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BioWare Holds World Design Contest
grayblob writes "BioWare is holding a World Design Contest to find talented level designers to work in Austin on their first MMORPG. To enter you must create a module with a 20-40 minute playtime in the NWN1 toolset. The module should include 'a cut scene, intricate puzzles and interesting NPC behavior.' The contest ends July 20 and like the writing contest doesn't guarantee employment for the winners."
they want to create this artifical environment of competition to make people think it's a priviledge to work for them or something? people, it's a highly competitive employment market - and i mean for employers, not you. they need to be begging you for the chance to explain why you should want to work for them, not the other way around.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
I absolutely love this kind of thing. Contests seem to inspire innovation. My favorite contest in recent years was the x-prize - that result was great!
After all, competition made life: Just so long as it does not become conflict, it is healthy.
Read my Very Short "Stories"
Good way to get new ideas. Wasn't there a band that held a similar contest to find a new guitarist and just copied all the good riffs they heard on the day?
Who retains copyright over submitted works? No mention of it in the agreement.
I like this bit:
VGH Austin is under absolutely no obligation whatsoever to:
(a) acknowledge receipt of the Materials and/or this Agreement;
So you have to sign an agreement which they can deny ever receiving. Nice.
How about having the individual option to skip the cut scene. While the others are watching them, the skipped players could be doing something else tangentially tied to the game (reviewing strategy, modifying inventories, etc., etc.) Heck, evan spawn a completely stupid game like a Tetris-clone to pass the time while the others are watching... The possibilities are pretty cool. ~g
The benefit of going this route instead of the dreary old slog-through-the-demos route is that you might find a one-in-a-million inexperienced young hack out there who can knock together some impressive stuff, is surprised that he has any skills marketable to a game company, and then pay him a crap salary for the "opportunity" to work for them.
So the company gets a cheap, eager, bright eyed new recruit for a few years while the product goes through its life cycle and the guy either moves on once he figures he's got enough experience to get a decent gig somewhere else, or the whole project flounders and the entire development team gets laid off anyway. I'm not sure if this is a profitable business model or not, but I do know that it will probably suck to be on the lower end of things.
If he can write The Hex Coda, he can win this contest. But I'll give The Rose of Eternity series due credit for its awesome use of cutscenes and music.
Probably because it's a story/puzzle/level design contest, not a texture/physics/lighting contest. The NWN2 is extremely stable, and well known, so lots of folks are already familiar with it. If you can make an interesting level/story/puzzle in it, then it will be all the better when tied in with the latest engine of the day.
It wasn't even stable enough to run the included module, let alone community development.
They are using the NWN1 engine / toolset because it is well known and has a learning curve that doesn't look like a cliff. You can pick up the NWN1 toolset very quickly if you have any sort of the ability they are looking for.
The NWN2 toolset on the other hand... well the first guide I found for it is called "Don't Panic: The Hitchhiker's Guide to First Opening the Neverwinter Nights 2 Toolset"
Turing Word: smother
Bunch of reasons.
:) )
Some of them
- NWN is a very mature, very stable game development platform.
- Everyone at BioWare has NWN installed on their machines. Makes it easier to review.
- It has more copies out there (3.x M+)
- It has much lower systems requirements.
- It is cheaper (15 USD vs 49 USD for NWN2)
- The people reviewing the modules are much more familiar with the NWN toolset.
- It encourages people to stick to gameplay over eyecandy.
- Faster to create a NWN module. NWN2 levels are much more complex (and better looking
- The NWN toolset is more friendly (less complex) to beginners
- The documentation for NWN is much more complete after 5 years.
hope that helps
Georg, BioWare.
It's just a contest. You're free to decide whether it's worth it or not. You're also free to decide whether the terms are fair or not.
Camping on quad since 1996.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What if they don't really want a cut sceene, but want builders to demonstrate their ability to create scripted events in the NWN toolset?
www.aleo.no
He refused, he wants to keep making modules a hobby.
The world always seems brighter when you've just made something that wasn't there before. - Neil Gaiman
Do you get paid for writing your resume, or getting an artist's portfolio together too? People said the same things about the WotC Setting search a few years back, and even though I didn't win the contest, I placed in the top 11, which was enough to get me my first book deal and to give me a career in writing. Don't be so quick to be cynical about this kind of contest. Or, you know, do, and those who are willing to work for an opportunity won't have as many people to compete against.
Puzzles also suck in multiplayer, unless they are specifically designed for MP. So, i guess this contest isn't targeted at MP.
Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
Yeah, about as reasonable as:
You want me to buy a suit for the interview to get employment? You're supposed to pay me!
You want me to buy gas to drive to the interview to get employment? You're supposed to pay me!
You want me to pay for university and get a degree to get employment? You're supposed to pay me!
Sometimes they do, but more often then not you have to do some things for yourself. Get used to it.
A year or two ago I participated in Bioware's writing contest, winning the community voting. I actually did it for the swag they were giving away - I use their coffee mug every day and that Bioware wool cap kept me warm all winter. They'd already offered me a job some time ago, mostly after my NWN modules came out. It was extremely flattering, though the move, disruption to my family, and pay cut made the decision pretty easy. I have a great job in healthcare and a somehow find the time to continue to work on my module building even still. Working for a gaming company can be difficult, though Bioware is one of the best in the industry. I think my decision was to stick with a quality, stable job and having game making be a hobby. For the most part, it's lower stress and I can take the story whatever direction I want.
In terms of the winning module from last year, I actually did two versions. The first was way too linear. The second had lots of choice, from evil to crazy to several flavors of good. There was drama and humor, quality scripting, and polished writing. For folks trying for this contest, I'd keep the cutscenes short, give the player as many choices as you can manage, and make your NPCs memorable. Less is more for these sorts of things. Don't plan an epic module spanning dozens of areas. Just make a couple, with a simple storyline. Play to your strengths - writers should write and scripters should script. You'll have to do both, but emphasize what you're best at.