BioWare: Attention Writers! An Interview with BioWare's Kevin Barrett

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Attention Writers! An Interview with BioWare's Kevin Barrett

By Jay Watamaniuk

The Contest That Might Become Your Career

BioWare creates roleplaying games that put the player in the centre of a sweeping and complex story, surrounded by engaging and detailed characters. With a mandate like this, you need a person with a special gift for recognizing and directing creative people. Kevin Barrett, BioWare's Assistant Director of Design, is one such person, and we spoke with him about his work, his thoughts on new writers wanting to break into the business, and his involvement with the exceptional contest BioWare is currently running for aspiring writers.

Details on BioWare's writing contest:

www.bioware.com

What is your position at BioWare and how would you describe your job?

Kevin: I'm currently the Assistant Director of Design. I work with the Director, James Ohlen, to ensure that each of our projects are adequately staffed with qualified design and writing staff. There are 38 full-time design and writing positions at BioWare, and they are divided between several internal projects. We have a number of additional openings in the department, so I spend a fair bit of my time trying to find exceptional people to fill them.

What experience did you bring to BioWare in game development?

Kevin: I've been involved in game design and development for over 20 years. In fact, when I started in game design, there was no computer game industry as we know it today. I cut my teeth in the adventure game industry, spending many years with Iron Crown down in Virginia working on their gamebook and science fiction lines. More recently, I was involved in the creation of Wizkids LLC--based in Seattle--developing the collectible miniatures game industry, and with Pseudo Interactive in Toronto, developing console game titles.

When it comes to looking at a writer's work, what elements get your attention? Are there things that new writers should avoid?

Kevin: An immediately intriguing, original story with strong, interesting characters speaking clear, concise dialogue is what gets our attention. Sadly, we can often cull submitted writers' works within the first 3-4 minutes of reviewing their material. If a writer hasn't caught our attention with his or her first few lines, I can guarantee that the average game player will be hitting the "skip" button upon reading the same material. New writers should avoid the pitfall of gratuitous exposition. Writers love to write, but good game writers love to have their material read and pondered. The best way to ensure that your game material will be read is to engage both the "imaginative" and "decision making" functions of a reader's brain. Writers who keep a "believable world" and the "player's goals" front and center tend to be the most successful here.

What writers in the games business today do you respect?

Kevin: Well, our own, of course. BioWare sets the gold standard for North American-style RPG storytelling, and that is because we have the best writers in the industry!

The writing contest has received a great deal of attention. What do you hope to achieve? Are you looking for ideas or writers?

Kevin: We have many projects, and many open writing positions. Our job posting on the BioWare web site drives a lot of submissions…but the stated experience requirements are often too steep for new, talented people hoping to get into the industry. This contest is a venue for new or unpublished writers to have their day in the sun, and be considered on a level playing field with their more experienced peers. If we can find the next David Gaider or Drew Karpyshyn by holding this contest, then it's an unbelievable success for us. By no means are we looking for new story ideas, but yes, we are looking for new, talented writers.

What is on your agenda for the next six months for BioWare?

Kevin: Every day brings a new and interesting challenge, but overall, I think we'll be continuing our efforts to grow one of the most professional and creative design staffs in the industry.