Board 8 > Any advice for writing a Borderlands spec-script?

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HaRRicH
07/23/18 7:51:15 PM
#1:


I just applied for Gearbox and they were looking for writers regarding "an unannounced AAA FPS/RPG hybrid with strong characters and central narrative thread." Gotta be Borderlands, right?

https://gearboxsoftware.bamboohr.com/jobs/view.php?id=72

I've played part of BL1, all of Tales from the Borderlands, never quite got to $1,000,000 on Poker Night 2, and saw a few characters in our Character Battles. That's my level of familiarity with the brand.

If I somehow got a callback for an interview, I'd write a short spec-script before the interview and am thinking about beginning it now anyway.

What are some things I might want to consider when volunteer-writing this kind of spec-script? I'm gonna goof around on BL2 soon and browse their Wiki-page. What else?

I hear the main games' stories couldn't be any cheesier and insane to be simple excuses to shoot things and to focus on fun boss characters. Think that's fair enough? Anything else storywise really worth highlighting for reasons to love it and focus on?

Oh and also a kid I told about this said I need to have some climbing. You got it dude.
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MrSmartGuy
07/23/18 7:59:10 PM
#2:


Probably the most famous quest in the series is when a guy named Face McShooty asks you to shoot him in the face. You do and then his dead body screams THANK YOU and gives you a reward.

That's basically the level of writing that goes into Borderlands.
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Shadow Dino
07/23/18 8:03:41 PM
#3:


Most characters are a varying degree of "Jackass"
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scarletspeed7
07/23/18 8:06:25 PM
#4:


Oh, this job is in Frisco? Hmm, I might just go apply for this on a lark.
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NFUN
07/23/18 8:08:03 PM
#5:


MrSmartGuy posted...
Probably the most famous quest in the series is when a guy named Face McShooty asks you to shoot him in the face. You do and then his dead body screams THANK YOU and gives you a reward.

That's basically the level of writing that goes into Borderlands.

Another quest the main antagonist pays you to jump off of a cliff and kill yourself.
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HaRRicH
07/23/18 10:04:46 PM
#6:


So make dumb stuff fun. Cool.
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foolm0r0n
07/23/18 10:13:55 PM
#7:


Don't do spec work, also don't work for Gearbox
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HaRRicH
07/24/18 4:34:03 PM
#8:


I vaguely remember hearing something about Gearbox controversies...what happened there?

And why no spec-script?
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Zylothewolf
07/24/18 5:03:18 PM
#9:


Loud and loveable stereotypes are what I think of when I hear Borderlands.

Isn't there a really good weapon in one of them where the bullet sounds is replaced with screams?

And yeah, look up Shooty McFace.
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Whiskey_Nick
07/24/18 6:14:04 PM
#10:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM7hLzhAdD8" data-time="


that is all
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NFUN
07/24/18 7:54:07 PM
#11:


Zylothewolf posted...
Isn't there a really good weapon in one of them where the bullet sounds is replaced with screams?

@Bane_Of_Despair

RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA
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azuarc
07/24/18 10:20:08 PM
#12:


I dunno what a spec-script is.

Borderlands writing is focused on good, punchy dialogue, and generally being absurd and over the top. At least the side quests are. The main quest is slightly more coherent, I guess, but still full of jackasses and shenanigans.
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HaRRicH
07/24/18 10:31:26 PM
#13:


A spec-script is pretty much an attempt to write your own take for an entry in an established series as a way to get your foot in the door with a company. Sometimes the people working with certain brands want to see you can write with an understanding of the tone and story they've already created.
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azuarc
07/24/18 10:40:48 PM
#14:


Did they say what they want in such a spec-script? Length? Tone? Purpose -- i.e. main quest / sidequest material or something else entirely?

I'm kinda tempted to try applying, tbh. I've been writing novels as a hobby for the last 5 years, and doing a lot of critique groups to improve.
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HaRRicH
07/24/18 11:37:52 PM
#15:


Spec-script is all my idea -- nothing about their form suggests it. I still want to come ready though, and if nothing else it'd be a good exercise before I go in if I was to get an interview.

Apply!
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foolm0r0n
07/25/18 12:45:45 PM
#16:


Spec work is free work you do for employers, it's just bad practice from an artist perspective that devalues your work
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Eddv
07/25/18 12:54:05 PM
#17:


Yeah be funny but not try hard funny.
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