I’ve started a new semester of graduate school. Last semester was pretty much hell, as evidenced by my last post here being more than a month ago. I’m still around, though. I’ll be back.
Watch this space.
Musings on Game Writing
(NB. This is excerpted from an email I sent to Ben Paddon.)
The basic problem, as I see it, is that we have many game developers who are interested in telling a good story but rarely have experience in what that means. I have a degree in writing (for whatever’s that worth) and I’ve been doing it in various capacities for the last ten years as well as teaching for the last two. The problems that we see with game writing? Absolutely freshman year creative writing class problems. There’s a reason why people shudder when we say stuff like ‘where’s the Citizen Kane/Watchmen/emotionally wrought game that will make me cry of our medium?”
GDC Vault debuts free content
One of the few downsides of attending GDC was not getting to see all the talks I wanted to – some had already happened by the time I arrived, some conflicted with other talks I did attend, etc. There are a lot of people I know who didn’t get the chance to go, as well, which is fair considering the price.
Happily, not an hour ago GDC posted a smorgasboard of free content on the GDC Vault. In video form there’s comparatively few lectures to the premium content; however, many of the talks’ slides have been posted under the free section as well. Some highlights:
MEME DEPARTMENT: Influence Map
Here’s my silly influence map. Click through for a giant picture of my heroes.
What I learned from GDC: Ten Days Later
It’s been almost two weeks, and I’m still not entirely sure how to process the con. It’s a blur of business cards, good conversation, game design, and arguing about Metagame cards. I spent most of the week with Chris Wright or Jack Monahan, esteemed gentlemen and cool people extraordinaire. Jack listened patiently to the current design for Solitary and completely dodged talking about his own project. Chris and I caught up with mutual friends and traded experiences of the con at the end of the day. Overall, a great experience, and I’ll be sure to attend next year.
The following is with the caveat that I’m a student, and though I call myself an indie game designer I haven’t shipped anything, so I’m not speaking from authority. When I say ‘you’, I mean ‘I’.
The insights I took from GDC:
A Quick Inspirational Quote
“We had no idea what we were doing, none whatsoever, and I think that’s an important lesson, because sometimes you just need to do things, and sometimes thinking too much and knowing too much can hurt more than it can help.”
-Ron Gilbert, in his postmortem of Maniac Mansion