Fan-created content

[Getharn]

Since there seems to be quite an active community here, I was wondering if you've ever considered including fan-created content in your games? I was thinking mainly of "background colour" written content such as books, but perhaps extending to non-vital NPC conversations, ideas for magical items, new spells, and perhaps even side-quests and puzzles.

I appreciate there are various legal, creative and QA issues with this, and I've no idea whether it would end up shortening or extending the development process. I've only been involved in this sort of thing from the angle of community projects where we set up open text file formats where this content could be incorporated with minimal effort, which makes this sort of thing more practical. I'd imagine priorities would be set quite differently in a commercial environment, however.

I just wondered whether it had been considered and, if so, what the policy was.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Certainly! We use fan content whenever possible (Book I contains quite a bit, actually). It doesn't slow us down; in fact, it may speed up development time as long as what we receive is good quality.

Just email us with your submission and we'll let you know if we can use it. If we use it, we'll send you a release form which essentially says you are giving us the right to use what you have submitted. Of course you also get your name in the credits, but unfortunately we can't afford to give free copies of the game away for every little submission given to us.

Fan content that we have accepted include:

- NPC portraits (must be original content, 64 x 64 pixels)
- Content for books in the game (1-3 paragraphs of lore or stories)
- Descriptions of dungeons, crypts, or other zones...these pop-up in the text window when the player enters for the first time.
- Tombstone epitaphs
- Original music
- Quest ideas
- Item graphics (must be without the border, transparent background via .png format, smaller than 45 x 45 pixels)
- 3D Models used for in-game sprites or items, must be in .3DS or .MAX format.

So if you want to help out, send in your submissions and we may be able to use it. Don't feel upset if we dont use it...we have fairly high standards around here and we turn down at least 2 submissions for every one we accept. If it's close to what we can use, we may ask you to alter it, or we may alter it after we get the rights to it.

Now then, if you want to write fan content and submit it here on the forums for others to read and enjoy, by all means, please do! However, this type of content we generally will not include in the game.

[Getharn]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

Sounds good, although I'd have to pass on any of those graphics or music submissions, sadly - I'm by no means an artist. Unfortunately, I'm guessing they're among the most useful types of content to be given. However, I might be able to throw a few books, descriptions and quest ideas your way.

I don't have anything specific right now, but if I come up with any ideas I'll send them in. I wanted to test the water early, to make sure I wouldn't be wasting your time.

Oh, and on the subject of turning down submissions, if you're accepting 1 submission in 3, the signal-to-noise ratio is much better than I would have expected! It's honestly not a surprise that you're fairly fussy about what you accept - I think that shows through in the polish of Book I.

[MegaHassan]

Sorry for committing thread necromancy, but have you guys recieved fan man content yet? And how much? I wanted to make sure before I send my quirky contributions for the book things.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Yes, we received fan ideas/content all the time...music, quest ideas, writing samples, etc. If you have something you'd like to submit, please do- we'll let you know if we can use it.