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BioWare Hiring Writers by Contest
AsiNisiMasa writes "GamaSutra reports: BioWare Announces Writing Contest For Industry Jobs. For all of you with some modding experience with the hopes of breaking into the gaming industry, here is your chance. For you less confident modders, there is still hope. From BioWare's official contest page: 'When hiring writers, BioWare looks only at your writing; not the areas, not the special scripting, and not the combat. We evaluate only the characters, the dialogue, the plot, the non-linear structure, and the flow and pace of the story.'"
Why hire writers when you can get them to work for free under the guise of a contest :)
@de_machina
I hope more developers have contests like this, or like the Unreal one. Gives more incentive to make mods.
I am a huge fan of Bioware and their games, the BG, NN, and NWN series are all breathtaking; It's things like this that remind me why I have so much respect them. Bioware have always sold games with virtually no eye-candy, just perfectly narrated stories with near-infinite replay value. It's really cool of them to turn to their fans for inspiration.
On a less optimistic note, I just hope they aren't doing this because they are running out of ideas and their company is sinking...
"So do you think BioWare is motivated by trying to recruit someone, or is this mainly an exercise in promoting their games?"
Digital artists have to have a demo reel in order to score an interview. Why would writing be any different?
"Derp de derp."
"I would never acknowledge and participate in such a degrading method of showing my abilities."
Proving your abilities by answering a challenge not unlike one you would recieve at the job you'd apply for is degrading?
"Derp de derp."
You have exactly two months to make a module in NWN.
I attempted to build a remake of the original Bard's Tale with Neverwinter Nights, and came along pretty far with it. I even had a great and nearly perfect recreation of Skara Brea.
The problem was that as the project grew in size and become more complex the Aurora toolset became slower and slower, esspecially when laying down some of my scripted "zones".
I think the reason I gave up on my Bard's Tale recreation was because I became frustrated with the increasing slowness of Aurora as the project grew, and because I quickly realized how tedius it was trying to put together a worth "recreation" rather than doing something original.
Still, it's a decent toolset and this contest is an incentive for me to begin work on a new project. 60 days might be enough to put together something really slick if you weren't trying to build something too large.
(As an aside, I don't suppose anybody would be interested in taking over that NWN recreation, would they? The Skara Brae related maps alone might be fun for someone to play around with if they were old Bard's Tale fans...)
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
So basically, you're saying that you're jealous that you don't get to make the decision on who gets chosen? Nice try. If you're really interested in improving the writing and story telling, here's a suggestion.
1) Make mod.
2) Distribute mod and gather feedback from players.
3) Sell mod. Profit!
Alternatively, if you're just interested in voting:
1) Download existing mod.
2) Send email to modder.
Hey, it's one less step. See how easy that was? Now go forth and create/vote.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
oh, wow. awesome. a rpg in a medieval setting, with magic and dragons and stuff. how _original_.
you know why the harry potter series became popular (apart from the hype it's getting now)? because the setting - modern day + magic - was more original than what you would have gotten of you would put harry into the year 1285. do something original ffs. how about a rpg in the wild west? 1775 in new york? samurai-timed japan? Gallia in 50 b.c.? the stoneage? animal kingdom? planet of the apes? huh? why do we always need magic? why not tech? WHY IS THIS SHIT ALWAYS THE FUCKING SAME?
god forbid there would be no magicians, rogues, warriors, dwarves, demons and elves. writers, can you hear me? you SUCK!
They're not going to guarantee the contest winner a job, because he might disasterously fail the interview.
Then a renewal contract should be given. Like good old Trumpy does to his apprentices. Get the psycho/incomptent out quick so they can't do much damage,
But if I were to relocate to a different hemisphere, I'd really appreciate if I didn't have to move back after a month. I'd rather just get rejected at the interview.
What happens in the method discussed, the two parties, i.e. employer and applicant do not have the same status.
There is no equality as in 'I got something, you are interested, lets discuss'.
The problem here is that they don't know you have something they're interested in. They want to see your work first.
Any idiot can say he can do something. I like companies that only hire people who can actually do it.