[MUD-Dev] A footnote to Procedural Storytelling

[Nathan F Yospe]

On Tue, 23 May 2000, Lee Sheldon wrote:

:> Will this lead to more of:
:> "leave the writing to the programmers when they have the free time" ?

:As long as hardware and code are mistaken for content, I expect to see lots
:of non-writers continuing to produce non-professional results.  However, if
:the programmers (artists, management, even audio guys!) have the talent, and
:are willing to learn some craft, I have no problem whatsoever with them
:writing.  But to find out if they really have what it takes, it's time for
:them to start competing with the adults.  You're a lean and mean coder, AND
:you write like David Mamet?  I'll pay you the extra bucks to do both!  I
:should point out, too, that I actually know living programmers who are good
:writers!  My argument is not against cream rising to the top, but the bias
:that allows all that curdling goo at the bottom to churn out content.

I'm a professional writer and cartoonist.  I'm also a chef.  I haven't
got the time to do all of the above full time, much less do so for one
project.  Not knocking the amatuer muds... I did that too... but there
is no sense to having this in commercial games, even for more pay.  It
doesn't make sense from a profit motive...

I make 80K+ as a programmer.  Were I to write full time, I might be able
to earn something like 60K at it right now, if I sold conservatively 
well.  As a cartoonist, it depends on the circulation... say 50K, for a
decent publication radius, with minor merchandising.  I'm sort of making
an educated guess there, mind...

:> Not to knock on this guy in the interview, but it's along the
:> same lines.
:> When I first read this I laughed.  (I'm an audio geek.)
:> from
:> http://www.gamespot.com/features/diablo2diary_dd/122198/index.html

:> GameSpot: Are you doing anything differently this time around when
:> creating music as opposed to how you did things for Diablo I?

:> Matt: Absolutely. ... I've learned a great deal about
:> recording techniques in
:> the past couple years...

:LOL, yup.

There's validity to the question... the designer (as opposed to the
coders) has to know what her developers (be they code, sound, art, or
whatever else) are doing, at some level, and manage their skill set.
She also needs to know enough to make informed technology choices.
--

Nathan F. Yospe - Born in the year of the tiger, riding it forever after
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~yospe  nathan.yospe at isearch.com yospe at hawaii.edu
Don't mind me, I'm just insane... there's someone else here in my brain.




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