tedisky: Steven j
32. Philip Hornshaw: Phil h
33. Kyle Hardeman: William kh

[edit] Introduction: How to Start Writing Video Game Walkthroughs

• Welcome to the Mahalo.com video game walkthrough project. If you're a skilled gamer and writer, we will pay you to write original walkthroughs of today's most popular games.
• There's five easy steps involved:

1. Get approved. Send us your best walkthrough writing sample. 400 words (or more) is best. Details for the submission are below.
2. Create a Greenhouse account.
3. Choose a walkthrough. After you've picked one of the available walkthrough assignments, we'll give you some ideas in terms of structure/layout.
4. Sign all relevant forms.
5. For formatting and other information, check out the Video Game Walkthrough Style Guide.
6. Get playing!

[edit] Getting Started

1. Send us your best walkthrough writing sample. If possible, make it impressive. We need something about 400 words (or more, if you have it) to be able to get a good idea of your writing. Go all out. We're stricter than we used to be.
2. It needs to be original walkthrough writing. This can be a level you've beaten, a specific boss, fighting through a wave of enemies, solving a rather difficult puzzle, how to best wield certain weapons during a section, etc. We need to verify that you can guide a user through a game, give them great strategies and advice, and do so with clear writing.
3. GRAMMAR GRAMMAR GRAMMAR. Show off your clear writing ability. Do not send us something that is very sloppily written.
4. Once you're approved, you'll be allowed to write walkthroughs for Mahalo. Send samples to markb@mahalo.com and evand@mahalo.com
5. You may want to take a look at our Walkthrough Style Guide to get an idea of the writing we like best.
6. Send the sample to markb@mahalo.com and evand@mahalo.com

• Before you can begin work on your video game walkthrough, you must create a Greenhouse account.

[edit] Selecting a Video Game Walkthrough

• When you are all set up, check out our Walkthrough Most Wanted List which currently has a select amount of popular video games. There will be more available in the weeks to come. Please only select a game workthrough to work on that you are completely familiar with and that you are comfortable doing.

• A bit of what we want in a walkthrough. We want the walkthrough to be very easy to read and understand, yet very detailed and thorough. It should be a thorough guide through the game, with any secrets, side missions, etc., along the way. Depending on the structure of the game you are doing, you may structure it in terms of levels, chapters, discs, or whatever else seems best.
• For information on formatting sections click here.

[edit] Video Game Walkthrough Examples

• Check out the Video Game Walkthroughs we made here at Mahalo for a better idea of what we want in a walkthrough: GTAIV Step-by-Step Walkthrough and Portal Walkthrough.

[edit] How to Get Paid for Your Video Game Walkthroughs

• If you want to get paid, you must send in a contract and the other appropriate forms! Please see the Freelance Payment Information page.

[edit] Learning MediaWiki

• Mahalo pages are created in MediaWiki, the free software used by Wikipedia. There is nothing you need to download, but you will need to use MediaWiki formatting to write pages for Mahalo. Fortunately, it is extremely simple to learn!

1. Check out the Greenhouse guide to basic formatting.
2. Also review this wiki guide.