Domestibot

23:41 Thu May 8th, 2008

I enjoyed filling out the pitch, though this may be largely due to me opting for a fun, honest tone in my work rather than a professional one. I am grateful that you did not make a stipulation in this matter, and I felt this gave each writer an opportunity to really either be themself or just suck-up and brown nose like it was going out of style. Definite way to produce a steady variety of material to read, for sure. When I was browsing other pitches, I have to admit, the "profile" tab may have made me a bit uncomfortable. On some pitches it would be an understatement to say that there were at least half a dozen pages of in resume format. (So Professional and intimidating.) Pitches with this much scrunity focused on accomplishments and qualifications were great for making me second guess myself, but they also were probably the reason why my own profile was only three or four sentences. I guess I wanted to believe that people reviewing my work would honestly not give a crap so much about me and insignificant details of my life, but be more invested in the quality of work that I could produce. My writing througout the pitch had enough of my personality reflected in it to give readers an idea of what I was like, making the "profile" tab redundant. Still, I filled it out by listing my skills in the most rudimentary, honest way I could and hoped it would give the masses a break from the gobbledigook of self-indulgent babbling. I enjoyed the Q&A segment immensely, and I felt the questions were deliberately made to be entertaining and put writers at ease. The Critique, hey, I liked that too. And the video section really gave us all a chance to show-off some of our skills and interests. This was a fun project! It was tailored with such ambiguity that I felt I had the freedom to just cut loose and enjoy it to the fullest.

Tristinian

23:56 Thu May 8th, 2008

Awesome, thanks muchly for that feedback Domestibot--definitely of help for working on the next generation of the NSI playWRITE pitch doctor. And glad you liked the Q&A! That was definitely one of my favorite sections to read across the board-some real wit in a few of them. :) How about the curriculum ideas at the blog below? http://playwriteblog.zeros2heroes.com/ :)

Kitsuneko

01:26 Fri May 9th, 2008

This curriculum looks fascinating. I am looking forward to Vancouver even more now. That said, may I give you my opinions on each part? 1. Introduction to Visual and Non-Linear Storytelling Personally, I've already done some reading on this, but it could be interesting to hear about it directly from someone in the industry. 2. Storychanging: Guidelines and Restrictions Story of my life... or at least my current job :-) You should mention outsourcing and how difficult it can be to convince foreign studios to give you reasonable text control and character counts. 3. Exposition vs. Integration of Narrative in Design I really want to know more about this. I've always pushed myself to improve the pacing of my stories, so I can imagine that maintaining it in videogames must be an even bigger challenge. 4. Environmental Narrative Design I'm not sure what you mean by this topic, but it sounds interesting in any case. 5. Non-Linear Options and Character Development Excellent! I'll be able to use this in my RPG campaigns as well as in writing. 6. Prototyping Your Narrative Concepts This is very important to me. I want to build a solid game portfolio. 7. Working With the Tools: Using the Aurora Toolset I've always meant to get into Neverwinter Nights... :-) 8. Effective Pitching and Communication of Design Outlines Super idea. I'd love to know what game company executives are really looking for, and how to speak their language. Anything to get a foot in the door of the design department would be appreciated. Thanks for working on this curriculum. I can't wait to get started!