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Role Playing (Games) Entertainment Games

BioWare Hiring Writers by Contest 143

Posted by CowboyNeal from the win-some-work dept.
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.'"
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BioWare Hiring Writers by Contest More

BioWare Hiring Writers by Contest

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  • Congratulations! You've Won! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward


    And now you'll be rewarded with an underpaid job, long tedious hours, endless revisions and the knowlege that you're working for a company that once upon a time produced quality products!

    And you also get a genuine signed copy of Knights of the Old Republic, worth $33.

    Hold your head up high, kid.

  • Short and sweet! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Shadow Wrought ( 586631 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .thguorw.wodahs.> on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:33PM (#14162023) Homepage Journal
    It is a dark and stormy night. You are likely to be eaten by a wet Grue.
    • It is a dark and stormy night. You are likely to be eaten by a wet Grue.

      The raining season had begun a couple of weeks ago. You can hear the thunders approaching from the east. The pain in your injured knee keeps telling you this would be a very bad night. Hungry, hurt, and barely clothed, you try to crouch to protect yourself from the cold. Even the horses at the stable are getting anxious.

      You begin to wonder if this stupid quest for recovering your family treasure is really worth it. On top of it, you jus

    • The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the Norgolian empire. Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of earth. The tireless sun cast its parching rays of incandescense from overhead, half way through its daily revolution. Small rodents scampered about, occupying themselves in the daily accomplishments of their dismal lives. Dust sprayed over three heaving m

      • Man, that is just awful.

        The weather beaten trail wound ahead into the dust racked climes of the baren land which dominates large portions of the Norgolian empire. You mismatch tenses -- either the trail winds or the land dominated. Dust-wracked, and wracked isn't really the right word there. Barren.

        Age worn hoof prints smothered by the sifting sands of time shone dully against the dust splattered crust of earth. If the prints are smothered, they're not shining, dully or otherwise. Dust doesn't "splat

    • The rain was beatin down like hammers on a tin roof, and my head was pounding to the same drum. The night before was halfway lost to me, my mind swimming in cheap booze and even cheaper hookers, but one dame's face didn't escape me in my liquor-addled haze. Her name was Suzie, and the way she walked reminded me of a girl I once knew, back when I was younger and I knew better than to take a job like this one. When the rent is 2 months overdue, I guess a tired old gumshoe will get in over his head just to m

  • Game Promotion? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Damana Mathos ( 825898 ) <thomas AT thomasrice DOT com> on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:34PM (#14162029) Homepage Journal
    So do you think BioWare is motivated by trying to recruit someone, or is this mainly an exercise in promoting their games?

    Given the popularity of working in the games industry and the coverage this would get, I'd imagine it's more the latter rather than the former.

    • Re:Game Promotion? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by demachina ( 71715 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:38PM (#14162070)
      Why hire writers when you can get them to work for free under the guise of a contest :)

      • Re:Game Promotion? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by TheRaven64 ( 641858 )
        The entire thing doesn't entirely ring true. The contest page says things like 'winning the contest does not guarantee a job with us,' and 'everyone wants to work here, we're great.' And yet they're holding a competition try to generate more interest in working for them. To be honest, they sound a bit desperate - not the kind of company I'd want to work for.
        • 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, or keep the good guy around for a few (much longer) contracts, or just hire the good guy outright after a one year contract. Make sure bennies are in the contract though - people need health care whether they are on contract or not.

            • Re:Game Promotion? (Score:2, Insightful)

              by mcvos ( 645701 )

              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.

            • > Make sure bennies are in the contract though - people need
              > health care whether they are on contract or not.

              Heh, the job is in Edmunton. One advantage of the Frozen North is state health care.
      • Looks like they stole Wizards of the Coast's business model... :-P

      • I mean... maybe, but they're asking them to write a module that could be done in 15 minutes. 3500 words, tops, and 1 playable character, 4 NPC's tops. No combat, no special skills.

        Sounds like they're really focusing on the writing to me. And like someone below said, they can't guarantee a job to the winner because the person might not be the kind of person who works well at the company, or is willing to relocate (vs. work from home), or could be the type of person who writes awesome fantasy, but also eat
    • And does Bioware get to keep and use your stories without hiring you?

    • Re:Game Promotion? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:56PM (#14162175) Homepage Journal
      "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?

      • "Digital artists have to have a demo reel in order to score an interview. Why would writing be any different?"

        I agree - writers should submit samples of their work in the way digital artists would.

        What sets this apart is BioWare staging it as a content ("The Contest That Might Become Your Career") rather than a job ad.

        • I have not RTFA, buy my completely uninformed guess is that BioWare retains the rights to all entries and will be publishing "the best of" in the future. So not only do they get a good writer out of the deal, but they get some number of well written adventures for free in the bargain.
    • I think you're right. There is already a huge number of modules for this game and many of them are very well written. If they truly are looking for new talent, why not contact some of these mod authers?

    • Re:Game Promotion? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      AS one of the employees hired from the community after a similar event, I can say it's the former.

      http://www.bioware.com/2million/articles/community _staff_members.html [bioware.com]

      It's hard to find good writers that can write in the style required for games.

  • Other developers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Psithe ( 891219 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:39PM (#14162072)
    I hope more developers have contests like this, or like the Unreal one. Gives more incentive to make mods.
  • When hiring writers, BioWare looks only at your writing; not the areas, not the special scripting, and not the combat.

    A semicolon is not a colon.
    • A semicolon is also not inappropriate in this context; they are legitimately used to separate clauses in a single sentence.
      • However, the words after the semicolon in that sentance do not form a clause.

      • Re:Is punctuation judged too? (Score:4, Informative)

        by dgatwood ( 11270 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @07:27PM (#14162346) Homepage Journal
        The second half is not a clause. A colon is not appropriate either, because while the second part is a list, the first part does not introduce the list. The proper punctuation here is an em dash, which introduces---and, by the way, terminates---a parenthetical expression.

        Just trying to be pedantic---this is, after all, an article on writing....

    • Does it matter? Writers have something called a poetic license, where it pretty much lets them do whatever the hell they want. The point is, the semicolon creates a longer pause, no matter which way you look at it. And that's what the writer was going for.

  • Geek version of "The Apprentice"... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chaffar ( 670874 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:40PM (#14162083)
    This is truly an amazing thing Bioware is doing here. Disregarding the obvious promotional benefits they get by doing something like this, this lets people with nothing more than a fertile imagination break through and potentially land a job in the industry of their dreams.

    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...



    • I'm a big fan of BG.

      NWN was a step down.

      KOTR was a step off the edge of a very large precipice, from which there may be no return.

      Let's hope BioWare gets back to their roots and starts work on BGIII. They have some amazing properties, but lately they've succumbed to the console crowd.

  • To all hopeful contestants: (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rodness ( 168429 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:43PM (#14162102)
    Enough with Star Wars, World War II, Vietnam, and other existing franchises. It's been done to death.

    How about writing a good old school style fantasy RPG with an original storyline? If you MUST, do another Forgotten Realms game, but invent some new characters instead of copying Baldur's Gate.

    Of course, an RPG set in the TRON universe would also be new and different... I don't think anyone has tried to do anything but action games in that setting before. (I liked Tron2.0, but it wasn't an RPG.)

    (And I realize I just asked for a couple of holy grails, but oh well...)
    • Bioware is currently working on a new fantasy-style rpg with a completely different ruleset and setting from dnd. Its called Dragon Age.

      Dragon Age website [bioware.com]

      • Re:To all hopeful contestants: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward
        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 alwa
        • If you would RTFD (read the fine discussion), the original poster said he would like to see a classic, old school fantasy rpg. I was just informing him of the Dragon Age game in development.

          I totally agree with the part you said about the lack of original settings. However, I don't see why you have to include things such as "WHY IS THIS SHIT ALWAYS THE FUCKING SAME?" in order to make your point. Must be an AC thing...
        • You are correct. A game cannot have anything original if the setting has been done already. That's why WarCraft is so unoriginal; Tolkien already did orcs and elves. That's why saving Private Ryan was unoriginal; The Sound of Music already did Europe during World War II. That's why Beyond Good and Evil had no originality; Mario 64 already did third-person action adventure.

          Why tech anyway? We already saw that in Warhammer 40,000. Wild West? John Wayne. 1775 in New York, American Revolution. Samurai

    • I think a better suggestion to all hopeful contestants would be to read the contest guidelines, one of which is:

      Use a medieval fantasy setting.

      It's also worth clarifying that Bioware isn't necessarily hiring the winners of the contest. The top 8 submissions will be "reviewed" by Bioware staff for consideration.

      Curiously, while this is being billed as a "contest", it appears to be the standard method for applying for a writer's job at Bioware (by submitting a writing sample via a NWN module), according to h [bioware.com]

  • I'm considering submitting (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PIPBoy3000 ( 619296 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @06:46PM (#14162119)
    Personally, I'm going for the Bioware wool cap. Jobs are overrated.

    I've done a number of modules for NWN (Shadowlords, Dreamcatcher, Demon) and am currently working on a NWN2 campaign. I think I'm going to end up taking one of our sidequests and tweaking it slightly to fit the rules.

    There's a few tricky parts:
    • 3 NPCs + PC. That's not many people, especially if the PC has henchmen/companions.
    • No combat. Conflict has to be handled in other ways (assuming there's conflict).
    • 4x4 area. That's tiny. Most of the movement in the story will have to be short, possibly going over the same ground. Think of a medium sized house or a small cave.

    That being said, I think we may have a side quest with an interesting premise. I think the competition will be pretty stiff, but it should be a fun exercise.
    • Best of luck Adam, though I doubt you'll need it :) You're one of the best NWN community storytellers out there. Shadowlords and Dreamcatcher blew me away.
    • You know you should be exempt from this! ;)

    • Re:I'm considering submitting (Score:5, Funny)

      by modecx ( 130548 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @07:18PM (#14162299)
      No combat. Conflict has to be handled in other ways (assuming there's conflict).

      Yes, I agree, conflict should be addressed by no more than a heated discourse at afternoon tea. There shall be no throwing of crumpets, and absolutely no elbows on the table! The deadliest attack will be a gaze of consternation, such to cause the victim mild intestinal discomfort!

      Passive aggressive people the world over will flock to your game!
      • That's fairly amusing. I was half-tempted to try for something along the lines of Facade [interactivestory.net], except with a fantasy twist. That's like watching a couple go through an emotional train wreck and yet no actual punches are thrown.
        • Heh, I'm downloading Facade now, looks interesting. I imagine, as a game concept, yours might actually work pretty well if done right, sort of like Sims, but I wouldn't know since I've never pl;ayed it. It'd be more personal I gather.

          I can see my version now, though: "Sim Verbal Assault: The #1 game for boot camp sergeants, SIR?!" Oh yeah!
    • Fair warning: if you come work at the company, you'll have to stop calling them 'wool caps' and start calling them 'toques'.

      I thought you should know up front.
    • I've done a number of modules for NWN (Shadowlords, Dreamcatcher, Demon)

      Oh yeah, those. Yeah, they were quite good.

      Which is to say that the last time you posted about them here I downloaded the first few Shadowlords modules, and then didn't sleep properly for a month as my halfling sorcerer went through the entire lot of them. I might also add that at one point I nearly went into some kind of geek seizure... here I am, playing a fanmade D&D adventure game on my Linux box at some ungodly hour of the


  • I sincerely wonder what this means about the health of the gaming industry, a business plagued with lack of innovation and consumer ADD! I think BioWare is seriously is attempting to break out of the mold, but by what "criteria" does a good idea an exist? A good idea is one part thought and ninety-nine parts execution! The problem you will have here is the same long-in-the-tooth people that no longer have originality (or a need for it, due to their fat salaries) are going to be the ones that choose which i
    • 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.

  • Local zoo... (Score:3, Funny)

    by __aaclcg7560 ( 824291 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @07:04PM (#14162227)
    I guess the monkey house at the local zoo didn't have any great Shakesperian writers.

  • Finally a place for my Xena Fan Fiction! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    And my "Xena Meets the Vampire LeStat" anthology!

  • Two months. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Jace of Fuse! ( 72042 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @07:18PM (#14162296) Homepage
    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...)
    • I dealt with the slowness of the aurora toolset with large modules by breaking my modules into seperate chapters, making sure that chapters stayed small enough that the toolset did not slow down too much.

      Its limiting becuase you can basically only have your adventurers explore a small portion of your entire landmass at a time, but its a work around none-the-less.
      • Right.

        That's a work around that would work for some types of stories/modules.

        Do you remember the original Bard's Tale? That wouldn't work well for the original Bard's Tale.
    • The main focus here is the storytelling. If you read the article you're limited to a 4x4 tile, 4 characters (one PC), and you can't have combat. At first, I thought the same thing you did, but after reading the rules, quickly realized that it is more than doable.

      As an aside, I myself became rooted in the same position as you. I was recreating The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but became frustrated with the tedium (especially since I'm a perfectionist and would completely restart each area if it ju
  • Well, it seems to me a number of creative entries might never come to be since thier damn development toolset doesn't work on the Mac.

    I know I would have tried something...

    I would have liked to do something in the vein of the Bards Tale, perhaps a mini story where you are in a sort of job interview for dungeon cleaning. So as you can see they lost nothing with my not being able to create a module, but there are probably others that would have been pretty good.

    A really cool contest though and a neat idea to
    • Yeah, I was very excited about this contest--would have even purchased the game--until I did some searching and figured this out, too. There are some non-BioWare mod-making tools, but I don't think they'd work.

      I have an old Windows machine that I almost never boot up anymore, but I don't think it will run NWN. Ah well.

      Alex.
  • I don't suppose there is a way of getting one's hands on the toolkit for module development without buying the game? Or what if you are running Linux?

  • Employment not guaranteed. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by pcgabe ( 712924 ) on Thursday December 01, 2005 @07:55PM (#14162497) Homepage Journal
    From the FAQ:
    So, if I win I start working for BioWare?
            No. The winning entries will be reviewed by BioWare senior staff James Ohlen and Kevin Barrett, but no employment is guaranteed.
    So, you can 'win' and still be unemployed.

    From the submission agreement (emphasis mine):
    4. The Developer acknowledges and agrees that:

    (a) BioWare is continuously engaged in an active research and development program in which BioWare has invested and is continuing to invest considerable time and money in the development of new multimedia products as well as improvements and enhancements to BioWare's existing products which may be similar or identical to the ideas, functions, features or other aspects of the Materials;

    (b) other persons, including BioWare's employees or contractors may have originated and submitted to BioWare or to others, or may in the future originate and submit to BioWare or to others, products, concepts, ideas, functions or enhancements which may be similar or identical to the ideas, functions, features or other aspects of the Materials; and

    (c) the submission of the Materials to BioWare and/or the receipt of the Materials by BioWare does not entitle the Developer to any compensation whatsoever where BioWare, independent of the submitted Materials, has produced or will in the future produce a product which may be, in whole or in part, similar or identical to the ideas, functions, features or other aspects of the Materials.
    So, they can copy your ideas and not reimburse you in any way, as long as they claim that their development was independent from your submission.

    I'm not saying they would, but they could.

    That being said, I'm still going to submit something. ^_^ And you all should too. Competition is pressure, and pressure makes diamonds.
  • They will get thousands of new story ideas and only hire a handful of people. That doesn't mean they won't use
    the ideas of people they don't hire.

    Look at The Apprentice. Trump makes more money with the show than he would be paying the individual that wins. So
    he is already smiling even if he hire a dufus.

    Look at Rockstar. Again they make tons of money with the show, if they have a bad year because the public doesn't like
    the guy/girl that much, they just host a show again next year and make more money.

    Its
  • No contest needed. Just pick random contributors from the ELotH:TES wiki [pbwiki.com]. Now there's a game concept.
  • ...with a marketing guy who says, "HEY GUYS! I've gotta GREAT IDEA!..."
  • 'We evaluate only the characters, the dialogue, the plot, the non-linear structure, and the flow and pace of the story.'

    Sweet...finally a place where I can submit all of my half-elf Ranger/deep gnome Tinker slash-fic plotlines!
  • If you think you're that good, you should write a book, sell it and keep the copyright, or write your own script to see if anyone licenses it.

    I believe the organizers are just looking for cheap scripts, or worse, hire the winners and then make them sign off their copyright and moral rights as "work for hire" for new writings created.

    • But lets say your a struggling writer. Hashing out something small like this might be enough to start getting your name out there. And, if you win, would be a great start to launch a writing career from.
  • I used an old Dragon magazine (as a very loose basis) to make a module and spent weeis on the map and the scripts and story flow (quite heavily changed) to make it fun... http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detai l&id=3808 [ign.com] ...it has 3 diffent endings (and many ways to die). I think BioWare ought to look at the modules in the vault instead of asking for a stupid 4x4 boring chit-chat module. I don't have time to do another, but you can enjoy the one I already did. Cheers, McDoc

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