I'm a Writer, Voice Actor, and Budding Programmer; What Can I Do to Help?

[SpookyNoodle]

I love DDO.

Before my parents would let me play, I would watch the trailers for the various adventures and raids (Black Abbot, Vault of Night, Twilight Vault) on YouTube. I still get chills when I see the old Turbine logo and sound play. As soon as I convinced my parents, DDO was one of the first video games I ever played, certainly the first MMO, and my fondest video game memories come from Guild shrouds grinding for GS mats. I haven't had as much time to play the last couple of years, and that's been kind of eating away at me. I tried WoW, even tried FF XIV a month ago, but none stuck with me in the same way that DDO has.

The only reason I bring all of this up is because: I want to come back in, and help in any way I can. DDO is criminally under-appreciated and underplayed, and I'd like to do anything I can to help with that. I've been studying in college to be an actor and a writer, and I'm mixing college courses with a bit of self-teaching to become a programmer so I can still make money doing what I love (the acting and writing).

This post is much more directed towards the developers than to the playerbase, but I guess the point is: how can I help? Are there any quests, dungeons, or instances that need narration? Anything that I can help with in terms of writing and story structure? Is there any way to better optimize the game for DX 10 and 11, or anything else that you can think of for me to do? I can provide demo reels of my voice and examples of my writing if that would help, or I could send a formal resume. The only programming work I could show is some Python tools I've developed for my irl tabletop sessions, but I've only been studying for about a month. Point me in the direction of what language, framework, and software you use, and I'll do my best to learn it, I promise.

[Elsheran]

I would like to see some fan-made Sentient voices made. Try starting there by writing the lines for a new personality, then record the voice acting, then finally make a tool to swapping the voice files into the game. All three skills you want to flex, and should be a mostly fun project, and would be a fan community toy to play with. Maybe even a niche for you. Make a YouTube video demoing the gem to show it off.

[LeoLionxxx]

Probably the best way you can help the game is to help promote it. Maybe make some funny videos like this one:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBKAT7c2zPY&list=PL4677FA82BCFFA795

The other, more obvious way to help is to give them money. Buy a dozen of those Tensor's boxes! If they make more money, they'll be able to convince investors that they're worth poring additional resources into!

[droid327]

Can i haz internship?

[Memnir]

Apply for a job.

[cdbd3rd]

Just a few points that I can think of right off.

Any voice acting will require SAG membership. [per official replies in previous similar threads] Any writing might require the same, dunno about that. They have said in the past that they cannot legally accept or use any non-employee submissions, so first step in all cases is going to be an employment application. If Lynnabel drops by this thread, she'll have better insights on the steps to get from college student to intern/employee.

Any work done for SSG would require residence in/near Boston. [Pretty sure interns aren't granted 'work-from-home' privileges.]

----

There's also this thread from 2017 (with 2019 bumps) that gives a little insight on what they look for in applicants.
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/484481-Standing-Stone-Games-seeks-Content-Designer-for-DDO

[janave]

Probably the best way you can help the game is to help promote it. Maybe make some funny videos like this one:



IMO, this is a good "fast action" category, developing your skills meanwhile. Additionally reporting bugs in a concise but specific enough manner, screenshots with highlights and loc commands may help the team by saving time tracking/reproducing stuff to fix.

By looking at the installation dir, you may get a soft clue about the tech they use, by looking at some of the debug/error logs you may learn a little about a few conventions and additional stuff.


Examples:
323265523.430: Attempting to set a NetSharedVisually or NetSharedPrivately property (Fire_DamageVulnerability) on the client. This is not allowed, because these are server-authorative.

323265525.591: Attempting to set a NetSharedVisually or NetSharedPrivately property (Action_IsFastSpell) on the client. This is not allowed, because these are server-authorative.


Action_IsFastSpell is especially interesting to be a binary value rather than a a float for example. But it could be just a performance/logic signal.




323265543.923: Attempting to set a NetSharedVisually or NetSharedPrivately property (Enh_EldritchKnight_ElementalDice) on the client. This is not allowed, because these are server-authorative.
323269646.768: Attempting to set a NetSharedVisually or NetSharedPrivately property (Enh_VileChemist_ElementalDice) on the client. This is not allowed, because these are server-authorative.

VileChemist!? lolzers. Looks like one of the Alchemist Trees getting an elemental Dice similar to EK.

[SpookyNoodle]

I would like to see some fan-made Sentient voices made. Try starting there by writing the lines for a new personality, then record the voice acting, then finally make a tool to swapping the voice files into the game. All three skills you want to flex, and should be a mostly fun project, and would be a fan community toy to play with. Maybe even a niche for you. Make a YouTube video demoing the gem to show it off.

Tell me more of what you mean by that, 'Sentient Voices,' you mean like for NPC's?

Additionally, it sounds like to do any kind of writing, I'd have to live in Boston and be an employee, which is a bit beyond my reach at the mo, and based on the comments overall, I don't have a lot of options in terms of what I can offer to the game as a whole. If I could magically become an influencer and make DDO super popular, by god I absolutely would, but that's a little less concrete than "Oh, write some NPC and DM dialogue for this one quest." I'll see what I can do about getting into the Screen Actors' Guild, but my hopes aren't high, haha