Skywind Writing for N'wahs

Whether this is your first dip into the world of collaborative creative writing, you’re looking to sharpen your narrative skills for employment in the gaming industry, or you have a friend on the Skywind team who encouraged you to apply — thank you for applying and casting your lot with us. Your talents are welcomed and valued!

What is Skywind?

Skywind is a fan and community-created reimagining of the 2002 video game The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.  Our goal is a true “reimagining” — not a simple “remaster,” “remake,” or “port”. Our goal is to give players an experience that invokes the same feeling that long-time fans had the first time they stepped off the boat in Seyda Neen while creating the narrative depth and gameplay experience that the original game only hinted at — something that was not possible with the available technology in 2002.

Put simply, we do not intend to change the core experience, but many quests (including faction quests and the main story) have been expanded to make the experience more rewarding for the player. We are also deepening the player’s experience of Dunmer culture and life in Morrowind as it existed at the end of the Third Era.

What is the writing team (generally) responsible for?

Quests 

Quests must be written holistically. This involves drafting the direct dialogue between both the player character and all NPCs involved in that quest, and indicating all key actions or conditions the quest must follow. All dialogue, actions, reactions, and directions must begin appropriately and have definitive resolutions. 

General dialogue

Background dialogue is almost as equally important as the active dialogue in which a player directly engages with an NPC. Writers on the team may write conversations that occur between NPCs around the player character. This “chatter” fills out the empty spaces as the player character travels around the map, which creates a living, breathing world space in which the player can become immersed.

Cutscenes

This refers to any pre-animated or choreographed scenes that are triggered by certain events within the game’s story or at certain times. While rare in Skywind, all cutscenes must have a script complete with directions and dialogue.

Item descriptions

Many in-game items (such as weapons, armor, artifacts, and quest items) will need descriptors of any boons, debuffs, or special abilities granted to the player by the item.  However, our descriptions also include some “flavor text” that goes beyond describing an item's physical appearance to give it additional worldbuilding dimensions, expanding on its narrative significance or its broader context in the game world.

Journal/quest descriptions

This refers to the text within the player character’s journal that explains what they need to do next at any moment in any given quest. Because we’re providing players with the option to turn off quest markers — and therefore enjoy one of the more popular features of the original Morrowind experience — it’s crucial that the player’s journal accurately reflects dialogue prompts for finding quest locations and completing objectives.

Flavor texts

These are the books and documents that the player can pick up and read within the game. Some of these provide context and worldbuilding to in-game locations and their denizens without being directly relevant to a quest, whereas others expand on the lore of the setting and offer players a reprieve from the main gameplay to learn something interesting about the history, peoples, and literature of The Elder Scrolls outside of the active quests and exploration.

Vanilla rewrites

We plan to include as much text and dialogue from the original game (or “vanilla” text) as possible, but much of it needs updating and refreshing due to the clash between Morrowind's keyword-based system and the more naturalistic, conversational dialogue of later Elder Scrolls games. Vanilla rewrites must keep to the original spirit and atmosphere but should round out and fill in missing details of the original text and correct grammatical or gameplay errors.

What should writers keep in mind?

Before diving into your first assignment, we have a few disclaimers and words of wisdom to impart (a.k.a., “things we wish we’d known when first started out”):

Do your research…

The foundation of good Skywind writing is being familiar with the richness of the worldbuilding in Morrowind and the subsequent mainline Elder Scrolls games, Oblivion and Skyrim. While we sometimes expand on characters and lore where it makes sense to do so, we always write with one eye on what came before so that the game feels true to the greater Elder Scrolls experience. Obviously, Morrowind itself should be essential playing for any Skywind team member, but community resources like the UESP Wiki and The Imperial Library are also invaluable as reference tools.

…write with your heart…

Skywind is a passion project, so we encourage writing from the heart. Write that new perspective that hasn’t been shown; pen the poem you feel would elevate a character’s depth; use your unique, personal experiences to bring a character to life. What you write may be an interesting flavor that touches a player and enriches their experience with our game. You never know!

…but don’t get too attached.

That being said, keep in mind that your writing will often be edited. This means it may not only be proofread but also lore-checked, consistency-checked, shortened, lengthened, or occasionally changed significantly from its original form. We say this now and with sincerity:

Don’t panic. Your writing is good and valued in this project.

Other writers and editors revising and/or heavily reworking your writing does not mean your writing was “not good enough”. We promise that if this was the case, you would not have been invited to work with us following your application. Work produced by departmental leads also undergoes the same level of scrutiny.

We’re not the only department.

The success of this project hinges on collaboration and communication, not only within the team, but outside of it too. The interdependence of departments should be at the forefront of your mind while working on the project, as you’ll need to work with level designers to develop concepts for dungeons, review the art direction of original items you’re writing descriptions for, or provide additional context and guidance to translators interpreting a complex flavor text, among many other collaborative ventures. Clear and open communication is absolutely crucial to the success of this project and prevents people from having to redo work. Please use the Discord server, get to know your fellow members of the Skywind team, and feel free to contribute to other departments' channels where you have something constructive to add to the conversation.

What do leads expect from writers?

Because working on Skywind is completely voluntary, we know everyone has responsibilities outside of the project that often take precedence. We therefore strive to be extremely flexible when it comes to the demands we put on our writers, but we do have a few expectations:

• Deadlines: When deadlines have been mutually agreed, stick to these as closely as possible, and communicate any difficulties in meeting deadlines to a departmental lead. Please understand that some tasks are time sensitive and not meeting deadlines can delay the development for the game.

• Output: We ask that you submit finished writing to the best of your ability and in a complete form that has been checked for spelling, grammar, and consistency with the writing style guide.

• Personal conduct: Everyone signs up to the same rules when completing the application form and joining the Discord server, and we expect team members to abide by those rules. We will not tolerate bullying, or other such behavior disruptive to the team and the project.

• Cooperation: Writing meetings often involve brainstorming or workshopping ideas, and large projects often involve multiple writers working on similar tasks. The team is at its best when we learn from each other's work, respect our colleagues' perspectives, and pull together to give our audience a coherent and consistent experience.

What can writers expect from leads?

Assigning tasks

A lead will assign writers to a project based on project needs and the writer’s interests. Writers can turn down working on a particular piece, but please keep in mind that we need team players. While we try to accommodate as many interests as possible, we will not be able to assign everyone the exact pieces they want to write every time. If you have a particular interest in something, please express that interest, and we will work with you to see how to address your wants while meeting the project objectives. If you have completed an assignment, please update a lead so that they know you are available for another task.

Checking in

All departmental leads are active on Discord, where our names are picked out in light blue and with the tag [Writing Co-Lead]. As part of the tracking process, we will conduct regular one-on-one check-ins on with each team member as well as whole-team check-ins on the #writing-main channel.

Support

If you have any questions, concerns, or you just want to pitch an idea, please talk to us. We can assist you with your current task or the project as a whole, but we're also happy to help if:

• You encounter any issues. This can be technological problems, lore conflicts, or even personal/moral conflicts.

• You cannot complete a project or meet a deadline.

• You have too much work on your plate — or not enough.

• You wish to switch projects.

• You need a break. Burnout happens! Let us know, and we’ll work with you.

• There's anything else you need to share. Life exists outside of Skywind (for most of us) and we understand that. While we expect people to set personal boundaries — which we will not overstep — we are all human beings. Talk to us and let’s work together to support you and your efforts.