Plan for Camille Scaysbrook
by Camille Scaysbrook · 03/09/2001 (8:57 pm) · 0 comments
As the only female game designer working in Australia today I have an obvious commitment to seeing more women both behind the scenes and as gamers themselves.
Just to make things extra weird I'm also one of the few full-time writers in the industry. I've written extensively for theatre, radio, film and in prose, and have found the industry very rewarding. However, all too often the writer is treated very poorly (if indeed he or she is hired at all). Just imagine getting a guy who knows a guy who can sketch a bit to do all your concept art? It's no different when you get a programmer with a yen for wisecracks to write your dialogue or cut scenes. Good game design flows from a good story, and vice versa. If more attention was paid to this area, we would be making better and more innovative games.
The industry is young; to my mind the games that have been developed so far have a very narrow focus. It's as if all the film industry made for the first twenty years was westerns. Westerns are great, but so are comedies, romances, tragedies, etc etc ...
Having worked on BigWorld: Citizen Zero, one of the largest MMOG projects in the world, I also have an interest in this, the newest genre to enter the market. What effect will this have on gaming? Will it finally break into the mainstream? I heard a wonderful definition of the MMOG as a 'participatory action theatre', and this is what a good MMOG should be - a place where people are guided and nurtured in telling their own stories. Sorry EQ, but 'You are in our world now' is pretty different to my philosophy on MMOGs. Why not 'This is your world - here's what we've done to make it fun'.
In conclusion I am interested in working with anyone who shares my philosophies, both as a game designer, a writer, and a game theorist.
Just to make things extra weird I'm also one of the few full-time writers in the industry. I've written extensively for theatre, radio, film and in prose, and have found the industry very rewarding. However, all too often the writer is treated very poorly (if indeed he or she is hired at all). Just imagine getting a guy who knows a guy who can sketch a bit to do all your concept art? It's no different when you get a programmer with a yen for wisecracks to write your dialogue or cut scenes. Good game design flows from a good story, and vice versa. If more attention was paid to this area, we would be making better and more innovative games.
The industry is young; to my mind the games that have been developed so far have a very narrow focus. It's as if all the film industry made for the first twenty years was westerns. Westerns are great, but so are comedies, romances, tragedies, etc etc ...
Having worked on BigWorld: Citizen Zero, one of the largest MMOG projects in the world, I also have an interest in this, the newest genre to enter the market. What effect will this have on gaming? Will it finally break into the mainstream? I heard a wonderful definition of the MMOG as a 'participatory action theatre', and this is what a good MMOG should be - a place where people are guided and nurtured in telling their own stories. Sorry EQ, but 'You are in our world now' is pretty different to my philosophy on MMOGs. Why not 'This is your world - here's what we've done to make it fun'.
In conclusion I am interested in working with anyone who shares my philosophies, both as a game designer, a writer, and a game theorist.
