Guido Schmidt and the Part About Writing Nobody Wants to Hear
Road to Rank 1 - Episode 3
I have a plan. It's not a good plan. Let’s goooo!
For my mission to become a better writer, I keep talking to people who have actually shipped creative work instead of just thinking about it.
This time I spoke with Guido Schmidt, design director at Rovio, former developer at Paradox, Ubisoft, and Remedy, and now also a published author.
What made this call interesting was that Guido has lived both sides of the problem. He has spent more than 20 years in games, but in recent years he also returned to writing fiction and actually published books.
And that immediately brought us to one uncomfortable truth
Everyone Wants to Write. Very Few Actually Publish.
Guido said that after his first book came out, suddenly lots of people told him they were writing too. Or planning to. Or almost finished.
That felt painfully familiar.
Everyone has ideas. Everyone has a story. The real difference is whether something ever leaves your head, gets finished, and reaches other people.
Writing is not only imagination. It is completion.
And that is where a lot of writers disappear.
The Shortcut Is Still Not Real
Naturally, I asked him for the one magical tip that would make me a bestselling writer without too much pain.
His answer was extremely inconsiderate.
There is no guarantee. No safe shortcut. But if you do not make the thing and put it out into the world, then it definitely will not happen.
Annoying. But fair.
What you cannot control is whether something hits the zeitgeist. What you can control is whether it exists at all.
Visibility Matters More Than Writers Like to Admit
Another thing Guido confirmed for me: it is not just about writing. It is also about showing up consistently around the work.
He has been posting about his books for years, and now people know him as “the guy with the book.”
That matters.
Before success scales, people first need a simple hook for who you are and what you do.
That is also one reason I started Road to Rank 1. I do not want to learn in silence and maybe emerge years later with a manuscript. I want to build in public.
Story Makes Ideas Easier to Remember
We also talked about Guido’s book, Game Design: Impossible, and I liked the structure immediately.
Instead of only writing theory about team dynamics, conflict, and communication in game development, he wrapped those ideas into story. Characters, situations, failure, analysis, then back into the story.
That is a strong reminder: even when you want to teach something, story is often what makes it stick.
What I’m Taking From This One
This call was less about narrative theory and more about discipline.
Write the thing.
Finish the thing.
Publish the thing.
Repeat.
Not romantic. But probably true.
Still no magical shortcut.
Very disappointing.
But definitely another useful silver tip for the pile.
About Road to Rank 1
Road to Rank 1 is my public learning series about becoming a better writer of interactive fiction and audio stories by talking to experts from games, books, audio, and narrative design.
