Square Enix has posted on their career board the chance of a lifetime for many a video game fan.  They want a writer to live in Tokyo and help turn those wonderful games that come out into an English speaking experience as opposed to a Japanese one. 

This position is written up really open ended.  The required skills basically grind down to a person that has been to college or taken AP English, studied a little Japanese, and has two to three years experience working in an industry.  Mind you it doesn’t say video game industry so I think they are really asking for trouble.

You have to mail everything to Shinjuku for consideration and a long with that resume they want a creative writing sample.  The sample is to be 800 to 1000 words about a character from a Sqaure game that gets stuck in Japan and “using the language of the position” write a story.  Let the fan fiction jokes begin.

I of course, will be applying as well because of course its a dream job.  Im sure my application will be among hundreds of thousands of fan fictions to grace the desks of some poor human resources department people to review and then stamp not accepted and be mailed back.   Yes, that’s right, Square is going to mail back your submission after they have decided if they want you or not.

So get out there, good luck and write something worth reading.

Source: Square Enix via Kotaku

BioShock was a game of the year for a lot of people last year, but a common criticism (and praise, in some circles) was its focus on the single player story, with the game having no multiplayer options. All that could change for BioShock 2. 2K Boston (the makers of BioShock) have started looking for a “Lead Multiplayer Designer”.

The last piece of BioShock 2 info we found out about confirmed that 2K Marin not 2K Boston were working on the sequel, taking a few of the 2K Boston people with them. But don’t forget, the original BioShock was produced as a collaboration between two 2K studios, Boston and Australia (two halves of the former Irrational Games). Could 2K Boston be making BioShock 2 multiplayer?

The job description goes on to drop a few hints about the game (possibly red-herrings, but we can hope) mentioning that “BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don’t believe in throwing in something that can’t go head to head with the big boys.”

The description continues to say that “[w]e expect you to be familiar with BioShock and other 2K Boston/Irrational products and be able to speak critically about them.”

Am I reading too hard between the lines here? Or could this be the first evidence to emerge of BioShock 2 multiplayer? Perhaps the multiplayer is being created by 2K Boston, with the single player game being produced by 2K Marin?

The full job description posted to Gamasutra reads:

Summary of Position:

2K Boston, the team that brought you BioShock, is looking for a talented, experienced game designer to lead a multiplayer design team on our next big project.

You will be responsible for creating, documenting and communicating multiplayer design concepts and mechanics. Additionally, you will be required to work with our design tools to implement game mechanics or parameters and test and tune those. You will probably be required to do a certain amount of level building or design as well, though this is not the major focus of the role.

BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don’t believe in throwing in something that can’t go head to head with the big boys. No applicants will be considered who aren’t able to demonstrate they’ve got the skills to build an industry-changing multiplayer design.

Responsibilities:

You must be familiar with the current state of the art in multiplayer game design across a wide range of genres on both PC and console. You must be capable of analyzing and critiquing game designs and using that analysis to inform your own design sensibilities. We expect you to be familiar with BioShock and other 2K Boston/Irrational products and be able to speak critically about them.

Finally, there are a wide variety of miscellaneous other tasks associated with this position such as speaking at conferences, working on game documentation and manuals and occasional PR duties.

Required Experience and Skills:

This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the single player team to form a “vision” of the multiplayer experience and use that vision to inform your design decisions. From there, you will help build a multiplayer design team and be responsible to guide your team through the entire production cycle.

An important part of the role is then communicating that vision clearly and concisely to the rest of the team and ensuring that they have a clear and specific mandate for their work. You must also provide a receptive ear so that other team members can provide input on the game design and feel that it is paid attention to.

Above all we are looking for somebody with enthusiasm, passion and the desire to create a multiplayer experience that is on par with the industry-leading single player experiences created at 2K Boston.

When Applying for this Position:

Please remember to include: game design documents, writing samples, video or screenshot samples of some of your work and/or game analysis as appropriate.

Additional Requirements:

This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the single player team to form a “vision” of the multiplayer experience and use that vision to inform your design decisions. From there, you will help build a multiplayer design team and be responsible to guide your team through the entire production cycle.

An important part of the role is then communicating that vision clearly and concisely to the rest of the team and ensuring that they have a clear and specific mandate for their work. You must also provide a receptive ear so that other team members can provide input on the game design and feel that it is paid attention to.

Source: Gamasutra Jobs