Play Designs

Bioware… too sexy for their contest

by Amber on January 11th, 2006

So, you’re sitting at your desk, bored with nothing to do. You’ve beaten all of your games and there’s nothing else out there that appeals to your attention span. Well, why not make your own game? “What,” you may ask, “Make my own game??” Yeah, well why not? Any one can do it, really. All you need is a good story, with appealing characters and a good plot. Well, all you need is a good story AND the proper tools. And just like Emeril, “BAM!”, you can create yourself a game.

Okay, so yeah, maybe you don’t know how to program and, well maybe you don’t know how to draw either. Ohhh, but you don’t have to. Isn’t that great?!

There are also plenty of tools out there that you can use to put your game together. And there are even tools that you don’t even have to draw for. Ever hear of a little game called Neverwinter Nights? Oh yes, that fun little game created by the makers of Baldur’s Gate has added a tool that you can create your own stories playable by others. And what’s great about that is that there are plenty of websites out there that you can advertise your games on and thousands of players may even download it and play it if it’s a good enough story.

BioWare, the people who created Neverwinter Nights, are even putting on a great contest right now. They’re allowing people to submit their best stories through the prose of game. If your story is good enough, you might be one of the lucky people to work for Bioware. Take a look at their “A Contest That May Become Your Career” contest. That’s a lot of contesting, right there.

Here’s a small snippet of what is to be expected from you:

“Here is what you need to know to enter:

BioWare asks for writers to create a Neverwinter Nights module to tell their story using the Aurora Toolset. There are a lot of options to consider when creating a module in the Toolset, but it is important to remember that BioWare will only be interested in the writing.

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. To be eligible for this contest, please submit a Neverwinter Nights module that follows these parameters:

• A maximum of four characters. One player character and a maximum of three non-playable characters.
• A maximum of 3500 words in total including dialogue and setting.
• You must tell a complete story in the form of a traditional BioWare side-quest and account for different endings/ multiple resolutions.
• You are only allowed to use one 4×4 area in the Toolset to tell your whole story.
• No combat or special skill use.
• Just use the NWN retail toolset; don’t use any community add-ons.
• Some additional guidelines to keep in mind:
• Dialogue should be no longer than 2-3 lines at a time.
• Do not use modern slang.
• Use a medieval fantasy setting.”

It looks like it doesn’t even have to be a good game, as long as it’s a GREAT story. So, if you have Neverwinter’s Night, get to writing. Otherwise, buy it, because it rules. And because I said so.

Found via [BioWare]

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