Narrative Writer

We are looking for one-time narrative / writing support for our upcoming project!

If you are a science-fiction person and a writer, please have a look at the description / apply via the link below :)

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Your mission

If you are a freelance, science-fiction writer looking for paid writing assignments please check out the opportunity below.

We, the team behind shapez 2, are looking for creative ideas to build the narrative, setting and tone for our next project: a science-fiction factory automation game.

Here are a couple of cornerstones:

• The player plays alone or in a group of up to 4 players.
• There is a limited budget for other characters. If they exist, they need to be somewhat stationary/non-interactive/appear only via radio transmissions.
• The majority of the game will not rely on strong storytelling mechanics like cutscenes or complex NPC dialog - more utilized are methods like environmental storytelling, found lore pieces, flavor texts of items / missions / tech tree unlocks.
• While exceptions are possible, narrative moments usually don’t hold players' complete attention and are instead experienced while players are engaging with other game mechanics, like traversal or building.
• The game features exploration, so knowing more about the world, story, characters and events can be a strong player motivation, but does not have to be. You can propose ideas that facilitate both, or work well in either of the cases.

Don’t let those cornerstones limit your creativity - we are looking for Inspiration first!

That being said: If you end up suggesting something that brushes against these cornerstones, feel free to make a suggestion how you would pull it off in a budget-conscious way.

Assignment

Disclaimer: Please do not work on this assignment before signing a contract with us! The details are here for you to evaluate this opportunity. We can only pay selected candidates to take the assignment. Read more about how to apply under the heading Next Steps & How to Apply.

We would like you to provide three proposals for the worldbuilding of our factory automation game. The proposals can describe the background narrative or a more motivation-driving story, as long as the means by which they are conveyed make sense in the context of our game.

The proposals should be different from each other to create a good variety.

For each proposal, please provide the following deliverables:

1. Ideas (350 Words)

• Provide ideas for unique or interesting worldbuilding elements - as many as you can come up with.
• Describe them as a single hook, or a couple sentences per idea.
• Highlight the ones you like best and that work particularly well with your proposal.

2. Overview (350 Words)

Answer the following questions about your proposal:

• Who is the player and where are they?
• What are they doing?
• Why are they doing it?

From your Perspective:

• What’s the hook?
• What makes you excited about this proposal?

3. Proposal Details + Unique Aspects (700-1000 Words)

Describe the following qualities of your proposal. Feel free to use references:

• Setting
• Key Themes
• Story Pillars (if applicable)
• Plot/Chapter Summary (if applicable)

Describe what makes the proposal unique. Choose categories that best fit to describe your proposal. Here are examples you could include but should not limit yourself to:

• Premise, conclusion
• Intention (What are players supposed to feel)
• Motifs (What is on the pictures, not how it looks)
• etc.

4. Writing/Tone Examples (1500 Words):

• A detailed version of 2-5 important scenes from the plot or premise that convey the tone you are aiming for.
• Example texts as they would be encountered in the game. (Give brief context about the mechanic/situation where players would encounter the story piece, e.g. flavor text, audio log, etc.)

As part of the contract, we would like you to be available for follow-up questions via remote call or message. The total time spent on such follow-ups will not extend past 2 hours.

Remuneration

As compensation for completing the assignment you will receive a one-time payment of 400€ upon sending in your assignment. If we like your proposals and choose to explore at least one of them further, you will receive another 100€ for the follow up call.

Next Steps & How to Apply

If you are interested in this contract, and are legally allowed to work as a registered freelance contractor, please apply below.

Your application should include:

1. A cover letter and/or CV, summarizing:
   1. Your profile.
   2. Motivation for applying.
   3. Writing experience (highlight experience as a game writer especially).
   4. References.
2. One or multiple short samples of your own writing in the sci-fi genre. Please provide some quick context for each sample, and explain why it demonstrates your qualification for the assignment.

We will review your writing samples and aim to inform you of our decision within one week of receiving your application.

If you are selected for the assignment, we will send you a draft of the contract for review and alignment.

If you are happy with the conditions we will sign the contract and you can get to work! 

About us

We're tobspr Games — a small, fully remote indie studio behind shapez and shapez 2, one of the most successful factory game franchises on Steam.

We're a team of ~15 passionate people who care deeply about the games we make and the community around them. We move fast, work autonomously, and skip the bureaucracy.

If you love factory and automation games and want to help shape the genre — we'd love to hear from you.