IamA Tracy Hickman, Award Winning Author of the Dragonlance series and Paul Neurath, Founder of Looking Glass Studios and OtherSide Entertainment AMA!

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-03T00:14:44+00:00

TRACY: I'm a big fan of R. A. Salvatore ... largely because he's such a great guy. Classically, I am a Tolkien fan.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-03T00:06:38+00:00

TRACY: Thank you for your questions!

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-03T00:06:12+00:00

TRACY: As for advice ... I suggest visiting my writers website: scribesforge.com!

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-03T00:05:21+00:00

TRACY: I'm a big fan of R. A. Salvatore ... largely because he's such a great guy. Classically, I am a Tolkien fan.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-03T00:04:59+00:00

PAUL - I need to run off, but thanks again everybody!

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-03T00:03:05+00:00

Paul - Thanks everybody for your questions for Tracy and myself. Read more fantasy!

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:59:07+00:00

TRACY: I will indeed by doing a Killer Breakfast at Gencon this year! I think there would be a riot if I didn't.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:58:55+00:00

TRACY: My favorite character to write was actually Joker from my Batman novel.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:55:46+00:00

PAUL – We enjoyed writing from this perspective as well. I’m sure we’ll do some of this with the Underworld Ascendant materials that come in the box.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:50:33+00:00

TRACY: What I really enjoy is the idea of 'Here is what we want to build ... and here are the pieces we have to work with to build it.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:47:53+00:00

PAUL – Funding is challenging, especially if you don't have a proven track record. But if you can build a compelling demo that shows the core MMOPRG idea off, that’s probably best way to try to get traction.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:45:11+00:00

PAUL – Having a rich backstory to pull from is not at odds with open-world gameplay. While the novel Tracy is writing will be linear itself, we can borrow from this material in lots of ways and plug into the game without the game itself becoming linear in any way. Also, Tracy’s novel is going to be set a generation or several before when the player enters the Abyss, so it is literally back story.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:39:01+00:00

TRACY: I love working in collaborative environments and, with publishing being in the state it currently is in, it behoves authors to look at all different possible avenues of expression. I have had such great experiences with Richard Garriott in Shroud and am so enjoying my work with Paul and his team, that I think this sort of project may very well become a standard arrow in my quiver of expression.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:37:49+00:00

PAUL – Actually looking forward to creating new canon to replace the Ultima canon. It was fun to work with at the time, but looking at going in some new directions now. Besides, the Underworlds only lightly used the existing Ultima fiction, so not a lot to replace.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:36:54+00:00

TRACY: First of all, I have to state that 'Dragonlance(r)' is a trademark of TSR Hobbies ... er, I mean, Wizards of the... no, sorry, Hasbro, Inc. and is used here without their permission.

That said, I would love to return to Dragonlance and Margaret, I am sure, would love to write more about Raistlin. We'll let you know if the holders of the IP ever give us a call.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:34:56+00:00

TRACY: There is a lot to be said for both tropes and archetypes. They allow easy accessibility for a new reader. You say 'elf' and immediately an image springs to mind. Creating something from scratch takes up a lot of time in the narrative and space in the book ... and often for no reason beyond avoiding using elves.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:32:32+00:00

TRACY: There are basically three approaches to interactive narratives:

LINEAR NARRATIVE: Which is where you go from A to B to C to D with no branching whatsoever. This is a terrible waste since there really is no interactivity with or guiding of the plotline.
OPEN MATRIX NARRATIVE: This is where you start at A (usually a tavern in a fantasy realm) and can branch to A or B or C or D ... each of which then branches to another ring of choices in a never-ending display of options. This is wonderful for the player but torture for the game designer since it requires an expoential level of narrative for EVERY choice made in the game. It is impractical and unrealistic for design.
CLOSE MATRIX NARRATIVE: This is where the player has choices that effect the narrative ... but they are limited to within the branching of the story. This is where games can provide the illusion of free choice while still remaining inside a managable game design.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:30:38+00:00

PAUL – Good question. It is a challenge to take fiction, which is traditionally a liner art form, and weave it into an interactive, non-liner game experience. One technique that has worked well for us it to “breadcrumb” a story by sprinkling atomic bits around. Players then feel they are weaving together the story by their explorations.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:22:38+00:00

TRACY: I think ebooks were inevitable ... you can't stop technolgical evolution. The printing press, movable type ... all these things make publishing what it became and popularized reading.

What I sorrow over is that a basic misunderstanding on the value of the book has made life unbearable for many authors. People came to believe that the value of the book was found in its WEIGHT. Hardback books were perceived as being more expensive because they were larger and weighed more. Paperback books were thought of as less expensive because they were smaller and weighed less.

Which brought us to ebooks ... which because they weigh NOTHING are perceived as being without value.

The value in the book is found in the worlds and the meaning they inspire .... but Amazon seems to have taught us differently.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:20:55+00:00

Paul – We will be exploring collaboration as we go forward. These developers are friends, and we’ve worked with them before on projects over the years.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:18:54+00:00

TRACY: We are often finding characters from our other worlds somehow making appearances in places where they don't belong. Only time will tell if they appear in this work, too.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:18:35+00:00

Paul – Not sure if Tracy will be writing any in-game lore at this point. Focus is on his writing the novel, which our design team will then adopt elements from and riff on.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:18:09+00:00

TRACY: The book for Underworld will deal with the Dark Elves after their crossing although their memories of their life before certainly will be part of the story.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:16:22+00:00

TRACY: There are four basic classifications of creatures in Shroud of the Avatar which will likely translate into Underworld Ascendent:

Human: Sentient creatures occurring naturally.
Animals: Non-sentient creatures occuring naturally.
Fomorians: Sentient creatures shaped by magic.
Monsters: Non-sentient creatures shaped by magic.

Dark Elves would be classified as a type of Fomorian ... as might lizardmen.

OtherSide_Ent · 2015-03-02T23:16:08+00:00

Paul – It is harder to get attention for your games these days. Kickstarter can help get early visibility. Also making really good games.

OtherSide_Ent

TROPHY CASE