Thursday 22 March 2018

Dead Frontier 2: Writing Competition

One thing I've always liked in games is the ability to find various notes, journals and books scattered around which contribute towards the atmosphere and develops the lore.



Dead Frontier 1 did have a handful of books you could find with neat little stories in them. However I regret that we didn't have more of them. For Dead Frontier 2 I'd like to change this, and have a far greater variety of these. Whilst I enjoy writing things like this, the truth is I won't have time to make many of these on top of my other programming and design work.


So this is where you come in! 
We're looking original pieces of creative writing set in the Dead Frontier world. We'll be accepting submissions until the end of April. We'll then choose 10 pieces to be put into the final game (or more if there are a lot of really good ones!). Those pieces will be immortalised forever in Dead Frontier 2, the writer will get their name in the credits and they will receive $50 USD via PayPal for each piece we accept.

Rules:
  1. The piece must be set in the Dead Frontier universe IE the zombie apocalypse. Please no flying unicorns or star destroyers etc. We're not going to nitpick over small details though, and we can always edit out little things that don't quite fit. DF2 is not set in Fairview, but it's fairly close so you're welcome to reference things from DF1 if you wish. The general backstory can be found here if you need a refresher:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR2KKJ4jw34
  2. It should be in the form of a journal, report, set of notes, book, or something a player might realistically find lying around. Don't write it in the form of an actual story/novel :) If you need some examples take look at these:
    http://deadfrontier.wikia.com/wiki/Diaries
    http://residentevil.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Diaries
  3. Don't make the piece too long, otherwise players probably won't read it. We're probably talking about 150-300 words each.
  4. You can submit as many entries as you like. You can make each entry a separate piece of work or you can chain them together to make a series for the player to collect. You will receive $50 USD for each piece we accept.
  5. Please write in English with good grammar, punctuation and spelling.
  6. Try to be creative! The more unique your piece the more chance we'll choose it. We don't want to end up with 100s of "oh no I'm a zombie, itchy scratchy" pieces :)
  7. Keep the tone dark and serious as much as possible.
  8. It must be your own, brand new, 100% original work (although you are of course allowed to use other things for inspiration etc)
  9. If you win you must sign a short contract with us, which basically allows us to use the work in the game.
  10. You must be 18 or over to enter.
  11. We're just looking for simple pieces of text to add atmosphere. Please don't plan out complex missions or cut scenes etc to go with them

Email all entries to [email protected] with the writing directly in the email as we may not be able to open some types of attachment. Please be sure to include your full name, address (for the contract), PayPal email and name you want to use for the credits (either your actual name, a nickname or a username). If you are accepted your name/nickname will be published in the game credits, but we of course won't publish any other details about you. If you do not have a PayPal account we can always give you Dead Frontier credits instead.

If you'd like to stay up to date with DF2 developments, please sign up to the mailing list, like/follow/subscribe/wishlist us on social media (especially Steam!). All those lovely links can be found here: https://deadfrontier2.com :)

Thanks for reading!
-Neil

73 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. We are only accepting English entries for this competition. Unfortunately we wouldn't be able to tell if a Spanish piece is well written or not since none of my team speak it well enough.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. I Speak good enough English / German and Spanish, I can be part of your team and make this for u ;)

      Delete
  2. Well this is good for me i could try

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well for people that don't speak english you should pay a tradutor. For 150-300 words i believe they don't ask more than 5 dollars. For a shot, i believe it is worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't have PayPal,will it be really necessary to have one? I have no access to such account. Is there any alternative?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you can't do PayPal then we can give you DF1 or DF2 credits to the same value.

      Delete
    2. Since it releasing on Steam, will/can that be an option of payment?

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  5. I'm curious how many will be accepted

    ReplyDelete
  6. How does the contract thing works?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its just so that he has leagal authority to use your work in the game, its not a permanent thing or anything, just you giving him permision

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  7. I don't know what happen
    but i heard someone scream and so i went to go cheak it out
    and i saw a dead body with no legs next thing i know i was being
    chased by a bunch of undead freeks so i ran i was running for
    hours but some how i lost them and i got lost
    1 hour later i found a outpost they made a deal
    with me they gave me food and weapons and they told me to
    go and looked for survivors.
    i hope this nightmare would just end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need to send the all of that to the email that is been shown.

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    2. i don't want paypal i just want my name in the game nothing elss im aquard.w
      plz...

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    3. I JUST NEED TO BE HEARD ON SOMETHING THATS NEW YOU CAN PUT LISE FOR ALL I CARE HATERS ONLY MAKE ME STRONGER AND I NEED A SHOUT OUT FOR MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL buttmunch X.
      IT'S ALL ABOUT THE RATEINGS! THE RATEINGS!

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    6. Also i love being with crazy people
      ps. i have a BIG crush on mangle from fnaf 2.

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    7. # im weird

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  8. I don't have a paypal account and i'm from Brazil,is it a problem?

    ReplyDelete
  9. " If i play Dead Frontier i`d like to have a cold beer and the sound of apokalypse is all i wish to her.
    The sound of my firing shotgun is the only thing that is fun.
    A Tentril is grapping for me, omg, i have to pee.
    My amour is still broken, but these are not the last words that will be spoken.
    I still will be back, with a fress refild ammo stack.
    I will smash some brains to get much more Exposure Gains.
    I will still hit Level Twohunderttwenty and money i have plenty.
    Dead Frontier is the finest game i have ever play and if i go to bed, to be a winner, thats what I always prey.
    And in this competition i will be the greatest winner, or u can call me in german "Du blöder Spinner" ! . "

    If u like my shortstory, please PM me, thx.

    ReplyDelete
  10. have the ultimate short story:

    " If i play Dead Frontier i`d like to have a cold beer and the sound of apokalypse is all i wish to hear.
    The sound of my firing shotgun is the only thing that is fun.
    A Tentril is grapping for me, omg, i have to pee.
    My amour is still broken, but these are not the last words that will be spoken.
    I still will be back, with a fress refild ammo stack.
    I will smash some brains to get much more Exposure Gains.
    I will still hit Level Twohunderttwenty and money i have plenty.
    Dead Frontier is the finest game i have ever play and if i go to bed, to be a winner, thats what I always prey.
    And in this competition i will be the greatest winner, or u can call me in german "Du blöder Spinner" ! . "

    If u like my shortstory, please PM me, thx.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I wish to hear is the correct version...sorry for this failure.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'll do something you'll like, so you can go save $ 150 for me.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi. I'm kind of curious of one thing.
    I'm 'currently' writing a zombie story too, and can i somehow put my entries that somehow touch both the game and my own zombie story?. It's not that connected, but perhaps i just kind of put a 'string' on one of my side character or something?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey, i'm not 18 or over, but is it alright if I contribute to this and just not get payment? i don't really need one anyway.

    I'm 16 BTW

    ReplyDelete
  15. my name is muneeb hussain i sent a document. any indication that you received said document?

    ReplyDelete
  16. It is a great idea and I want to contribute but unfortunately I'm not 18, so I can't enter the competition, maybe you could do another of these competitions after the game is fully released.

    ReplyDelete
  17. An overwhelming sense of insurmountable excruciating agony torments my physical and mental state daily, inducing me into a fluctuating state of paralysis. Paralysis of fear, hope, despondence, a sign generating a sudden ascension of spirits, only until I inevitably ascertain the falsehood of such a deceiving sign. Moans surround me, scarcity of human screams shocks me, and an inescapable sense of death encompasses me. The inexorable, diminished probability of surviving such an adverse, perilous, agonizing apocalypse, that motivates me to continue fighting, is drowned out by the inhuman shrieks, the piercing screams, the tumultuous screeches. Hope. Hope is what drives me, commits me, devours me, yet no sign elucidates the idea of such a fantasy, still I stubbornly pursue such a commodity as it is the only intangible essence I have left to treasure, cherish and adore. Belief is the mendacious, sincere friend keeping me alive. So believe that it will get better. Carry on my legacy. Endure.

    this is my short story i made up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The fuck is this? i know perfect english yet i didnt understand like 95% of it, what fucking survivor wrote this, some poet in the zombie world?

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    2. It's a bit too flowery. Maybe put less adjectives in it? Not every noun needs multiple qualifiers.

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    3. There, are, too, many, commas, like, this,!

      Muneeb, resist the infection. You may be hallucinating but you can fight through it!

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    4. I can see you put a lot of effort into this but I can't make out a story into this. It's more like an inspirational speech of someone coming into resolve towards the circumstances (i.e. the zombie apocalypse) the writer/survivor of the journal.

      I know the words but you're being too verbose for the sake of being verbose. Try to prevent being highfalutin. After all, most of the one's who are going to be reading this are the lay man. Think of the audience when you write this.

      Delete
  18. I'll think up something, hopefully it comes through. :P

    ReplyDelete
  19. How mature can the writing be? Do you want to avoid language, sexual, violent, or anything above a PG-13 rating? All in all, what are we allowed to get away with...?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well AdminPWN stated that you should be 18 when entering the competition. I guess gore will be okay as long as it isn't overdrawn.

      Its zombies, ffs. You don't see flower beds, unicorns and fun moments ey?

      Delete
  20. Does Address refer to Home Address or Email Address?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AdminPWN need the e-mail address as a form of payment and communication. The permanent address is for legal purposes only. Like he state, only your name or desired nickname will be shown in public.

      Delete
    2. So its home address, gotcha thank you.

      Delete
  21. are we allowed to add drawings and/or maybe a few bloodstains and whatnot? or will they all just be text, with nothing else?

    ReplyDelete
  22. How do we know our entries will be accepted?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Can we get some info on some of the locations that are going to be in the game, so we can maybe, you know, forge a story around them instead of some generic "Oh there's zombies outside, I am scared!"

    ReplyDelete
  24. the deal is, a blowjob a day to keep the zombies away, at bay, so i reply with hey,okay lets just say i may have a lay once a day.
    this is my short story. its good isn't it and it rhymes

    ReplyDelete
  25. I know your busy neil but if you want us to help you out you have to apply yourself as well. We all have questions here even thought some are pretty obvious if you read your OP but some things you left out that needs to be know for better assistance .

    ReplyDelete
  26. And how many stories are we allowed to send? just 1 each person? can be more? tks.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hello! How "mature" can we nature of the entry be?

    Like, can we write about controversial subjects like rape & stuff like that?

    Where do you draw the line?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be honest I tried making 2 instances of that in this writing competition. Though I avoid using the word "rape" for some reason. I use words like "forced" or something. I am thinking if I should submit it tho haha. Still I have some decent writing pieces that I had submitted. But well... just write with the intent of enjoyment. No need for complicated plots or harsh dialogues. The atmosphere your writing is the key to convey it the simpliest and more relatable way. Just my opinion tho.

      Delete
  28. I don't want to take up much of your time, but I do need to ask one question. If I am writing a series of notes that are connected, should I send them separately or together. Unfortunately the guidelines don't really clarify.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Is slang or cursing allowed?

    Want to make sure before submitting my entries

    ReplyDelete
  30. Sent one in (consists of less than 300 words as you said)

    Its part of a series too so I hope it checks out. I'll continue the series if it gets accepted that is hehe

    ReplyDelete
  31. Will you be notifying people that there submissions have been accepted to go into the game as the submissions are accepted or will there be a major ruling after the submission deadline, and if so when?

    ReplyDelete
  32. How will we know if ours got picked or not

    ReplyDelete
  33. Can we post this as .docx or can it be in any other document format?

    ReplyDelete
  34. I am curious if the infected are similar to those in DF1. Is it still a fatal infection of a virus causing rapid regeneration resulting in re-animation?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a sequel to the original DF1 with a 3rd-Person mechanic. But I think it wouldn't make a difference, since the narrative is a sequel and Neil kinda is working on it. Soooo I don't know how it would work out well. He said earlier there going to be changed whether there be bits which are quite non-fitting to the canon.

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  39. why i cant log in for the first time in this game so wierd. keep say that i did that action too many times that i should try later . for 4 hours

    ReplyDelete
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