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Blizzard looking for short stories based on its games
If you consider yourself to be quite the wordsmith, we suggest turning your attention to a recently announced contest from the PC gaming juggernauts at Blizzard. The developer is currently asking literarily inclined fans to produce 3,000 to 10,000-word short stories set in the universe of the Warcraft, Diablo or Starcraft series. The author of the judges' favorite novelette gets a free ride to Blizzard HQ to meet the team's writing staff, and will take home a replica Frostmourne sword with which they can behead their harshest literary critics.You can check out the official rules here. Yes, they're disqualifying entries containing any obscene or lewd activities -- so save your "throbbing" and "heaving" for your breathtakingly erotic Sonic the Hedgehog slash fiction.[Via Big Download]
Blizzard announces Creative Writing Contest
Here's some awesome news for all Lore Nerds and aspiring Lore Nerds out there: Blizzard is holding a creative writing contest. You are invited to write 3,000-10,000 words in English about the world of Diablo, Warcraft, or Starcraft. If you've always felt your character's RP story could give Rhonin a run for his money, here's your chance. The contest is global too, so almost anyone can enter, with a few exceptions. Check the official rules for complete details. And yes, there are prizes, too. The grand prize winner will get a trip to Blizzard Headquarters to meet the Blizzard writing staff and a Frostmourne sword, while 7 runners up will get a signed collection of various Blizzard novels. The deadline is April 12th, so you'll probably want to pick up that pen as soon as possible. Good luck and happy writing to everyone planning to enter!
Champions Online dev Randy Mosiondz on storytelling and gameplay
Writing for Examiner.com, Daniel Nations recently interviewed Champions Online lead designer Randy Mosiondz about the balancing act between providing guided gameplay and exploration. The interview also touches upon Champions Online's gameplay across different environments. Namely, Mosiondz explains a bit about the challenges that players will face in the underwater area of Lemuria with its full 3-D movement capabilities, and how some player powers will be modified for use underwater. Also a nice touch is that the discussion heads into his roots as a writer for pen and paper games. Mosiondz explains the differences in storytelling between pen and paper games and MMOs, and why it can be tricky to bring a story with lasting consequences to a massively multiplayer online game. Check out the Champions Online developer interview over at Examiner for more about what the Cryptic Studios super-hero title will offer.
Breakfast Topic: Six word stories about World of Warcraft
The idea of a six word story has been around for a while -- Ernest Hemingway famously wrote one that went: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." But Pink Pigtail had the idea to bring the format into the World of Warcraft, and challenges her readers to write some six word stories about Azeroth and/or its inhabitants. Larisa's "Last mage quits. Working as intended." is probably my favorite of hers, but you WI readers are pretty creative, too. Here's a few of mine:"Fandral Staghelm is angry. Nobody cares.""Lich King laughs, teleports away. Again.""For sale: Gnomish capital. Slightly used."Ok, that last one is pretty bad. Surely you can come up with some better ones, right?
Marv Wolfman talks writing for DCUO
Last month, we brought news that famed comic book writer Marv Wolfman had joined the team at SOE's DC Universe Online. This in addition to the already impressive team that includes such legends as Jim Lee and Geoff Johns. So when Allakhazam got a chance to sit down with Mr. Wolfman for an interview during NYCC, they got some great insight on what it's like to write for a game like DCUO."An MMO is exploration," Wolfman says. "It's about you finding out the information, and it's about continuous movement. I write a still picture, I can put five thousand words in that panel if I could fit in and have a stupid enough letterer who would actually do that. But here you can't spend the time with a lot of words on screen anymore. Those are the old days. You know, Zelda, the old days. 'I enter cave.' But what's done today is, we get you moving, but the story is there and you come into the story in a completely different way, and you have to think about it in a completely different way."
Star Trek Online contest awarding players for creative exploration
Over at the Star Trek Online official website, Cryptic is running a very cool contest that asks its participants to write a short-form story concerning the planet you see just above. Participants have been given carte blanc concerning the way they want to approach their story, with the only hard rule being a 500 word limit. Feel like writing a first-person entry from a Captain's perspective of a scientific sensor sweep? Go for it! Maybe you want to describe what life is like for the inhabitants -- that's okay too.The first-place winner of the contest is set to acquire guaranteed access to the closed beta, a special forum title and their entry featured on the official website. While two runner-ups will only receive the forum title, that's still a cool way for players to show their Star Trek fandom. We're looking forward to seeing the results of the contest, which is open for submissions until January 29th.
Challenges and triumphs in storytelling for Star Wars: The Old Republic
The official site for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been updated with a pair of blog posts all about writing and storytelling in BioWare worlds. One is a sort of mission statement; a reiteration of concepts and ideas we heard espoused by folks like Daniel Erickson and Rob Chestney in previously-released interviews. The statement specifically touches on the concept of your class tying you into the gameworld, something heavily hinted at back during the initial announcement and reported here on the site in our Old Republic Unveiled series. It's a dynamic statement, and a pretty heavy gauntlet to throw down for the genre.That mission statement is accompanied by a post from one of the other Senior Writers on the game, Alex Freed. Freed talks about the specific challenges facing the team as they work their way through content creation on the game, and the steps they've used to overcome those challenges. He walks through their toolkit on the project, the 'signposts' they use to make sure they're writing the right kind of stories, and calls out the thorny problem of making sure their content is 'Star Wars-y' enough. This last is an issue that's constantly plagued the other MMO title in the setting, and it's fascinating to hear him call it out so early in the process. Make sure to check out both pieces if you're at all interested in the writing process behind this ambitious title.%Gallery-35034% BioWare has finally unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, their new MMO! Massively's got you covered on all the details. Check out our comprehensive guide on everything we know so far about the game, or just peruse our screenshot/concept art galleries. Join us in the Galaxy far, far away!
"Story coming first isn't just talk", offers SWTOR senior writer Rob Chestney
The official site for Star Wars: The Old Republic has been updated with another blog entry from the game's staff. Our first look into the team was through the eyes of SWTOR community manager Amy Crider. This time it's an update from Senior Writer Rob Chestney, who will also be interfacing between the community and the development team. Chestney writes an interesting short post recounting his arrival at BioWare after his departure from CNN. He recounts his experience studying with the other BioWare writers, and describes with enthusiasm the moving experience of graduting to a Senior Writer position.Most interesting is his passionate endorsement of the 'story first' viewpoint BioWare has for all of its game development. According to Chestney, that sentiment is alive and well on the Old Republic project: "The storyline and narrative setting were the starting point of every discussion about design and even the conversations about art ... The process for creating a narrative of BioWare standards is more thorough than you can possibly imagine. And that was before we even started writing dialogue!" Click on through to the official site for the full post.%Gallery-35034% BioWare has finally unveiled Star Wars: The Old Republic, their new MMO! Massively's got you covered on all the details -- from liveblogging the announcement to screenshot galleries and more. Join us in the Galaxy far, far away!
SWTOR's lead writer describes BioWare's ambitious storytelling initiative
The biggest selling point of Star Wars: The Old Republic seems to be its focus on storytelling. Interactive stories have always been BioWare's particular claim to fame, so we're not surprised at the focus, but we will admit to being a little surprised at just how hardcore they are about it. In an interview with Gamasutra, BioWare Austin lead writer Daniel Erickson described the company's process for hiring and managing the writing staff, which includes more than a dozen people who went through a three-month training program, and who have now been working on the game for several years.What's interesting to us about the interview (most of it focuses on professional questions, not on gameplay -- check out the info from our own encounter with Erickson for more on that) is that unlike with other MMOs, the development process began with writing. The stories created by the writers are the foundation of the game design and experience to come -- at least according to Erickson.There's also a bit in there about the challenges of innovation in the MMO industry, and the need to make individual game features -- such as combat or story -- as solid as they are in single-player titles.
World of Warcraft vs. my girlfriend
I'm a big fan of McSweeney's, the web home of Dave Eggers' McSweeney's publishing house (and whenever I can, I try to help out 826 CHI, the Chicago chapter of their writing center) -- they offer up quick little humor pieces every weekday in addition to various events and shows around the country. And the other day, as a few readers have kindly informed us, they focused their literary light on World of Warcraft -- writer Tyler Curry has a fun piece about how he was forced to choose between the game and the woman he loved.It is very funny to hear WoW locales and situations stuck in between the usual patter of a couple in a relationship, and though this is, we presume, a fictional account of something that Dr. Phil claims happens all the time, it's well-written. Plus, the dig at "role-players" made us chuckle, too.But we do have one nit to pick, one issue in here that we just can't ignore and/or laugh casually at as we're obviously meant to. Seriously, with the leveling changes since 2.3, why would anyone run Gnomeregan anymore? If he doesn't know that there are much easier and more profitable ways to level through that range, maybe he deserves to be dumped anyway.
Want to write for TUAW?
Let me just say it: we're looking for a few good geeks. Do you have a love for all things Apple, tempered with a healthy dose of skepticism for the power of the RDF? Are you eager to share your favorite tips and tricks with Mac users everywhere? Is your iPhone development mojo so strong that it deserves an iSoapbox? Are you, in short, TUAW material? If you think you're what we're looking for, why not apply to blog for TUAW? Write about what you love and get paid to do it... seems like a good idea. Here's what we need from you: A brief biography. Tell us about your history with Apple, how long you've been a Mac user, etc. 3 sample posts written in TUAW's style. One should be a review of something (Mac app or accessory, iPod gear, iPhone app, you get the picture), the second should be an opinion piece, and the third can be whatever strikes your fancy. NOTE: please do not give us links to previously published material in lieu of post samples. We're glad to know about other places your work has appeared, but we need three freshly written and unedited posts. Your current Mac and iPhone/iPod setup. Your contact info (email, phone, IM, anywhere else we can find you) Send this package of "how I am so awesome" to us at apps@tuaw.com as a plain text email; no attachments, please. You have to be at least 18 years old to write for TUAW (sorry, not our choice), but we welcome applicants from all parts of the world -- in fact, we would love to bring some contributors into the fold who are in timezones far away from EST. If you've got specialized Mac interests (scientific computing, video/audio, education), that's fantastic, but generalists welcome too. Our deadline for this round of applications is Friday, November 7 -- so get down to it!
Atomic pen achieves invisible victory
Putting the world's tiniest book to shame -- not to mention the Torah-inscribed grain of rice -- a research team at Osaka University has "written" the letters "Si" using an atomic pen that interchanges silicon and tin atoms, enabling those who have the time, resources, and patience to manipulate said atoms one by one. The results are a diminutive 2 x 2 nm (or 40,000 times smaller than a strand of hair) which took about an hour and a half to complete. The previous best was a laughably large 0.07 x 0.10 mm tome hailing from SFU's Nano Imaging Lab. "It's not possible to write any smaller than this," said researcher Masayuki Abe, adding that, while the project sounded impressive on (really tiny) paper, it had failed to garner him any coveted cool points at the local bar. Next steps for the project will be determined once the team puts the finishing touches on the "g" and the "h."
Joystiq interview: Games and storytelling according to Vicious Cycle's Dave Ellis
Writing in games has come a long way since players were asked if they were bad enough dudes to rescue the president from ninjas. It's a growing area of game development that Vicious Cycle senior game designer Dave Ellis has certainly taken to heart, having won the 2008 Writers Guild award for writing for his work on the PSP action horror title, Dead Head Fred. Now Ellis plans to impart some of his wisdom on other aspiring game writers as the keynote speaker for the Writers Guild Foundation's workshop on video game writing, which is set to take place in Los Angeles on October 18. In the run up to the event, however, we had the opportunity to pick his brain on a number of game writing-related topics, including the state of writing in the industry, storytelling's role in game design, and the potential for games like Heavy Rain to push the industry forward. We also took a second to touch on Ellis' passion for collecting classic arcade cabs, all of which you can check out after the break.
Christie Golden drops more info about Arthas
BlizzPlanet has a nice tidbit from Christie Golden about her upcoming novel about Arthas Menethil (better known as half of the Lich King, that bad guy we're going to be spending a lot of time with in the expansion). The book is due out next year (so odds are that we'll be approaching the end of the story by the time it hits store shelves), but it'll offer a look at the bad guy way before he started being bad -- the book starts with Arthas as a 10-year-old Prince, and covers everything between there to his little meltdown we witnessed in Warcraft III. The romance with Jaina is supposed to get some good coverage as well, so the book should be a good read.And there are some bonuses for close readers as well -- we'll have seen some scenes before (including one between Arthas and Muradin in Beyond the Dark Portal), but of course, in this book, they'll be from Arthas' perspective. Arthas is undoubtedly the villian of the next ten levels in WoW (they even named the thing after him), but it's really exciting to have a villian with such an interesting and twisted past behind him.
AGDC: Interview with game writer Susan O'Connor
One thing that regular readers of Joystiq know is that we don't tend to delve too deeply into the mechanics behind the games, mostly because we're far too busy getting the news out. However, we got to sit down with games writer Susan O'Connor at Austin GDC and she provided an excellent insight into games from the writer's point of view.Click through for the full interview with Susan to find out why she thinks short games are better than epic ones, why the cinematic model isn't the best for games, and what she did on BioShock.
AGDC: Blazing The Trail For Hot Game Dialogue
The Austin GDC is focusing on audio and writing in games this year. While technology has made audio more and more important in making an immersive game experience, good writing has always been key to making a great game. Just travel back in time and ask the guys at Infocom, who had entire games consisting of nothing but writing.The "Blazing the Trail" panel was meant to provide game writers with the tools that they would need to construct good game dialogue, although it quickly turned into a one-woman show. DB Cooper (not the famous hijacker) is a voice-over artist, actor and producer, and she's also quite a personality. You know the kind of person who could fill an airplane hangar with their voice? That's her. She was joined onstage by Maryanne Krawczyk who has written for television and video games, including God of War, God of War 2, and Area 51. She's also working on the upcoming God of War 3, but she vanished into the ether after the panel so we couldn't quiz her about it.After the break you'll find out how the panel went, and get plenty of tips and tricks for aspiring game writers. Read on, Macduff!
Back to School: Writing tools, part III
TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings. This is the third and final installment in the "Back to School: Writing Tools" series (parts I and II are here). To round out our roundup, we'll take a look at some (possibly) unexpected solutions, as well as some utilities which can aid any writer. Read on for some final thoughts on the current array of Mac writing tools for students, teachers, professors ... and the rest of us, too.
Back to School: Writing tools, part II
TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings. Continuing the Back-to-School "sub-mini-series" on writing tools, this second post covers some great tools for compiling all of your thoughts, ideas and research into cohesive, structured documents. If you've never explored this category of applications, you might be surprised what the available options can do to improve your writing efficiency and lower the general anxiety involved with writing 10-page reports or lengthy creative writing assignments. I'll highlight a few cool ways to get those notes and floating thoughts from your notepad and your brain onto papers with large A's on them. Read on ...
Back to School: Writing tools, part I
TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings in September. This is the last installment in a mini-series highlighting some research and writing software of interest to students, especially those in college. We've covered research tools, as well as note taking and information organization tools. Now, let's take a look at some great tools for writing. Whether you're hammering out a research paper or penning a story for Advanced Lit., there are plenty of applications available to make life easier, if not a little bit more fun. We're going to look at three basic categories: general word processors, structured writing tools, and utilities. Covering such a broad range of applications ended up getting a bit lengthy, so I'll be breaking it up into three posts; a sub-mini-series, if you will. This first post will offer you, our discerning readers, a few word-processing applications for your consideration. Read on ... and who knows, you might discover something new.
Fuel for the PetEmote addon
David B covered the PetEmote addon way back in the beginning of this year, and now the Great Green Hunter has posted some really great ideas for custom pet emotes, for a few different families of Hunter pets. PetEmote lets your pet automatically show up in your emote text randomly, and is really good for giving your pets a little more personality of their own -- instead of just doing what you say all the time (and eating all of the food you've got to buy), PetEmote can make it seem like your pets are doing their own thing: chasing a stray bug that passes by, flicking their tails, or "giving you a sly look."GGH's descriptions are really great, but of course whatever goes in the "Localization LUA file" in the PetEmote addon folder is what shows up in the game, so you can customize it as necessary. If you want to say your cat "waggles his butt, ready to pounce," you can do it.Of course, if you think of your pet as just a DoT you have to feed, you might not be so interested. But having a pet and keeping track of where it is is such a huge part of the Hunter class (though PetEmote works for Warlocks as well) that giving your pets a little more personality goes a long way in game.[via Mania]
