A Box of BioWare
In this box… all the ‘written stuff’ I accumulated during my years with BioWare. While most of the paper is related to the two sales that occurred while I was with BioWare (selling a company generates a lot of paperwork!) there is some interesting stuff in here too. The black notebooks are full of ‘to do’ lists, daily roll-call for the designers, and design plans. I also have books full of initial Dragon Age ideas, including one of James Ohlen’s early design books for Dragon Age.
Anyways, I have no idea what to do with all this stuff. I’ll hang onto the business paper and contracts and whatnot for a while longer but I’m tempted to drop all the design books off at BioWare in case they want some kind of ‘BioWare Museum’ or something. Not that anybody can actually read my handwriting…
Any ideas?
Brent Knowles
Former lead designer at BioWare (Dragon Age: Origins, Neverwinter Nights). Creator of Raiders of the Serpent Sea.
17 Comments
Factor
I’ll take them : D
Brent Knowles
Hmmm. That makes me wonder if I should start a bidding war.
“Your chance to own design books full of Brent’s hard to read handwriting!”
I’ll be rich…
Factor
When I’m 100 and on my death bed they will be worth MILLIONS!
Alexandra
I think bringing it back to BioWare is ideal. In a way, it is company property. Better to take the route of least possibility of getting into trouble in any way :)
Brent Knowles
Yeah I was thinking that too. It would just make me sad though if it were merely tossed, once brought back.
Alexandra
In that case… maybe give back the things you don’t mind being tossed (ie. sales figures)
Robert
Keep them; it’s better than delivering them into the hands of a corporate shredder for zero thanks. BioWare has lost its way with the new vision of ‘action’ ‘streamlining’ and ‘innovation’. You’re probably the best curator of a mini BioWare Museum in the turbulent years that company has ahead of it. Or, if all that stuff is just a storage burden, take whatever is not potentially copyrighted or subject to confidentiality agreements, and put in on ebay!
Brent Knowles
Yeah, its tricky knowing what stuff a company might care about. The daily roll-call (who did what for a particular day) is probably not a big deal to release but it is also kind of boring :)
I’ll hang onto most of it for now but the next time we move I’ll have to make a decision in regards to what I should do with it.
Gregory G.
Do you have a university or reference library near you that has a manuscripts archive? They may be interested.
Brent Knowles
Gregory,
That’s an interesting suggestion I had not considered before. I’ll check into it!
Thanks,
Brent
dmoar1
I’ve got a bunch of notebooks from my days at BioWare, too. I was flipping through one of them a few weeks ago and found a reference to an interview I gave for a jr. programmer to one Aaryn Flynn (now the GM of BioWare Edmonton). That was wild. :)
Brent Knowles
Wow, that’s awesome!
Did you say nice things about him in your notes :)
– Brent
dmoar1
Of course!
Dyalad
You really should keep these notes. The ones that will beneficiate from them are your children. Eventually, they will grow up and become curious about your work. They will want to know what you did as a game designer.
Naturally, you will be able to show them the games you’ve collaborated in, but what about how you got there?
Brent Knowles
That’s a cool idea too. Though seeing all the notes might kill their desire to enter the industry themselves! (My eldest is convinced he will make vidoegames when he is older, despite my insistence that he become an astronaut).
– Brent
TheDevian
Well, you can always make them a copy, maybe the current designers could use the notes, lol. But, I would be in the Keep um/Auction them camp, never know what could happen in a place like Ebay or whatever. (personally as a pack rat I would keep them myself, but then I have a hard time parting with anything like that).
Brent Knowles
Thanks for the suggestion. I ended up hanging onto them. Will have to see if I do anything with them.