Cool Free Stuff

I've been using this software for a few months now. Its called Celtx. They call it an Integrated Media Pre-Production software, useful for Film, Theatre, Radio, AV, etc... AND I've found that it could be VERY useful for Game Dev., even as is. It could do with some changes particular to game dev. but what the hell.

I've been using it for everything from scripts, to straight prose, to game narrative stuff, to grocery lists! Well, okay that's a little exagerrated. No prose ;)

It's free. Developed in Canada (NFLD)... and works very well. They also have some great online features. Collaborative type stuff, peer review, and an active community. Check out their Project Central.

Know Your Role

Geez!!! I just started this thing and I rarely post... I guess I just suck at blogging.

Anyway... another contentious issue in gaming. Writing.

This first article, an opinion piece made a case that writers were of little use in game dev... and perhaps were even a hindrance... http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17902

Circle the wagons!!! Hoo Boy. Did this stir up a hornets' nest... and rebuttal from a member of the IGDA Writers SIG (International Game Developers Association Writers Special Interest Group... phew)... http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17963

And then... a little more personal...
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18005

Now, I'm a writer and designer. I've worked on many projects of different scope, size, type... You name it. This comes down to an issue of scope and influence and knowing your role.

Funny thing...
The first article against the inclusion of writers in game dev reminds me of the arguments I used to hear when I started in the industry... only they were being used to make a case against designers.

Game Design was once seen as an 'open' discipline. That is to say, anyone could do it. By this I mean anyone could fill the role. Lead Game Designers were often the Lead Programmer or Artist. The growth of the scope and size of projects made this impossible uphold. Specialization becomes inevitable when projects and teams grow.

However, the idea that ANYONE could design a game persisted... this time I don't just mean filling the role. I mean that anyone (everyone) had the ability to design. This was not wrong... (I mean anyone can do anhything right? Yeesh), but it WAS wrong-thinking and caused friction in the industry and in individual studios. You had programmers, artists, janitors, second-guessing designers. Now, of course it comes with the territory. It IS true that anyone can think of a game idea, and so the perception was, anyone can design a game. I'll leave that up to you to decide...

Suffice it to say that Game Design has become more of a recognized skill... Training is even becoming widespread in various post-secondary institutions.

Now, game writing is going through the same growing pains. The thing is, much like game design once was (and to a certain extent still is), writing at its most basic, is seen as something anyone can do, at least physically. Launch Wordperfect and start typing. However, it doesn't mean they can do it with any amount of talent... and believe me... we've seen that lack of talent in games.

Granted games are mostly about gameplay (mechanics), but when projects are as big as they are getting today, when budgets are as huge, when expectations are as high... Everything MUST be polished to blinding gleam to stand out. Plus there are definitely game types where story plays more of a role. This will become the norm as new ways of presenting narrative in games emerge. The Narrative Designer will become a specialized part of the dev team... right from the start of a project.

What it comes down to is this... Knowing your role. You may think you know more about how to do someone else's job that they do, but you probably don't.

I can program (somewhat), and draw (somewhat), but I recognize two things in the colleagues I've worked with...
1. The programmers know how to program better than I do. The artists know how to 'art' better than I do ;)
2. I trust their abilities and knowledge in their fields.

A game dev team is just that... a team. Everyone on the team has a job to do, a role to play in the development of a game. Everyone should trust that the other members of the team are as dedicated and trained in the area of expertise... AND bigger projects mean bigger teams, more secialized teams... INCLUDING writers.

Reverse Airbags

Rant time! Expect them with some regularity, as I hate people in general.

The more I think of it, the more I think the design of cars and airbags is completely backwards...

(I'm not talking about the environmental issue. I'll probably address that at some point but suffice it to say that any species stupid enough to create/invent/develop something that spews out a poisonous gas into an atmosphere which they need to BREATHE TO LIVE... Well, maybe they shouldn't survive.)

Anyway, if it was up to me, airbags would be on the outside of cars, protecting people from the irresponsible idiots who are driving... and that irresponsiblity DOES include environmental issues along with everything else.

By the way, this rant is brought to you courtesy of my being almost run down by some dumbass yapping on the phone... AGAIN. This happens to me with an alarming regularity that REALLY intensifies in the summer, because then, while cycling, I may as well be invisible. Plus, there are more distractions around (some of these don't bother me so much... ladies, I'm talking to you).

For some reason people are so selfish/oblivious/etc (take a pick) , that even though 85% of them can't chew gum and walk at the same time, when they get behind the wheel they decide its time to make a few calls, or adjust their make-up, or get a hand-job from the tarted-up fashionista in the passenger's seat.

So here's the solution. Airbags on the outside protecting the world from the idiots... and on the inside? Spikes that deploy upon impact, right through the frontal lobe. They're activated if the car detects a cell-phone in use, or if its speeding, or if the driver's biometrics indicate that they are distracted, etc... Or if the radio is tuned to some bubble-gum B***S***. BS, I'm looking at you.

Does anyone really want these genes in the pool?

A bad, bad man

by Randy Humphries

Been working on a project (for too long a time), with a great artist friend of mine... Randy Humprhies.

I'd call it a graphic novel, but that term has been appropriated and mangled by another medium...

So I'll call it a novel with graphics ;).... Possibly some interactive elements included, if we can come up with something cool.

Above, concept of the main character. Randy's got a couple of other pieces relevant to this project (as well as other stuff) up on deviantart... http://rand1211.deviantart.com/gallery/

Out of the Frying Pan...

Well... it seems that former DC Studios head Mark Greenshields has stirred up a hornets' nest with his latest.

http://www.developmag.com/news/29488/Montreal-is-not-an-efficient-place-to-run-a-business

I won't really comment on the article except to say someone with his record of studio openings and closings should think before tossing that first stone... and to say that he had possibly the densest talent pool in Montreal working in that studio... and blew it.

So, who's inefficient?