3D illustrations...

[wizard509]

Don't get me wrong, Gameprinter I am in awe of your w0rk it is absolutely fascenting.

[handrawn]

Now I need to write the dang thing!

Attachment 129994

interesting - we always write first and then illustrate what the script/storyboard indicates, which is far more efficient [certainly for us]... same as sound is always tracked first and the animation is then synced to it...

[Gamerprinter]

I have my own methodology, self taught, and it works for me. Creating the illustrations help me develop the story, almost a part of the brainstorming process, and provides the final touches to make a publication finished. I even create the cover art, as both inspiration and a kick in the ass to get the writing done. I'm the only one in my process, it's not like I'm coordinating with a team or something, while I certainly publish others work, who does the writing first and I finish it, then publish. To me creating the art and maps is part of the develpment process, and because I'm creating the art, it works this way. Had I been commissioning artists for art (I've done that before on some projects), the writing and editing would have already been completed before looking to art. Again, this is my process for non-collaborative work. If I'm working on a project alone, and I've done that many times too, I start with the art, since I'm an artist/cartographer first, and a writer/game designer second. I do it in that order. I'm not shooting for efficiency, rather to complete the work in a timely manner in a way that works best for me. And honestly between myself and my publishing competitors in the gaming industry, I start and finish more projects, more quickly than many other small publishers, and they have a team where I am often alone - so who is more efficient?

Another way to look at, is that most tabletop game publishers are author/game designers wanting to self publish, but they rarely have the artistic talent of creating illustrations and cartography (requirements for most rpg adventure products), so they outsource that. You generally don't outsource work until you've done all you can within your capability at the final stage. Art and cartographer are the first hired, with a page layout artist to follow. All that requires a team. Me, I have over 25 years experience doing copy editing, illustration, cartography, graphic design - so all the backend work for a publication, that was my life's training. I've always been able to write, but never pursued it much, and as a gamer, I always dabble with game design for my own play. Once I decided to start writing my own supplements and adventures, I realized I had the skills to do it all, where most people don't have that wide a skill range in a related field, that I do. Within my experience, I'm the only person/publisher who does that at all. And my work often looks professionally of higher quality than most of my competitive small publishers, who like me are working with tight budgets, but they can only hire the best they can afford (considering the RPG products are seldom major selling products), so they settle for less. I'm not claiming to be a master 3D illustrator, though I can claim to be a master cartographic illustrator, but those talent/skill/interest capabilities I have happens to be those needed for the publishing industry - I don't have to settle. I didn't take this path, knowing this is where I'd be today, it's just the path I took and conveniently works great for the game publishing industry.

[handrawn]

like I said.. interesting....

Creating the illustrations help me develop the story, almost a part of the brainstorming process

sure.. what you might call informal storyboarding [or 'non-segued'] - pencil out the roughs an' all.. reckon we all do this

but pure brainstorming and 'taking the line for a walk' experimentation aside, I have to have a direction in which to go first; a synopsis, an outline, somthing that gives discipline to what might otherwise be a long journey to nowhere in particular

the bottom line is it must 'say something'; if I don't know what it is that needs to be said in a particular project then it all tends to get a bit woolly

so story lines, and in character design personality, come first as a general rule, though I would be a fool to expect them not to evolve along the way

thanks

[Gamerprinter]

I do an outline/synopsis first, as well, most of the time. This project is a small one, and it like many small projects I do the brainstorming in my head, and I have it organized as a synopsis in my head. I don't need to write it out, because as soon as I conceive it, it remains in my head easily "seen". Large book and multi book projects takes an extreme amount of pre-planning and organization - which I did in the publication of my Kaidan setting of Japanese Horror (PFRPG), which also featured a dozen team members to accomplish which can more or less be like herding cats. Projects like that require the synopsis and outline to keep people on track, working in a timely manner - such work, of course, requires proper planning. But my Towing Hazard adventure module will end up being less than 20 pages long, and all the work done by me, so I just need enough organization to keep myself on track - and doing so in my head is fine for this work. And everything does "evolve" along the way, but as soon as any evolution occurs, I immediately see it's impact on the whole and how I must tweak other areas of the work to best work with it all.

Another consideration you might dwell on is that tabletop game referees or game masters do what's called "game prep" prior to running any game session with a group of players. This involves reading and re-reading a given adventure, knowing your adventurers unique skills and weaknesses and tailoring the predesigned adventure to better fit the party - weakening some opponents, adjusting the skill level requirements for challenges, etc. So just a normal game referee does extensive preparation, much of it done in your head. So this methodology is practiced by the bulk of the gaming community on some level. I've just extended this "game prep" on a larger more professional scale in the operation of my publishing company.

Last point, I find it rude to speak about one's intellect, but I've been tested multiple times resulting in a lower genius IQ (around 147), though on one particular test, it only resulted in whether you were a genius or not, and if so, what kind of genius. And that test results were I am considered a "creative intuitive". That seems logical and believable in my thinking (by my thinking). Its possible that this flavor of intellect works well with my kind of methodology and probably wouldn't work for most anyone else.

[handrawn]

I find it rude to speak about one's intellect, but....

as groucho marx might have said, but didn't: 'it takes real genius to fail an IQ test'

I work with someone who has learning disabilities and she is a genius.. you want an animation sequence timed on the fly as perfectly as it gets, she can do it; no matter how complicated or multifaceted it is she sees it straight off when the rest of us would have to sit down and work it out

genius isn't somethig you can measure or define, except to say that it is the ability to do something quintessentially very very special if not unique

this is said by somone who is very very intellectual by his own admission but has never failed an IQ test - a) because strictly speaking you cannot 'fail' just score low, and b) because I would not be caught dead taking one..

[Gamerprinter]

5th graders, at least in my time, all had to take an IQ test. I went into the Army and every entrant needs to pass the ASVAB test (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) which is an IQ test, since it was the military post WW1 that developed the IQ test as a means to measure the abilities of new recruits to designate the appropriate job to do. Those who cannot get higher than 70 are intellectual morons according to the military. The last IQ test I took was just on whim, some online test. So the first two tests, I wasn't given the option to not take it. The last one was based pure experiment. I didn't say, I passed an IQ test, rather I scored quite high - and if the last test I took has any validity at all... my intellect combines creative solutions and intuitive forethought. I'm no math genius, and when I was in high school I didn't meaure well against the what I call true geniuses - they tested genius, took all the higher math, chemistry and physics courses and went on to become professors. I'm not that, but my "genius" is different. Edit: just remembered in Basic Training, the army was testing a new ASVAB and we were forced to take it, I told them once done it was easier than the one I took to get in. I maxed the second test (while scoring near max the first time).

The weirdest test I ever took was also in the Army. The DLAB test or Defense Language Aptitude Battery. I had considered re-enlisting, but if I did, I was interested in an Intelligence Analyst job, which requires passing the DLAB, even if you don't go to military language school, I was no longer interested in electronics, which was my job in the Army. First part of the test was based on a speaker on a tape recording pronouncing 4 similiar sounding nonsensical words, and you had to identify which word had a different: meter, accent than the other three. Some were quite difficult and while trying to decide if it's C or D, the next word for the next question is asked, so you guess and move on, knowing you didn't hear the "A" word in the next block and must listen to the other three to decide if A was the correct answer. Around 100 words like that. The next portion of the test, they altered the grammer rules for the English language, adjectives follow nouns not precede them, verbs with plural is preceded with a "ya" instead of an "s" at the end. There were five different grammer rule changes, and a block of questions for each one, then you got to review all 5 rule changes and the next block could be any of those 5 or all of them - you had to select the correct sentence. Finally, the last and hardest part of the test, involved a single frame cartoon showing 2 fat boys eating ice cream cones, and beneath it was a made up language sentence describing the cartoon. Below that was 2 girls on swing sets, and four optional sentences that describe it. You have to study the above sentence, figure out what means "2", and find that in the lower sentence to decide that's the correct one. There was 50 questions like that. When I was done, I was bewildered and certain that I'd failed the test, but I was the first one done out of 30 people and ahead by 30 minutes from anyone else finishing the test. Once all tests were taken, scores rendered, each was told their score. Out of that 30 people only 2 passed the test, one of them a military police sergeant first class that was taking the test for the third time (you cannot take a test more than 3 times), he failed the previous 2 and got a 71 on that test. I scored 128. (130 is max). I didn't re-enlist though...

For me it's being able to see through a problem and making multiple jumps and see the end result on any given path of pursuit, enough to make a judgement call on which path best to take to achieve whatever goal you're trying to achieve regarding anything, as long as I have enough clues to what the problem is, and it's hoped for solution. I did that for many industries while running my graphics shop, sometimes sending them off to other pros, as I knew I couldn't help them get there, even though I understood how they should. Now I do that in my head for my own work, which makes it faster for me to achieve whatever direction I go, following the most correct path - and in my case producing content for gamers.

[handrawn]

when I was at school [UK] we had something called 11 plus you took when you were 10/11 in order to deterrmine whether you went into a high or not so high stream at secondary school [high school] - this was a test that measured how well you could think through problems; some called it an IQ test, but it wasn't...thinking through problems is not a measure of intelligence, it is a measure of aptitude; the 11 plus measured one kind of aptitude, predominently maths and logic; I have yet to see an IQ test that measures anything other than aptitude

I am old fashioned I would never ever call myself a genius, that is not in my gift, it is for others to determine

edit - you edited your post to add the second paragraph, which is interesting again, but rather proves my point.. we are talking about an aptitude to think and respond and conceptualise in a cetrain way; but when it comes to intelligence maybe the fact you did not re-enlist is more germaine...

[handrawn]

and another edit [no problem, I do it all the time]

For me it's being able to see through a problem and making multiple jumps and see the end result on any given path of pursuit, enough to make a judgement call on which path best to take to achieve whatever goal you're trying to achieve

yep, over here we call that common sense ...

[Gamerprinter]

yep, over here we call that common sense ...

Americans must be lackiing that, otherwise I wouldn't have had so much opportunity to use it.

And to your other comment, I did not re-enlist, because I did the logic path in my head, and it didn't go anywhere I wanted to go.