Summary: Writing games isn't just for programmers anymore. Increasingly, fiction writers are turning their talents to videogames, where they can see their stories produced in visual form. What are the challenges of writing a story-based game? This week we meet a writer and a techie who have taken the plunge into this exciting new world. Leander and Kristy Harding are a husband and wife game development team from southern New Hampshire. Leander is a software engineer and creator of the game Onslaught. Kristy is a writer, blogger, and full-time undergraduate student working toward her B.A. in English literature. The couple is currently developing an action role-playing game (RPG), Times Like These, to be released in spring 2007. In this fascinating interview, Kristy and Leander discuss: * How they got the idea for the game * How they drew inspiration from literature and other games * How they got started on their story * What the development process has been like * How writing for games is different from other fiction writing * How they're integrating their story with the game play * What they've done when they've run into roadblocks * Whether it's possible to have rounded characters in games * How they see the role of the player in story-based games * How they're designing their game to work well for both beginning and experienced gamers * How they plan to develop community around their game and incorporate player feedback into their design * What it's like to work together on the game considering their different skills and interests.
