Sidelines signs Dead Space writer Antony Johnston

Videogame writing agency Sidelines has added Antony Johnston to its list, the man behind the stories for the original Dead Space comic, videogame and Dead Space: Extraction.

Johnston, also the author of the Wasteland comic book series, came to the attention of the company when sister business Side used his work in recording dialogue for the EA sci-fi horror title, and they've now snapped him up.

"Our most recent signing is Antony Johnston - Side had recorded Dead Space: Extraction, and everybody who worked on the project said that it was good writing," explained Sidelines director Sini Downing. "He also wrote the original comic, then signed on to do the first game - and now Extraction.

"He's one of the guys who the rest of the time is working on graphic novels," she added in a recent interview.

But while many writers in the sector have experience working in other media, typically film or television, there's a latent appetite to work on videogames projects.

"People are excited - I don't think I've ever had to persuade someone, it's just a new avenue for them to be creative and play with their skills," she told GamesIndustry.biz. "They have a toolkit, and games are another way to use it, to have their product out there in different ways.

"A lot of them happen to be gamers as well - sometimes I've hired a TV writer because I've felt they've written similar types of things, but not for games, and it turns out... there was even one that started writing for his favourite game franchise. But unless they're tuned into presenting themselves as wanting to write for games, they don't tend to put which games they like on their CV."

The full interview with Sini Downing is available now.