Jeffrey Yohalem owes his career to the video game "The Prince of Persia." Growing up in Santa Fe, he loved the game so much he would write additional scripts and stories for the historical adventure just for fun, and as an undergraduate at Yale University, he sought out Jordan Mechner, the game's creator, for advice about what courses he should take to pursue a career in video game script writing. (The answer? Screenwriting and architecture classes, to better understand the level designs of video games.)

Yohalem, 26, is now...