Hello Reader, who is also a reader, and welcome to return to the week – our regular Sunday conversation with the selection of great people in the book! I have read in a book that you don’t really believe anything you read in a book until you have checked at least two other books. Unfortunately, those two books say the same thing, which means I have to check four more books. If anyone knows every book on this topic, let me know. Now I get stuck.
This week, the leader of IP development at Leverage, former story director tells the story of Deck 13, and former Art Research Head of Art at the Norwegian interactive media center, Christian Fonnesbech! Congratulations Christian! If we have a nose in your bookshelf?
What are you reading?
Books and games are my first love – then the films (and play the pen & paper). Sometimes I think my whole career is about regenerating those emotional journeys with friends. I often read some books at the same time, I have a copy to read the pile in my bookshelf, and often have many books in the letter.
Helen Dewitt’s last samurai
I have overcome this funny, surprising, touching novel for a few days – completing it now. I don’t use Astounding words, but wow! This is very smart and completely original (can you say how often it is?). It was about a single nerve mother who raised a genius child in a diet of more than 8 languages, mathematics and the movie The Seven Samurai. It makes me think about stories and what they do with us and the characters in them in completely new ways. Read it – you will not regret.
The lord of Jrr Tolkien’s rings
I was ashamed to admit that I had never read it to cover. The shame is real, because I work in Tolkien’s house every day; He invented all the idea of an alternative world – and I am participating in the development of three of them right now. Robert E. Howard may have lit the first fuse with Conan – but Tolkien brought the idea of a replacement world on the moon. Will I complete the Lot this time? To be honest, I’m not sure. While I admire his brilliant and magnificent importance during his time, all the people who followed the hero of Destiny, what was bad dating. In addition, Peter Jackson’s films are perfect, and it’s a very long trip when you know the story. Finally, I always like sand dunes.
Nice play by Jason Schreier
Blizzard Entertainment is one of the few studios who have continuously built long -term IP universes. Reading it made me realize why so many game studios and other publishers were always waiting for too long to develop IP vision for their games. In the old days, the game was enough, it sold itself; This means that the process of building emotions is rarely part of the culture of the game companies. I said from the experience when I said very, very few emotional grilled studios into their development process from the beginning. Previously, this did not matter: back then, the competition was about games and technology. But today? Emotions are very important, and Blizzard is part of doing that. Great book.
What did you read for the last time?
MCU: Marvel Studios, by Robinson, Gonzales and Edwards
If you are interested in building IP universities, there is no MCU out of MCU. I read and turned off this while reviewing some Marvel films in the period 1-3. Although they built the Marvel movie universe at the back of the existing comics, it was still an incredible feat of content techniques. I suspect we will feel like it is once again in our lives. Imagine, from Iron Man in 2008 to the end of the game in 2019, there are 23 movies! Each person is a large complex of text, casting, contract negotiation, intuitive design, effects, shooting, marketing, etc.
Read the book and review the films that made me realize that the biggest change was to flip these superheroes from the appropriate comics to mainstream films. Each superhero goes from a series of features (web shooting! Flies! There is Adamantite claw!) And the attitude (angry! Tell a joke!) To directly come to the vast audience. Suddenly, Father Iron Man’s problems were the front and the center of more than 22 films. Thor and Loki become all about the competition of the brothers, and don’t make me start with Guardians of the Galaxy (Marvel’s best movie?). This is very similar to the challenge that most game characters have today: they are mainly a series of interesting features and that will not be enough.
What are you keeping your eyes on the next?
Outcast – Graphic novel of Kirkman and Azaceta
I will reread this as the inspiration for a supernatural ownership project. Kirkman is a writer behind the original Walking Dead graphic novel. I was fascinated by the way he and GRR Martin brought the protagonist shocking Death Death into the main line. Before Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, heroes in the mainstream stories always make it lively. But, suddenly, all the bets have been off – these days, no one is safe. Outcast does not disappoint. It was about a man lurking by the property he loved. It is possessing an injury – and a great example of how the orthodox stories can also be personal and original. This is an important balance to target, if you want a large audience: the story in your game needs to respect the expectations for a genre story (except for evil! Pozzing to the body conflicts!), But it also needs to bring emotional connection and originalness to connect and stand out (in the case of generation pain, psychological scars, etc.
What is the quote or scene from a book that is most attached to you?
I collect quotes, so this is a few
“As long as you get the right emotions, you can throw them into everything else.” – Edward P. Jones
Jones said this in an interview about the novel winning his Pullitzer Award, the world is known. The book is about a black slave owner, and Jones was asked how his research was expanded. His answer was that he didn’t do anything – he focused on emotions and let the rest bloom from there. This is a huge part of the work I do with the game companies: from the artistic point of view, as well as to position the game on the market – we need to have the right emotions.
“I left the door of my mind that opened up other people’s thoughts, which I confused with myself.” – David diop, at night all blood are black
This is one of the good, but difficult to live and work by. Game universities often act in existing genres, trying to reuse the existing ideas for the audience that has been proven to be something new but still familiar. The secret is to understand what has gone before, without letting your project be overcome by it. If you do not free yourself, you will create something general and forgetful. On the other hand, if you release yourself completely, the audience will think that you are strange (this may mean it is art, this is wonderful, but also very difficult to sell).
“I can’t continue. I will continue” – Samuel Beckett
For yourself to create anything new, briefly.
Which book do you find yourself bothering your friends to read?
The Wager of David Grann
I was at GameScom with more than 8 meetings a day for a week, and whenever I had a minute, I just need to read what happened next. It was an absolute horror of a tragedy, which was getting deeper and deeper. A large part of what makes it work is a feeling of authenticity. This is what I try to bring to all my work: GameWolds in nature is almost completely artificial. If we want people to participate in them, we need to find an authentic foundation for what is happening in the game. That doesn’t mean it must be true, but it must be rooted in something.
Nyarlathotep mask of Larry Ditillio & Lynn Willis
Chaosium’s Magnum Opus, and perhaps the crowned achievement of Pen & Paper RPG scenarios. I don’t have time to play pen and paper anymore, but read RPG scripts for building their world. This spectacular call of the Cthulhu campaign is a global adventure that lasts for decades, with everything you may want from a world of existential horror – sect, conspiracy, ancient secrets, cosmic forces. It was a huge campaign, but also super detailed. It is filled with monumental scenes and unique characters, and of course the continuous threat of madness. I might forget that I read it, just to experience it as a player, but the thought of running it was too much. I think I continue to push it on everyone so I can live it through them. A true RPG legend.
Want to see someone adapted to a game?
Game player of IAin M. Banks
This is the only person in the mind. Banks have written a series of novels placed in Muslim Cultural Universe, but this is the only one of them that I really like. Others are too loose and slap for me, but this is as tight as a drum, brilliant structure – and for a gamer, it is very attractive (perhaps because it builds the entire civilization surrounding the skill in games?). In the book, a famous game player was bored, until he was introduced a new game, Azad, in a distant civilization. In Azad, every move on the Board of Directors reflects the social and political dynamics of the alien empire, the oppressed place, and the equity turns out to be high. This is a novel that really understands the game. There is an endless potential for an interactive adaptation, although the challenge of designing a working version of Azad is quite difficult. I read it more times than Dune – and that said something.
New year, New Slate, so let me know which guests you want to see in the upcoming items. Not Spector Fella, though. He had enough. Books for now!
