I had the privilege of participating in the AI Summit at GDC 2010, which also bought me an All Access pass to the rest of the conference. I went to some of the other AI sessions — all very interesting, though many of them focused on aspects of game design that have little to do with interactive fiction — but I also hit a number of other tracks, taking in panels on independent and serious games, on art and design and writing. Especially writing.
I went to a writers’ round table session run by Richard Dansky, and lectures/panels given by Dansky, Susan O’Connor, and Marianne Krawcyzk; and I chatted informally with several people going that route professionally.
Several things in the writing track resonated with me as being potentially useful to revisit here for IF authors. In all the talk about work practices, there was a certain brutal pragmatism: the perfect is the enemy of the finished; projects have to end sometime; it’s better to write down something mediocre than to write down nothing. You can revise later.
One of my most popular posts (judging by my site stats, anyway) is the one where I talk about ways to get from idea to implementation on a project. But there is more to that process than planning. I find that even in my hobby work, I’ve moved toward treating my game writing like a job — and that sometimes means taking on both the role of writer and the role of the lead designer, creative director, or other project lead, and consciously managing myself.
Here’s what that tends to mean, for me:
Continue reading “Game-writing from the pros”
Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling 