Austin Chapter

Duties

• Writing dialogue. Must be able to write interesting dialogue in a timely fashion.
• Coming up with level designs, story and puzzle ideas.

Experience and Qualifications

Minimum education: Post-secondary diploma, certification or degree preferred.

• Works well in a team environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to conceptualize, document and upkeep several areas within a project.
• The ability to work within the framework of the overall story to create interesting plots and subplots for an area.
• An awareness of what resources (art, programming) are available, and the ability to work within these limits when devising plots and characters.
• Sensitivity to and understanding of the needs of other departments (animation, art, programming, tools).
• Writers must be flexible enough to make changes or rewrites to their areas when required, no matter what the reason.
• Writers must recognize potential problems in their plots, characters, and areas, and propose/brainstorm appropriate solutions with the lead writer/lead designer.
• Writers are responsible for the "fun" factor of their plots and levels.

Familiarity with the fantasy genre and role-playing games is a must. Should have some experience with the NWN editor. Examples of work must be provided (see below).

Required Submission

An example of writing via the Neverwinter Nights toolset should be provided.

Here are the guidelines for the module:

• Make the module short. It should be a short, interesting story that can be played within 15 to 30 minutes.
• Start the story off with a bang! If it doesn't catch our interest with the first character, your submission will likely be discarded.
• There should be at least 3000 words of dialogue within the module.
• We will be judging your ability to write dialogue that is interesting and has personality. The characters you are writing have to be engaging in a manner that immediately draws in the reader.
• The dialogue must be fun and easy to read, not overly verbose.
• We will also be judging the structure of your dialogue. Does the dialogue flow logically? Does the player feel in control of the conversation?
• Avoid creating an entire adventure module with combat, puzzles, and so on. Focus your efforts on dialogue.

Examples of the style of game dialogue that we are looking for: Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape Torment, Neverwinter Nights.

Common writing submission mistakes:

1.     Overly verbose dialogue. Dialogue should be succinct and easy to read.

2.     Dialogue where the player has very little interaction. The player should feel that he is talking to an NPC, not being talked at.

3.     Modern sounding dialogue. Do not use modern anachronisms or slang. Fantasy characters shouldn't sound like they come from the 21st century.

4.     Boring first character. The first character the player talks to sets the tone for the entire module.