[Steve Ince]

Hey Martin!

How long did it take you to develop the story? Was it done in parallel with the gameplay design?

[Martin Gantefoehr]

Hey Steve!

Hmmm... I think from first blank sheet to final draft it was 2-3 months.

Writing the design document took another 3 months (350 pages, compiled into a HTML Help project, btw), and it underwent 5 revisions.

I wrote most of the dialogue rather late in the production. 2 month went into that as well, I think (7,600 lines).

It was fun, most of the time. Creating the endless character move lists and the animation lists was the really tedious task. Writing down every freakin little detail of a game can be kind of terror.

But who am I telling that.

:-)

(How long did it take on BS3?)

[Halloko]

Originally Posted by Martin Gantefoehr

Hey Steve!

Hmmm... I think from first blank sheet to final draft it was 2-3 months.

Writing the design document took another 3 months (350 pages, compiled into a HTML Help project, btw), and it underwent 5 revisions.

How did you organize your design document? Did you just write, or did the company have some specific style for doing a design document?
If you were to briefly summarize some of the main headings, what would they be? I mean, do you have a section called Scenes where you throughly describe all the scenes, or?

I recently read a great article on gamasutra.com(http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991217/ryan_pfv.htm) about how to do a design document.
I think it was great, but I can't decide if it contains too many different sections. I'm a bit curious on how a pro company did it

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by Martin Gantefoehr

Hey Steve!

Hmmm... I think from first blank sheet to final draft it was 2-3 months.

Writing the design document took another 3 months (350 pages, compiled into a HTML Help project, btw), and it underwent 5 revisions.

(Chin hits floor.) That's an impressive amount of work for 3 months.

I wrote most of the dialogue rather late in the production. 2 month went it to that as well, I think (7,600 lines).

(Chin hits floor again.) That's the equivalent of about ten movie scripts!!! I'd want a lot longer than that if it was me.

It was fun, most of the time. Creating the endless character move lists and the animation lists was the really tedious task. Writing down every freakin little detail of a game can be kind of terror.

Don't I know that!

But who am I telling that.

Let me introduce myself...

(How long did it take on BS3?)

Too long. It took about nine months to get the story and the design down. The dialogue was written in parallel with the implementation over about six months.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

Too long. It took about nine months to get the story and the design down. The dialogue was written in parallel with the implementation over about six months.

So Martin is the more productive writer then - work harder, Steve!

[Martin Gantefoehr]

So Martin is the more productive writer then - work harder, Steve!

I know a quite a few situations in life where being fast doesn't equal being good.

See the results:

Steve Ince is an Excellence in Writing nominee. And I'm still little Martin Ganteföhr.

[Steve Ince]

That could just mean that the nomination committee doesn't know what it's doing.

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by Halloko

I think it was great, but I can't decide if it contains too many different sections. I'm a bit curious on how a pro company did it

I'm a firm believer of the philosphy that says you can never have too much detail.

[Lurcher]

Steve, you are too humble. Both of you deserve accolades.

[ragnar]

I'd guess that Steve has bribed the comitee by writing beautiful poems to all of the comitee members.

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by ragnar

I'd guess that Steve has bribed the comitee by writing beautiful poems to all of the comitee members.

No, I just promised not to sleep with them.

[LauraMac]

Clever you

[Halloko]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

I'm a firm believer of the philosphy that says you can never have too much detail.

Well, I more or less meant if you could have too many sections that kind of divided all the descriptions into smaller parts and perhaps, by doing that, would result in losing some of the focus?

But I don't know really.. I'm no pro

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

No, I just promised...to sleep with them.

If you were a celebrity outside of gaming circles (that sounds worse than I mean it to be), the above headline would be winging its way to The Sun as we speak...

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by Halloko

Well, I more or less meant if you could have too many sections that kind of divided all the descriptions into smaller parts and perhaps, by doing that, would result in losing some of the focus?

But I don't know really.. I'm no pro

You've got to split it up so that those responsible for the different parts know what they're dealing with. Though you've still got to deal with the bigger picture, too.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

You've got to split it up so that those responsible for the different parts know what they're dealing with. Though you've still got to deal with the bigger picture, too.

Did you supply everyone involved with a complete design document for BS3, or just their specific sections? Was there any reason for you to want to hide aspects of the game from those working for you?

And the same question, of course, goes to Martin in relation to The Moment of Silence. I suspect that, with outsourcing, things work quite differently.

[Steve Ince]

Everyone should read everything, but by compartmentalising someone who's, say, working on the interface knows what's interface and what's not. This isn't meant to be patronising, just that there can be grey areas and often the danger is that people assume that they grey areas are being dealt with by somone else and may never get done.

[Martin Gantefoehr]

And the same question, of course, goes to Martin in relation to The Moment of Silence. I suspect that, with outsourcing, things work quite differently.

I don't think so. When large areas of the production are being outsourced, the most important thing is that the partners really understand and follow the project's vision. Otherwise, their delivered results will be wrong and/or unsatisfying, there will be the need to have endless phone conversations and meetings, and many things will have to be corrected, revised, redone.

That's very unwanted, because nobody likes to do their work double. And nothing is more dangerous for a project than frustrated staff or partners.

We provide all team members with the entire design document. The doc is clearly structured so that everybody knows what exactly their work is, but still has access to all material that all other members have.

[Mattsius]

Originally Posted by RLacey

And the same question, of course, goes to Martin...

It's good that you added that. I was almost worried that someone would have to change the name to Broken Sword Developer Chat.

[Martin Gantefoehr]

I was almost worried that someone would have to change the name to Broken Sword Developer Chat.

Sorry if I adressed this a little late.

But I think it's great to hear opinions and views from more than one professional about this.

Steve's experience is something that not many other developers have to offer. I think it's really cool that he shares it - I've always felt that one thing that got adventure games into trouble for years was the lack of developer/developer and developer/player communication.