Hey everyone, I'm Jesse. I'm a first time poster on this site so please try not to rip me too badly if I ask "stupid questions" or misapply a concept most might find simple. First a little about me: I just graduated with a B.A. in Theatre. I've had a passion for gaming since Mario Bros. and Zelda came out for Regular Nintendo. I unfortunately didn't take any computer science classes in college and essentially have no programming skills. I love RPGs (especially Japanese). My two favorite all-time games are Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger for SNES. What I want to know and accomplish: I want to know, based on my current situation (I can divulge more info if needed), the steps I need to be taking in order to fulfill my dream of being a Game Designer or Character Developer for a major company like BioWare. Thanks in advance, PlaysOnDrugs

First port of call: Tom Sloper's Game Design FAQ. Hopefully this should answer most of your questions.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'Character Developer'. Are you talking about artwork, writing, or what?

Quote: Original post by PlaysOnDrugs
1. the steps I need to be taking in order to fulfill my dream of being a Game Designer
2. or Character Developer
3. for a major company like BioWare.

1. Read http://www.sloperama.com/advice/designprep.htm
2. What is that? What do you mean?
Writing? http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson32.htm
Art? http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson53.htm
3. Change your nickname to something that doesn't smack of illegal narcotics. http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson24.htm Live in Edmonton, Austin, or Montreal. Have the most awesome portfolio of anybody. Work at another company for a couple years before applying at Bioware. http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson27.htm

Sorry it took so long to get back. For a couple days when attempting to access this site I was directed to a page insisting the hosting hadn't been paid (obv not true) but now it's working again so...

When I say "character development", I think I actually mean writing. I want to be in charge of dialogue choices, but I also want creative input into the background story, detailed characteristics, etc which I believe ultimately would affect the writing choices (e.g. it's not going to be appropriate to write "swashbuckling" "chaotic lawful" etc type of choices if our character comes from a sheltered background that wasn't exposed to the right environment that would make for a character such as this. This is all very human nature type thinking, but as a theatre major I feel it's important.

I hope this clarifies.

Also, I've been pouring through your website, sloper, and am really blown away by the time and effort put into it. I really thought I was in a bad situation having my degree with my desires to go into the game developing field, but it seems that's not the case! I'm currently reading the section "Things You Can Do At Home To Sweeten Your Resume". It'd be great to chat with you someday after I finish reading your site.

This is just one of my silly SNs btw. My usual alias is JCSuperstar. I'd be happy to change it for the site but I assumed that would mean new registration process, which is fine, I just don't want anyone to be confused.

P.S. I just beat Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. It's amazing.

Thanks for the continued help,
Jesse

In that case you need to take courses focused on creative writing and get a degree that will help, such as literature, history, languages, philosophy, visual/performing arts, religion, law, technology, anthropology, linguistics etc. Basically anything that helps you understand people

You will also need to be a writer. As in you will need to be able to show that you can actually write something that would be of a suitable quality. That takes time and practice so you need to be writing short stories/articles for for submission to your local paper (and work your way up from there). It also wouldn't hurt to get some experience writing for amateur hobby/mod game projects.

Once you are suitably qualified/experienced you can start applying for job. However, (as Tom pointed out) you may need to gain industry experience at a lesser developer before you will be able to secure a job at a top studio like Bioware.