The overall application process was great, despite it ending with a rejection. But I would definitely apply again.
First interview was with a recruiter, which went great. It was super casual, and overall an absolute pleasure. The second interview was with a Senior RPG Designer, which was also very pleasant, though a bit more formal. The whole thing took about an hour, was fairly casual and it did not contain any intentionally tricky questions or the like, so again it was very nice.
The test was pretty hard, a bit vague, very time demanding, but a lot of fun. It was emailed as a three page document, listing out -in very limited detail- what they expected. It required me to:
1) Write a design document for a scenario in Baldur's Gate 3
2) Illustrate a level design flowchart for a fictional, C-RPG. 4-man party castle breach scenario
3) Pitch 3 story ideas, plus 1 follow-up how to conclude it, based on a one-paragraph premise
The whole thing took a full-time week to complete. After I submitted it by email, it took them at least two weeks to come back to me. At that point had I sent a email inquiring for a follow-up, after which someone was organized to finally review my test.
The review was returned to me in written format. I nearly made the selection, but had apparently gone into too much detail (stretching the page count) and focused on the wrong elements.
A summary of feedback that I was given:
1) They needed a different format of design document and a lower page-count (format and exact page count not specified) plus a higher focus on the "fun" factor for the design (what's in it for the player)
2) The level design had to be more focused on "the level", (unspecified what that meant) it is possible they wanted to see a more in-doors, or clearly "structured" environments that can be define as a coherent level, since it was specified that my level design felt more like a "region design" (my design took place outside)
3) The story pitches needed to be more character focused, and the pitched characters need to be more fleshed out (rather than only insinuated)
And with that, the whole process was over, you get once chance, and if you fail it, no follow-upsies.
