How to Write Video Game Guide Articles for Websites

Video gaming websites are chock-a-block with guide articles for console, mobile device, and Windows PC games. These are articles that provide handy hints and tips for playing video games. Some guides tell players where to find hidden items or secret locations in games. Such articles are also known as strategy guides, with content that varies between different video game genres.

(What Are the 8 Different Types of Video Game Articles?)

Many video gaming websites recruit freelance contributors to expand their game guide content. These are typically remote positions whereby authors submit articles to sites via content management systems such as WordPress or Emaki. If you fancy becoming a gaming writer, this is how you can write more effective game guide articles for websites.

Thoroughly Play The Games You Cover

First, play the video games you intend to write guides for extensively. The more you’ve played a game, the better you’ll know it. Playing games in more detail will enable you to provide better tips for them, enhancing their overall content.

I recommend playing single-player games through to completion, or at least near completion, before writing guides for them. You will certainly have a better idea of how to beat a game when you’ve completed it yourself. Note down any useful tips for a single-player game during or immediately after playing it. Then, you could have a big list of tips to share after completion.

For multiplayer guides, try winning a good number of matches to obtain a higher rank in whatever online game you’re playing before putting pen to paper. There’s little point in writing a guide for any multiplayer game when you’re not much more than a beginner player yourself. Be prepared to set aside at least 10-20 hours of playtime for any multiplayer title before writing a guide piece for it.

Structure Your Game Guides With Subheadings

When you’ve played a game in sufficient detail, you can note down some article title ideas for it. Guide articles typically include lists of tips, items, and locations or tell readers how to do certain things in games, such as beat bosses or solve puzzles. The titles for such articles often take the form of “How to…” or “X Tips for…” with numbered tips.

All video game guide articles should include some subheadings regardless of what their titles are. These subheadings will form the basic structure of your game article. The most suitable way to structure a list-based game guide is to add subheadings for all tips or locations it covers. If it’s a how-to guide, try to organize your guidelines into a few sections with appropriate subheadings included. These article pages show examples of subheading usage for game guides:

12 Stone Circle Locations in Assassin’s Creed OriginsHow to Get the Best Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Ending10 Counter-Strike 2 Tips for Beginners5 Power Cell Locations in Horizon Zero DawnHow to Find the Heroes of the Cult Members in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Follow Your Website’s Style Guidelines

Some gaming websites have style guidelines that provide article formatting and stylistic rules for writers. If the gaming site you’re submitting articles to has a style guide, read it thoroughly to ensure your articles adhere to it. The editorial on your site will likely request changes for articles submitted that don’t match the website’s style guidelines.

There isn’t any especially universally accepted way to format game guide articles on websites, as style guides vary. However, text formatting is usually applied to subheadings. Heading 2 and Heading 3 are widely utilized subheading formatting options for gaming articles.

All video games include graphical, audio, and control settings that gaming writers sometimes need to mention in guide articles. It’s necessary to format such settings in some way to distinguish them from the text. Some gaming websites format in-game settings with bold text similar to more general software writing. Other sites include single or double ‘inverted commas’ around in-game settings to highlight them.

The use of italic formatting for video game titles is also becoming more prevalent. This is mainly because the Chicago Manual of Style and Modern Language Association style guides advocate italic formatting for video game titles. Sites that adhere to the Chicago and MLA styles prefer game names to have italic text. However, this is not a requirement for Associated Press (AP) style articles. Be consistent with whatever style your articles adopt.

Avoid Including Obvious Tips

Try not to state the obvious in your game guide articles. Avoid including obvious tips or information about games most players who’ve played them for more than 30 minutes will already know. More informative guide articles tell players things about games they don’t already know.

Also, note that a gaming guide article should not be a rehash of a video game’s instruction manual. An instruction manual tells players how to play games with details about game controls, gameplay features, etc. The purpose of tip articles is to provide pointers that help players play the games better.

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Avoid Plot Spoilers for Single-Player Games

Many single-player first-person shooter and role-playing games have detailed storylines. Be careful not to reveal any notable plot details in your game guides for all those players who haven’t completed them. Some readers might complain about plot spoilers in your articles if you do. You must be especially careful with guides that discuss how players can see different ending sequences in games with variable endings.

If you must reveal some significant story details for a game in your guide, it’s a good idea to provide some warning at the beginning of an article. Add in a spoiler alert warning at the beginning of an article that tells readers it reveals some significant storyline details about a game.

Capture and Add Relevant Game Screenshots

No video game guide article would be complete without some screenshots. Game screenshots are good for decorative purposes because they give guide articles more visual appeal and break up blocks of text. They are also important for showing locations, items, enemies, and other things in games mentioned within your gaming articles.

Try to capture and include screenshots for a game related to your article’s content rather than a random assortment of images. For example, a guide article that tells readers where to find hidden things can include map screenshots to highlight their locations. Images that show things mentioned in your game guides will enhance clarity. All the more so when they include additional text captions that provide details for what the images show. You can view some examples of screenshot usage in these game guides:

How You Can Solve the Journey’s End Puzzle in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey6 Ancient Mechanism Locations in Assassin’s Creed OriginsHow to Get the Aernodight Sword in Witcher 3: Blood and Wine

You can capture game screenshots for articles with the built-in Game Bar app on Windows 11/10 PCs. To do so, press the Windows logo + G hotkey when playing a game, and click Capture > Take Screenshot. This tool saves the image files to a C:Users[user folder name]VideosCaptures on your PC.

The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles and Android/iOS mobile gaming devices also have game screenshot tools to utilize for your guide articles. Many gaming websites no doubt include guide articles for how you can utilize those screenshot tools. I recommend uploading captured screenshots to cloud storage such as Google Drive for easy transfer of game image files between devices.

Are You Now Ready to Be a Games Guide Writer? 

You can have lots of fun playing games and writing guides for them. To find some gaming sites to submit guide articles, browse the listings on the SimpyHired, Indeed.com, Blogging Pro, Freelance Writing Jobs, or GAMERS Group websites. You can apply to join gaming websites from those sites by filling out required forms or sending emails to them.