Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:29 pm
Re: The toolsets we use for creating dialogue
Absolutely! Another good one, though it requires purchasing Half Life 2, is the Hammer editor. While the Steam engine is getting a little long in the tooth, it's facial animation system is still incredibly powerful and, with the provided content, can be quite a powerful tool.
In fact, I've suggested both the UDK and the Steam Engine to...uh...interested parties here in the forum for them to put their ideas to the test. I'm sure the fact that he hasn't chosen to do this is not a surprise to you, mainly because that would require a level of analysis and technical competency that he has yet to illustrate or, even more potentially ego-damaging, is actually having to prove his system works, is fun, and has not been done before. Actually creating something means having to put your work out there for critique, hoping for praise, but occasionally getting vilified. Having actually created games and MOD levels, I know that it can feel good to hear praise and hurt to hear criticisms.
That said, there are several different screenwriting tools that I find useful when writing dialog, as I mentioned before. Final Draft is another good piece of software because of its voice-reading system. Hearing someone (or something) else read my dialog helps give it an impartial reading to hear if it is any good or not.
When it comes to game system design, I have realized more than once that if you want to consider if a game system will actually work, the best way to discuss and develop it is to sit down and try to explain it to a programmer. Programmers tend to think very logically, so, explaining the system to them forces me, as a Designer, to think about it in a step-by-step manner. The more complicated the system, the more I find that I have to create smaller and smaller steps that have explicit mechanical value and can be concisely explained.
More than once, in these discussions about very complicated systems, we've come up with a usable, workable technical design because we've broken down the system into such small chunks that how the system will be implemented is self-evident. When it comes to writing systems, I tend to split time between MS Word / Wiki for text and MS Visio for Flow-charting.
In fact, I've suggested both the UDK and the Steam Engine to...uh...interested parties here in the forum for them to put their ideas to the test. I'm sure the fact that he hasn't chosen to do this is not a surprise to you, mainly because that would require a level of analysis and technical competency that he has yet to illustrate or, even more potentially ego-damaging, is actually having to prove his system works, is fun, and has not been done before. Actually creating something means having to put your work out there for critique, hoping for praise, but occasionally getting vilified. Having actually created games and MOD levels, I know that it can feel good to hear praise and hurt to hear criticisms.
That said, there are several different screenwriting tools that I find useful when writing dialog, as I mentioned before. Final Draft is another good piece of software because of its voice-reading system. Hearing someone (or something) else read my dialog helps give it an impartial reading to hear if it is any good or not.
When it comes to game system design, I have realized more than once that if you want to consider if a game system will actually work, the best way to discuss and develop it is to sit down and try to explain it to a programmer. Programmers tend to think very logically, so, explaining the system to them forces me, as a Designer, to think about it in a step-by-step manner. The more complicated the system, the more I find that I have to create smaller and smaller steps that have explicit mechanical value and can be concisely explained.
More than once, in these discussions about very complicated systems, we've come up with a usable, workable technical design because we've broken down the system into such small chunks that how the system will be implemented is self-evident. When it comes to writing systems, I tend to split time between MS Word / Wiki for text and MS Visio for Flow-charting.
