The Wall Street Journal Blog offers an interesting origin story for Jeffrey Yohalem, the lead scribe for Ubisoft’s recently released video game Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Yohalem gives credit to the classic game Prince of Persia as his inspiration for getting into the business. Speaking to WSJ, Yohalem said that after playing the game he felt greatly inspired, going on to write additional scripts and stories for the game "just for fun."
Later on in life, he sought out the sage advice of Jordan Mechner (the game's original creator) on what course to pursue to become a "video game script writer" at Yale. This lead him to take on courses in screenwriting and architecture.
The 26-year-old is now the lead writer of the latest Assassin’s Creed title. Here is a sample from the article, where Yohalem's duties are detailed:
As lead writer, Yohalem is responsible for crafting the dialogue for both Ezio and the other characters he meets, such as the corrupt Cesare Borgia, “The Prince” author Niccolo Machiavelli and the noblewoman Caterina Sforza, the Contessa of Forli. Yohalem says his favorite scene from the game is an exchange between Ezio and Caterina, a former lover, after he frees her from a prison. After Caterina tells her savior that she was only in a relationship with him “to ensure [his family’s] allegiance to protect Forli,” he responds, "È la politica. (Politics.)"
You can read the rest here.
