Thank you Retro Jam 2021 and Gunnar Clovis for inspiring me to make this!

Contact me please via friedzartist@gmail.com or linkedin :)

(This job is no-commison but will fully credit your work in the game, playstores, publications, and social media. There will be a simple-written formal agreement once you join.)

Qualifications: 

• AI/NavMesh and Procedural Animation (in terms of looking for a programmer)

• Experience with Unity

Timeframe:

• 1 - 1.5 weeks

Boss Level Requirement:

• The major things from that list are weak points and gravity - though the existing systems could use a looking at and refinement, those two systems are the MAJOR things

Hello, my name is Zachary and I am the game writer for Ruins of C'thel. 

Studio Shwammies (a five member Las Vegas based team) is in the final stretch of development for our free-singleplayer-game, Ruins of C'thel, on the Google Play store and Itch.io.

(None of the team, myself included, will make money from this project. We all met in a game jam looking to make something affordable, accessible, and without financial ties.)

It will be a short game, about a 15-30 minute playthrough. Currently, we need support finishing our boss level. Here is some links so you can get a feel for the game.

Thank you.

The Team:

Programming: Parker Colon, Laryna Billinghurst, and Jared Hansen

Music & Audio: Michael Spicer

Game and Level Design: Laryna Billinghurst and Parker Colon

Art: Laryna Billinghurst and Parker Colon

Narrative: Zachary Fried

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zachary-fried-912565165_studioshwammies-narrative...

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zachary-fried-912565165_studioshwammies-globalgam...

Definitely! I can't wait to see your work!

Very awesome!

Final Tips and Advice

• Focus on building a strong understanding of art fundamentals. Those will carry you through programs over your career and make you a stronger candidate in the end.
• Try a variety of art disciplines (FX art, character animation, 3D environment creation, character creation, etc.) across a wide variety of art styles and workflows during your first few years developing your portfolio. This will help you…
• Find one area and master that discipline or art style. At least at first. Once you have a strong showcase of that skillset, then look to expand and keep developing new skills.
• Curate your portfolio. Ask your friends, family, or online communities which pieces they like the best. Ask them which they like the least too. Look at the answers you get. You will start to see a “ranking”. Think about removing the pieces that get less interest from your public portfolio.
• Unfinished pieces are great for a “work in progress” blog or social media account, but your main portfolio should have fully finished pieces. That includes posed characters, lit environments/prop/foliage sets, and well-rendered fx/character animation reels.
• Avoid including art tests in your portfolio unless you get clearance from the company. Always ask first! If you do get the OK to include one in your portfolio, only use it if you got hired or made it past the art test stage.
• Do not use logos on fan art pieces. If you need to use a logo to communicate you are aiming for a certain game or universe, then chances are it is not successful.
• Finally, create art that you enjoy! That can pertain to the theme, workflow, art style, or some other reason.

Those are just some pointers based on what I often come across in portfolios. Of course, every team is different, and there are always people or places looking for different things. So please take all this as one viewpoint, and not absolute rules. Getting a variety of opinions from people at different tenure levels, seniority levels, and at different places in their career can be helpful to see where you line up best with. Hopefully, these will help you as you build your skillset, focus area, and portfolio.

Jeff Parrott, Senior Art Manager, World of Warcraft

Blizzard Entertainment is always looking for artists and animators to join our ranks. We hire from all over the world and have openings across our Game Development and Story & Franchise Development teams. Check out our current roles and if you see a potential fit we’d love to hear from you!

https://magazine.artstation.com/2020/07/blizzard-entertainment-crafting-a-portfo...

From Andrew (Andy) Walsh's LinkedIn ---> https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6789094114068582400/

Tickets for the second Writers Guild of Great Britain interactive festival are now available.

There are 5 panels across the week. Tickets are free thanks to sponsorship from ArticySoftware.

I hope you can join us!

If you have any questions you'd like to ask the panellists, please reply below and I'll add them to the list.

Writing for Indie Games
https://lnkd.in/dJ32ZjX

Creating Portfolios for Interactive Writing
https://lnkd.in/d2dEKX9

The unspoken secrets of writing interactive dialogue
https://lnkd.in/dtEBbmm

Creating narrative in procedural worlds
https://lnkd.in/d7UdQ9j

Implementing game narrative
https://lnkd.in/d-nFQpg

No problem! Get that job; we're rooting for you!

All the inspirations ARE INSPIRATIONS. I am not affiliated with any of the brands, companies, or commercial content.

No problem!

Qualifications

• 3+ years professional experience in writing developer-facing software documentation.
• BS in an engineering-, writing-, or communications-related field.
• Experience reading source code.
• Outstanding command of written English, in terms both of communication and of grammar.

Plus If...

• You are familiar with Sphinx and reStructuredText.
• You have Java or C# experience.
• You have experience working in developer support/developer relations.

• Help design and architect technical systems that support delivering compelling, engaging, and immersive game experiences.
• Explore and adapt new ways to bring characters to life with a practical approach that blends into, or seamlessly with, gameplay.
• Work with many different disciplines throughout the team (Character Art, Technical Animation, Animation, Level Design, Combat Design, Dialogue Design, Writing, etc) when requesting and crafting content to go into these systems.
• Professional experience in the games industry working as a developer in a role with a significant technical focus, shipping at least one title.
• A strong understanding of Unreal 4 including practical experience with Blueprint scripting.
• A general technical background and aptitude, including at least one text programming language, and a sense of how to architect systems for extensibility, flexibility and performance, using such concepts as inheritance, components, code reuse, encapsulation, and interfaces.
• A preference for prototyping and building interactive systems over paper design and writing.
• Familiarity with animation state machines, AI behavior trees, and Sequencer.

https://hitmarker.net/jobs?keyword=writer&location=alaska,usa+arizona,usa+califo...

Thorsten Becker's Narrative Design Resources (Notion.com)

https://twitter.com/NarrativeNotion

SOURCES -

http://gamewriting.org/game-writing-examples/}

Book:The Game Narrative Toolbox

"Make in-game conversation as expressive as possible by just using text. To make authoring text easy I want good tools. One of those tools is a special language just for writing conversation called Discourse." - Dan Schuller

RPG Dialog Language : Discourse

http://howtomakeanrpg.com/a/rpg-dialog-language-discourse.html

✨ Writing a script for a video game

✨

Resources recommended from Friendship Jam

Dialogue Scripting:

Do Game Writers or Narrative Designers Code?

Game Writers and Narrative designers sometimes code; "Narrative designer" and "game writer" job descriptions vary from company to company. Different jobs for writers will need more or less technical (coding) requirements; this can be frustrating when entry-level video game storytellers are trying to build desirable expertise and proficiency. Since employers believe the most qualified candidates are the ones with more skills; in the meantime, I am spreading awareness of how to quickly gain specific coding abilities.

I have been searching for definitions of dialogue scripting and I have yet to find one. I encourage you to search for other definitions, examples, or websites that delve into special coding tools for writers.

My definition of dialogue scripting is the act of writing any form of in-game text through code that will be compatible with video game engines. This includes story barks, character profiles, mission descriptions, conversations, or any type of text related to the narrative of a video game. 

For example, as a game writer, you may only focus on conversational text, cinematic scripts, and flow charts; on the other hand, a narrative designer may focus more on the journey of a character from the beginning of the game to the end, writing text through code languages, and coordinating with multiple departments within a video game.

*some companies utilize their own private tools to integrate text into their video games. This puts (entry-level) game writers and narrative designers at a disadvantage when building hireable skillsets

If you're like me, you research this information on code and scripting tools for writers; at the same time, asking yourself, "Where do I start?" The most proactive way to begin dialogue scripting is to try a little bit of each format and see what works for you. 

If you like RPGs then Ink or Discourse are special (open-source) scripting languages that are heavily used in those genres.

If you like visual novels, Ren'py or Twine will assist you better with structure and design in those types of games.

Ultimately, learning to dialogue script will help you find more paid work. Nevertheless, it is evident some writers spend less time utilizing coding tools because their job hones in on developing character arcs or lore. For less stress, spend time to see what genre and style of video game you enjoy, learn how video game studios design the formats and structures for those games, and practice those strategies in your own small game demos or projects.

Well, that's all for now. Keep on writing everyone❤️

Sources -

Does one need to know programming and video game development to get a job in writing the storylines and dialogue in campaigns and RPGs?

Ink: Behind the Narrative Scripting Language of '80 Days' and 'Sorcery!

A Q&A Session For New Game Writers

Visual Novels: Narrative Design in Virtue's Last Reward

What is Ren'Py?

Ren'Py is a visual novel engine – used by thousands of creators from around the world – that helps you use words, images, and sounds to tell interactive stories that run on computers and mobile devices. These can be both visual novels and life simulation games. The easy to learn script language allows anyone to efficiently write large visual novels, while its Python scripting is enough for complex simulation games.

Ren'Py is open source and free for commercial use.

https://renpy.org/

1. Choice of Games

Choice of Games LLC is a California limited-liability company dedicated to producing high-quality, text-based, multiple-choice games ----->  introductory guide to the ChoiceScript programming language

2. ...

3.  ...

🌟👍

I am trying my best to assist hardworking and passionate narrative designers and game designers successfully become employed by video game companies, studios, and literary agencies; at the same time, using a free narrative and writing hub. It is not fully refined but the goal is for it to continually evolve through the help and support of the Itch community :)

(✨There is a heavy focus on entry-level writers with or without a degree)

https://zachfried.itch.io/narrative-jam-community-center/community

in progress :)

in progress :)

I spent about a year looking for jobs on nexxt, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed, and a couple other job recruitment sites. Most of the time, the jobs here will be QA, mid-senior or senior-level writing, or customer support. I understand there are many ways to work for a game company and work your way up; however, this hub is made to help writers transition directly to and from narrative jobs.

If you are passionate and have a deep understanding of a company's IP, genre, style, and other critera, I recommend applying for jobs on their site or job board :D

So, if you are looking for work try these following steps: (1) Think about your favorite games or writers, (2) find related recruiters and employers, (3) and get applying ✨ ✨ ✨

Another job board 🌟

https://remotegamejobs.com/

🌟👍

The following includes a list of interviews, press, blog, and Q&A:

• https://www.pocplay.org/
• How a character says hello: writing "barks" for video games - Sarah Beaulieu
  
• Speaker Q&A: Evan Skolnick Discusses The Growth Of Writing Roles In The Games Industry
• Keeping the Player at the Heart of the Story
• BREAKING INTO GAMES: SOURCES TO HELP YOU PLAN NEXT STEPS
• https://www.thepunkwriter.com/articles-on-narrative-design
• How does one become a game writer?
• How to get a job as a narrative director