Maybe five people have commented on this blog in its (wholly lackluster) lifetime, and one of them is Chuck, so this is kind of retarded, but I wanted to recommend Chuck Jordan’s continued writing on storytelling in games over at his blog. I definitely don’t see eye to eye with Chuck regarding large swaths of what he’s writing about (I see many things as extremely important which he doesn’t seem to really care for/about much at all), but it’s refreshing to see someone writing on this subject with reverence towards (and a firm understanding of) the strengths inherent in both screenwriting and game design.

Too often in these discussions (and, it seems, in game production in general), people make the amateur mistake of confusing writing, or the script — or even the “storytelling” of the entire game — with “the words that come out of the characters mouths,” and their attitude about what role story and writing has in their project is shaped by that perception… Which becomes the perfect setup for a pretty lame self-fulfilling prophecy. I’ve been enjoying Chuck’s attempts to take the conversation in a more holistic and aiming-for-practical direction.

Also, his most recent post on the subject reminds me a lot of a less-lame and definitely less-profanity-laden version of a rant I wrote for Idle Thumbs four years ago. So its got that going for it as well.

Anyway, that’s all. Time to resume slowly sinking into the mud.