Stanley Woo wrote...
*mean face on, list of difficult questions prepared*
So what precisely is your contribution to this MMO your team is making? What makes you think you can succeed with a ragtag team of volunteers when entire companies of paid, experienced professionals have lived and died on similar projects? What's the scope of the project, and how long do you expect it will take to complete? And what position are you hoping to get at BioWare? And what makes you think you would be a good developer, besides being popular and punctual and not easily bored?
You are 16. What will you be doing until you are old enough to work at a a development studio? what do you do besides gaming and gaming related things?
My contribution to the team is design and management. By design, I am not referring to the actual 3D design of the game, but things such as the design document, balancing of weapons and buildings, etc; as well as ensuring the levels are designed to work on both sides equally. We have a low budget for our team, and yes, we're only spending a number of thousand as opposed to a number of million on development. We believe that we could succeed because of the resources we have, and a couple communities which members of the team are administrators on. These forums cumulatively have 500,000+ members. Each forum has over 5000 premium members which each paid $10 for their status. As well as free advertising here, we hope to advertise through other means. We plan to make our game cheap, to have the price at $10 to beta players, who will play for free during the beta. The full retail price for regular people is planned to be $20. We are using the Hero Engine, an engine that allows for up to 25 developers to develop the game in real time. This includes a task system, where tasks can be assigned to an individual developer, and it will locate them to the spot in the 3D world where tasks need completion, along with displaying annotations; all in the engine. The same system works for bugs, as well as tasks. The engine allows for us to update content in real time, meaning players will not need to download a patch or content package in order to access the bug fixes and new additions to the game. No servers need restarting, no games need ending/pausing. For more information on the Hero Engine and its "Live-Push" technologies, you can view the following PDF:
http://www.heroengin.../HeroEngine.pdf (This will explain just how it will be much more possible for us as a small development team to create a game, while still being spread out in geographical location). In terms of things which need intense math, we have a 4th year Engineering Physics student on the team (which happens to be my brother), and he will aid in creating graphs for things such as weapons, and doing anything physics or math related necessary. We have skilled Designers, Modellers, Animators, and Programmers. Our Concept Artists are also extremely talented. We plan to have our game in beta around next September. If we do not believe it is of high enough quality, we may take longer to create the game. However, the nice thing about the beta, is certain aspects can be improved upon and added without it being arduous to players. This is what will make it possible to release a beta earlier than what would otherwise be possible with another engine. We're not trying to compete with companies as big as BioWare. We're trying to create a game that is more on the indie side, but also of a bit larger scale. We're not counting our chickens before they hatch. If we don't make much money, we're not going to be heartbroken. We simply want to create a game that isn't just fun to the community, but a game that we, ourselves, find entertainment in playing. A huge amount of the work is really going to be valuable experience regardless of what happens with our game and how well it sells to the public.
Now, for the position I aspire to get at BioWare:I can easily see from your point of view how ridiculous you think I sound wanting a job at BioWare. You likely think I believe I can just waltz in and get a job. I obviously know this is not the case. I am not applying to become a Level Designer or a Programmer or another position of such stature. Any other position would require education from a place such as the University of Alberta, the Art Institute, etc. I am applying at the entry level: QA Testing. As others pointed out, QA Testing is much more demanding then jumping in a spot 10,000 times all day long. I know this, but I wasn't going to explain the entire job description in my previous post, so as to not extend the post longer. I have done my research on what's required of me, and I am willing to work tirelessly, meeting demands, and working to a schedule. I believe that being part of a large demographic that plays your games (teenagers), I could offer insight to the team; an additional perspective.
I believe I would be a good developer because I am analytical. I am detail-oriented, almost obsessive in guaranteeing things work to the maximum extent possible. I recognize details easily, including times when they are missing. For good will, I'd like to restate that I am not applying at BioWare seeking fun as opposed to work. I am applying to get as much industry experience possible, to show my true work ethic and determination in contributing to the team at the highest standard attainable. I am not trying to be arrogant when it comes to getting the job. I apologize if it came across that way, as I easily opened it up for myself in my post. I am in no way comparing BioWare to working at McDonalds, other than stating that it was a tedious job, but I still worked through it holding motivation. If that was for a job I didn't plan to pursue a career in, I'd be even more motivated if the job was one in which I do plan to pursue a career (the games industry). Currently though, I do work at Best Buy in the Gaming section, however I'd prefer working at a company in relation to my interests. One of my managers said that if it were up to him, the gaming section wouldn't exist and would simply be a bulk-out. I find this offending, and I would much rather work at a place that truly cares about games and game development the way I do, that work in the industry I desire to work for. Gaming has had a fundamental outcome on my life. During thick and thin, it has helped me, and provided me with a greater level of entertainment than movies or TV shows ever have. Living in the frigid cold, it never ceases to amaze me being able to visit far-off and diverse environments through compelling story-lines, like the way games provide. My hope is to
aid in providing this level of experience that one has when playing a AAA game title, through my extensive work.
Also, to answer your last questions: (things I do other than gaming). I used to do a fair amount of sports: Rugby, Track & Field, Hockey (when I was younger). The reason I do not partake in them anymore is due to an injury I sustained from the former. I broke my humorous bone in May and it completely overlapped itself (yes that's a bone name, and no, it wasn't funny when it happened). Anything I do gaming related or computer related is not effected, but I cannot do sports until around June, as it was a fairly serious injury. (I'll have a permanent degree change in my left arm). It won't be healed enough to go back to demanding sports (such as Rugby), by the time June comes around, though. Other than Sports, and gaming, I partake in my site's forums and across various online communities. Often though, these communities are, in some form, related to gaming. I avidly read sites like Kotaku, Joystiq, Gizmodo, Engadget, etc. I like staying up to date with the latest in news relating to the tech and gaming world. And, for things I'd do until I was old enough to work at a game studio, if I can't get a job at BioWare, would be to continue working with my development team to create games, and continuing to run my gaming-related online communities. I do honestly believe though, that I could be a great Quality Assurance Tester, if given the chance. I was hoping it could help to prove my worth, so that in the future, when I do become more qualified, a higher level position could become a reality. I hope this helped to convey some more information to you, and why i believe I could be suitable for a job position in QA Testing. I apologize for the long message, but honestly, really appreciate you taking the time to read my posts. Thanks.
Modifié par MichaelPaton, 23 janvier 2011 - 07:42 .
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