From Talented Community Member
to BioWare Staff, Part Two
As the BioWare community continues to expand with each new game, we are always on the lookout for exceptionally talented community members who have shown not only creativity and skill, but the drive to turn a hobby into a profession. We profiled some community members turned BioWare staff when we achieved two million community members, and now that we have passed the three million milestone, we wanted to add to the expanding list of outstanding new staff who got their start in the community.
Rick Burton
Technical Designer - Mass Effect
Unlike many of the others who joined BioWare as a fortunate side effect to creating content in NWN, I actually came to NWN with intentions of making video games. A short while before NWN released, I decided I wanted to get into the video game industry, so I quit my job and went back to college to complete my computer science degree. My plan was to find a game to mod while getting my degree so that I could have some kind of resume material. NWN ended up being the perfect modding choice since I had been a longtime BioWare fan, always preferred RPGs over other genres, and NWN had a great toolset right out of the box.
After completing my degree and releasing a few mods, I eventually hooked up with one of the most successful NWN custom content teams, DLA. Through DLA's contacts with BioWare, I was eventually asked to submit a "15 minute long" mod for review for an available Technical Designer position. I gathered a bunch of puzzles and code I had never released, tied it together with new code and a storyline, and then submitted what ended up being a 40 minute long mod. Oops. Despite its excessive length, the mod was good enough to start the interview process. After the phone and in-person interviews, I was hired. All that was left was to pack up, dread -40 degree temperatures, and endure the four day drive from Houston to Edmonton.
Brian Chung
Technical Artist - Live Team
It started when I saw a help wanted ad from DLA looking for modelers for a Dragonlance total conversion mod for NWN. I had just graduated from a 3D course earlier that year, so I was itching to get working on models and build up a portfolio, and Dragonlance being one of my favourite settings made for a perfect opportunity. Little did I realize this choice was the start of my descent into madness and realization of a dream. I started off modeling one of the tree houses of Solace, and from there I built up my skills, sharing info with other community members on the forums, and learning the ins and outs of the NWN engine and pushing it to its limits. I also became one of the go-to guys on DLA for any modeling help, often having the task of converting the model into the game, after the artist has completed it.
During Christmas the next year, we decided to take a modeling request from the community and created the elven chain, taking advantage of the robe feature in HotU. It was from that work I discovered a way to change animations on the fly, paving the way for eventually adding features that would enable adding horses into NWN. Later, DLA ended up being contracted out by BioWare to produce some art resources for the upcoming Digital Distribution program, which resulted in a lot of art content being made. I modeled a majority of the placeables for this, which included around 58 trees.
All my work didn't go unnoticed, as when Rob Bartel went looking for a tech artist for the Live Team to handle future Premium Module and NWN patches, a number of people in the community recommended me for that role. I rushed to finish my demo reel, and before I knew it, I was on a flight to Edmonton and helping out with the Live Team.
Now if I can just get away from modeling any more trees.... Georg's not really helping in that department. :)
Francis Lacuna
Character Artist
- Mass Effect
I've been a huge fan of the Baldur's Gate series for years. When I heard Neverwinter Nights had been released, I snagged a copy as soon as I could. Now, I was never one to get caught up in mod communities, but there was something about the NWN Custom Content forums that drew my attention. Everyone seemed to genuinely want to help each other, testing the limits of the Aurora Engine.
I noticed a minor request for someone to create a Treant for the game and figured why not. So I hacked together some polygons and put it up for some critique. One group in particular took notice of it and offered to help me finish the model and give it that professional touch. That group was the Dragonlance Adventures team, known today as DLA. Almost immediately, they made a request to BioWare to add creature alpha support specifically for the Treant so he could have his leaves. To my surprise, the feature was included in the very next patch. DLA then got their sound guys on it to create the sound effects, technical artists to set everything up and make sure it worked, and a cartoonist to paint up the portrait. Right then and there I knew this community stood among the best in the world.
Eventually, DLA was approached by BioWare to create content for their Premium Modules. One project in particular, really piqued my interest. This was the Infinite Dungeons module. We were asked to create an assortment of bosses for the game, like the mad wizard Halaster and Masterius the lich king. It was truly a task that paid in full. Today, I'm now working at BioWare on an even more bizarre lineup of creatures and characters, all thanks to a little box I picked up from a shelf one day in a computer store.
James Henley
Designer
- Mass Effect
I have had a deeply rooted interest in game design and storytelling for about as long as I can remember. I originally started modding with a DOS-based engine called VERGE (Vecna's Extraordinary Roleplaying Game Engine), building 2D art content / animations and writing stories. I was never content with what was available and always found myself trying to make the engine work in ways that it shouldn't. Unfortunately, the project got shelved in favour of other things, but the taste I'd gotten was a guarantee I would one day come back for more.
Though I dabbled in modding here and there for a long time, it was Neverwinter Nights that finally reeled me in for the long haul. It didn't take long for me to become completely absorbed in the toolset and, being a mostly self-taught student of programming for several years, scripting rapidly became my favourite part of the package. I finally had a tool at my disposal that was powerful, yet flexible enough not to break when I wanted to make it do something new.
My community contributions were very focused, and certainly not as widespread as those of people associated with the more prominent custom content groups. I spent over a year on Neverwinter Connections, as a player, a DM, and a builder under the name of AlexanderFrost. Some of my most enjoyable moments with Neverwinter Nights came from running a roleplay-heavy, two-shot module called Ghosts of Karmain, and I'm still considering finishing the trilogy off one day. Maybe. I met some absolutely fantastic people in my time there, and I'd like to thank them for all the support they showed. You, ladies and gentlemen, are great.
It was during that span on NWC that I began developing a futuristic conversion mod for NWN called Templar Star. Though I completed a great deal of content for it (fully functional firearms that had limited magazine capacities, reload rates, customizable weapon upgrades, and a slew of new feats / skills), it was never released. I'd been working as a freelance web designer/contract extra on movie sets (which is roughly the same as saying I was unemployed), and I'd happened to notice a job opening on the BioWare Job Page for a technical designer. I decided to adjust the direction that Templar Star was going, finalize some content in the works, and convert it all into the basis for a technical submission module to apply at BioWare. It was a pipe dream, but I thought it was worth a shot. There were a lot of late nights and a final all-nighter as I tried to get it tied together before the listed deadline, and I somehow squeezed it in just under the wire.
About six weeks after I submitted it, I was contacted for a phone interview and then a follow-up interview/technical design test in person. That test was the most grueling 14.5 hours of my life. I realized halfway through the test that I wasn't going to be able to pull off what I wanted in the available time, so I dropped it all and started over with a new concept. It was a gamble that ultimately worked in my favour, and two weeks later I got a call offering me a position as a technical designer.
You've probably noticed that I keep saying "technical designer" even though my job title is "cinematic designer." A little over a week after I got here I was offered a chance to work on Jade Empire scripting cut-scenes. I immediately jumped at the opportunity, having spent so much of my spare time over the years engaged in artistic pursuits of one design or another (there was always, always some kind of side-project on the go, and that still hasn't changed). After Jade Empire shipped I decided to continue on that path and officially became a cinematic designer. It has proven to be an extremely interesting, passionate, and rewarding experience. Each scene presents its own unique challenges, both technical and artistic, and I love working out how best to tell the story in a way that people will find enjoyable.
If there is one thing I'd really like people to take away from this read, it's simply this: learn where you want to be in life and then gun for it with everything you've got…and never stop trying.
Seriously, knowing where you want to be is the first step to getting there, and oftentimes it's the most difficult one. If you can set your sights on a goal and truly go for it, you can land even the wildest of shots.
