Falanor here

Hello Thrive!

Years ago, I received a leaflet of an amazing game that was soon to hit the shelves. It was called Spore, and promised the ability to build an entire civilization.

I loved this game, and dived straight into it. I created and evolved and grew my organisims until they had the undisputed mastery of their planet. Then, my race of homicidal maniacs built a rocket, and ascended into space on fumes of mighty fury.

But my little deviants soon discovered that they were little fish in a very big ocean. My poor space captain was constantly needed to put out fires around the Empire until it fractured and fell into barbary, left to the whims of countless warlords and despots.

Hi, I'm Falanor (AKA Robert) and I'm a writer. While that would normally put me in the avenue of an "idea guy" I believe that there is much more that I can offer Thrive.

For those of you familiar with iPhone games, you may have heard of Starbase Orion. (It is a small 4X strategy game.)  I was the writer for this game: I was contracted to re-work the racial histories, create the dialogue for the diplomacy system, and created the backstories of the 15+ leader characters.  In addition to this, I also created the mission for the tutorial game, which was released as Starbase Orion Lite.

I graduated with an English degree with an emphasis in Creative write and two specialized clusters in theater and communications. I focused my academic studies on storytelling and, specifically, screenwriting.

Having been a long-time movie and game fan, extending my voice to the screenplay was a natural transition.  Though I have not been published yet, I have have numerous mentions and placements in competitions.  With three full-length screenplays completed, a series pilot underway, and three more projects planned, I have expanded my voice to cover multiple genres and voices.

What I want to lend to this project is a unifying voice and style that can take all the amazing elements planned mesh them into a cohesive narrative.

For instance, in Spore there was a narrative (however thin it was) of being the leader of your race. You were charged with taking  them to the stars.

While a similar story could be used in Thrive, there is the potential for so much more. There is rich backstory that can become part of the whole universe.

However, if backstory isn't that needed, then I can still serve as an editor. I can ensure that all documentation and dialogue, help messages, etc all have the same voice and feel, creating the Thrive feel.

I hope you'll give me an honest consideration and let me join the Thrive team. If not, well, I wish you the best of luck, and look forward to creating a race that will conquer the galaxy when it comes out!

Falanor
(aka Robert)

P.S. - I am happy to provide a writing portfolio if anyone is interested.

I also work as a manager, so I know how to coordinate and workflow projects. So I can be useful in that field as well. Just a thought.

Welcome to the forum! I hope to see some of your work in the final game! I'm TheRabiesGuiuneaPig (You can call me RabiesPig) and although i'm not new to thrive, I'm new to the forum. Hope to see ya round, ~RabiesPig.

Welcome fellow writer!  :D 

It's great to see someone else here interested in creative writing (like me), especially with such credentials as yours (unlike me). I'm afraid the likelihood of anything like a definite backstory for the game is low, as it would go against the entire sandbox nature we're trying to create. However, that doesn't mean there aren't any opportunities for writers - on the contrary, we'll need text-based tutorials, help and options dialogues, game descriptions, an opening cutscene and Wiki pages (among other things we probably haven't even considered yet). Unfortunately many of these things will require a substantial understanding of the game mechanics, something that can't really be understood immediately. If you're willing to stick around and pick up on the most important concepts, though, a dedicated writer on the team will be invaluable.

EDIT: 400 posts!