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greygirlbeastI honestly didn't mean to ruffle feathers yesterday when I expressed my disappointment with Morrowind, but I apparently have, and I should clarify a couple of points (and if this nerdy stuff bores you, skip ahead to the other nerdy stuff). I did spent about three more hours yesterday evening with the game and would now describe it as dull and frustrating, yet inexplicably compelling. Anyway, to clarify and retort. I wrote:
...the characters [in Morrowind] themselves are stiff beyond belief. The first time I pressed "jump," I actually laughed out loud. As Spooky remarked, it's like moving paper dolls about through very pretty places. I fear I have become entirely too accustomed to playing characters with fluid, lifelike movement to find these jerky people fun to play with. How do I adapt to the uninteresting, uninvolving waxworks of Morrowind when I've played Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven and Beyond Good and Evil?
Now, what I was saying here was not that I was having trouble because my level-one character can't do very much (jump very high, can be killed by almost anyone and anything, and so forth). That's not the problem. I play D&D, and I expected that. What I was saying was that the character design and animation is very primitive ("stiff"). I've been playing PS2 and XBox games with much more advanced animation, and it's spoiled me, I suppose. Yesterday, I counted, and my Morrowind character has only nine points of articulation. That's pretty old school.
There are things that I like. For example, I like the way the game deals with the passage of time and the weather. I love the enviroments, for the most part. Creature design is fairly nice. I like how I can run off into the wilderness and find the hull of an old ship washed up on the shore and use it as a base camp while I spend several days just exploring the countryside. I like the concept of the game. I think I just need to wait until its animation catches up with more advanced games, until its lost that paper-doll feel Spooky spoke of, before it's a game that I can enjoy. And if you're into Morrowind and have no idea what I'm talking about, I would suggest that perhaps you step away from Morrowind for a bit and look at the animation in, say, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time or Primal. I think you'll see what I mean. I can even understand how the flexibility and intricacy of Morrowind would be so seductive to some that they might look the other way when it comes to the crappy animation. But I'm not one of those people. I need more than nine points of articulation, please.
Anyway...
We got news yesterday afternoon that Spooky's father, who is currently doing fieldwork in Vietnam, came down with appendicitis in Nah Trang and had to have emergency surgery. So, things have been a little tense hereabouts. But he seems to be doing just fine (Spooky's on the phone with her mom in Rhode Island right now). You can read more about this in Spooky's![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
humglum LJ.
This morning I had a phone meeting with an editor at Marvel. I have another in a couple of weeks. If it leads to anything, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, yesterday we did manage to finish the read-through on The Dry Salvages, three more hours spent reading the novella, and today I shall do a number of revisions based on this read-through. Mostly this is continuity and correcting a few dumb scientific errors and miscalculations. But I have to finish today, because I've spent far too much time polishing this story and absolutely have to get on to other things. On and off, I've been working on The Dry Salvages since the end of last year, and it's time for it to move along. But I will say, I love this story, and I hope it finds many receptive readers.
Jennifer, who handles all the account information and business relating to my website (I mean my homepage, Pain and Wonder, though she takes care of Nebari.net, as well), was looking into the fact that our bandwidth requirements have gone up quite a bit recently, and she pointed out that I have access to a lot more data regarding who views the site and how often they do so than I thought I did. The journal is responsible for more than 60% of my traffic, which isn't surprising. But I was surprised to learn that I'm getting about five times the traffic I thought I was getting. Damn, there are a lot of you. Which is cool. I very much appreciate your attention. Now, if we could only manage to translate all those Blogger and LJ readers into actual book readers (hint, hint), I'd have a happy editor at Penguin. More importantly, I'd have a happy me. Seriously, I spend a lot of time on this journal, time that would otherwise be spent writing fiction or otherwise working. This blog is here to give you a little insight into the process of writing and publishing and to promote my work. All I ask in return is that you complete the circuit by buying and reading what I write. In the past, when I've expressed annoyance at all the people who read the journal and then write to tell me they love it but don't read my novels (and I've received many e-mails like that, kiddos), there's been a lot of whining and "yeah, but I..." and harrumphing that I would even have the nerve to be annoyed. Don't complain or make excuses. Don't preach to me about information wanting to be free. Just buy my books. Please. And I will continue, fearlessly, to blog about writing them.
...the characters [in Morrowind] themselves are stiff beyond belief. The first time I pressed "jump," I actually laughed out loud. As Spooky remarked, it's like moving paper dolls about through very pretty places. I fear I have become entirely too accustomed to playing characters with fluid, lifelike movement to find these jerky people fun to play with. How do I adapt to the uninteresting, uninvolving waxworks of Morrowind when I've played Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven and Beyond Good and Evil?
Now, what I was saying here was not that I was having trouble because my level-one character can't do very much (jump very high, can be killed by almost anyone and anything, and so forth). That's not the problem. I play D&D, and I expected that. What I was saying was that the character design and animation is very primitive ("stiff"). I've been playing PS2 and XBox games with much more advanced animation, and it's spoiled me, I suppose. Yesterday, I counted, and my Morrowind character has only nine points of articulation. That's pretty old school.
There are things that I like. For example, I like the way the game deals with the passage of time and the weather. I love the enviroments, for the most part. Creature design is fairly nice. I like how I can run off into the wilderness and find the hull of an old ship washed up on the shore and use it as a base camp while I spend several days just exploring the countryside. I like the concept of the game. I think I just need to wait until its animation catches up with more advanced games, until its lost that paper-doll feel Spooky spoke of, before it's a game that I can enjoy. And if you're into Morrowind and have no idea what I'm talking about, I would suggest that perhaps you step away from Morrowind for a bit and look at the animation in, say, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time or Primal. I think you'll see what I mean. I can even understand how the flexibility and intricacy of Morrowind would be so seductive to some that they might look the other way when it comes to the crappy animation. But I'm not one of those people. I need more than nine points of articulation, please.
Anyway...
We got news yesterday afternoon that Spooky's father, who is currently doing fieldwork in Vietnam, came down with appendicitis in Nah Trang and had to have emergency surgery. So, things have been a little tense hereabouts. But he seems to be doing just fine (Spooky's on the phone with her mom in Rhode Island right now). You can read more about this in Spooky's
humglum LJ.This morning I had a phone meeting with an editor at Marvel. I have another in a couple of weeks. If it leads to anything, I'll let you know. Meanwhile, yesterday we did manage to finish the read-through on The Dry Salvages, three more hours spent reading the novella, and today I shall do a number of revisions based on this read-through. Mostly this is continuity and correcting a few dumb scientific errors and miscalculations. But I have to finish today, because I've spent far too much time polishing this story and absolutely have to get on to other things. On and off, I've been working on The Dry Salvages since the end of last year, and it's time for it to move along. But I will say, I love this story, and I hope it finds many receptive readers.
Jennifer, who handles all the account information and business relating to my website (I mean my homepage, Pain and Wonder, though she takes care of Nebari.net, as well), was looking into the fact that our bandwidth requirements have gone up quite a bit recently, and she pointed out that I have access to a lot more data regarding who views the site and how often they do so than I thought I did. The journal is responsible for more than 60% of my traffic, which isn't surprising. But I was surprised to learn that I'm getting about five times the traffic I thought I was getting. Damn, there are a lot of you. Which is cool. I very much appreciate your attention. Now, if we could only manage to translate all those Blogger and LJ readers into actual book readers (hint, hint), I'd have a happy editor at Penguin. More importantly, I'd have a happy me. Seriously, I spend a lot of time on this journal, time that would otherwise be spent writing fiction or otherwise working. This blog is here to give you a little insight into the process of writing and publishing and to promote my work. All I ask in return is that you complete the circuit by buying and reading what I write. In the past, when I've expressed annoyance at all the people who read the journal and then write to tell me they love it but don't read my novels (and I've received many e-mails like that, kiddos), there's been a lot of whining and "yeah, but I..." and harrumphing that I would even have the nerve to be annoyed. Don't complain or make excuses. Don't preach to me about information wanting to be free. Just buy my books. Please. And I will continue, fearlessly, to blog about writing them.
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 05:43 pm (UTC)Or it could just be that their animation data isn't very good :-) I don't know, I haven't played Morrowind.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 07:17 pm (UTC)I've considered that.
*beep*
Date: 2004-08-09 05:47 pm (UTC)Marvel? Woo hoo!
Date: 2004-08-09 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 05:56 pm (UTC)Here's to hoping you visit the Detroit area some day!
Titus
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 07:18 pm (UTC)That was what I had in mind when I started the journal, but a lot of people seem content to skip the book-reading part,
Thanks for reading!
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 06:21 pm (UTC)Are people saying this as a reason for not purchasing your books?
This is what I mean when I say it's my dream to wake up one day and find most of the world's population has magically disappeared, leaving me to wander the deserted city.
I was thrilled to find I'd received an advance reading copy of DRY SALVAGES this afternoon. I had thought I wouldn't, because I hadn't been shopping at Subterranean Press in a while, and figured I wouldn't be on their list. Turns out it is really *your* list. A million thanks for entrusting me to read and help publicise the book. I have been dying to read it.
xx
Mella
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 08:05 pm (UTC)Are people saying this as a reason for not purchasing your books?
Yeah, there's a relatively new subspecies of internet fuckwit who
- Thinks they are "'l33t" because they run a pre-packaged distribution of Linux
- Doesn't understand the difference between libre and gratis.
- Has never personally created or contributed anything to anyone at any time
- is unaware that in the very same talk that introduced the phrase the originator also said "information wants to be expensive."
- Doesn't understand that the free model of software development is not applicable to works like books or music.
- Has reduced the relatively complex ideas behind the free software movement to "I should be able to get anything I want without paying for it"
I was thrilled to find I'd received an advance reading copy of DRY SALVAGES this afternoon. [..] I have been dying to read it.You're in for quite a treat!
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 11:47 am (UTC)I should know better.. but I hate having to wait, especially when it's right there on the bedside table!
xx
Mella
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 08:18 pm (UTC)i buy and read what you write. so i am completing the circuit. is that kind of like crossing the streams in ghostbusters?
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 09:38 pm (UTC)Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
Yep. It's a lot like that.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 08:18 pm (UTC)If it helps at all to realize the impact of your journal, I don't usually read dark fantasy, or horror, or whatever your preferred genre term may be, so had never before checked out your fiction. Stupid me. I am working on expanding my horizons forthwith.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 09:41 pm (UTC)"Fiction" is just fine.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 10:18 pm (UTC)Oh, I know.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 10:26 pm (UTC)I should have known better, for have I not lo these many years read Harlan Ellison rail against the pigeon-holing forced upon writers by publishers "needing" to put a genre on the spine of a book?
Did I mention my stupidity earlier? I believe that I did. Too bad I apparently felt the need to prove it.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-09 08:53 pm (UTC)If you're talking about me, I ought to tell you that I wasn't upset. I just kind of got excited--well, I guess you could call it feather ruffling. But I wasn't angry, or anything.
What I was saying was that the character design and animation is very primitive ("stiff").
I thought you were talking about that. I just gave you all the other information anyway, just in case--especially as it seemed to me, when picturing it, that that would be the pathetic quality in the character's jumping at the beginning of the game. I meant to address the issue of design and animation, but I forgot.
Yeah, Morrowind sucks at that, infamously. Part of the reason is that while they had a large number of people working on the environments (everything you see in Morrowind is hand placed), they only had one person working on the characters--that includes animation, modelling, and texturing. There's even a "better bodies" mod project ongoing (showing here (http://www.psychodogstudios.net/betterbodies/female_nude.jpg) ). They've been talking about updating the character animations, but that would entail a lot of difficulty.
Anyway, sorry if I seemed to pounce on you. I guess I'm simply accustomed to having my cake and not being able to eat it, too . . . and I'm not used to other people not feeling that way.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 01:14 am (UTC)Well, that would be an improvement. But were I to buy the game, I'd be playing on XBox, making the mods issue difficult. A friend has offerred to mod my XBox, to make it download friendly, so we'll see.
Yeah, Morrowind sucks at that, infamously. Part of the reason is that while they had a large number of people working on the environments (everything you see in Morrowind is hand placed), they only had one person working on the characters--that includes animation, modelling, and texturing
This does not even surprise me, though I do think it puts the cart before the horse. As with all fiction (and I consider good games fiction), characters first. No exceptions.
But I wasn't angry, or anything.
Oh, I know. I didn't think you were. But there were e-mails, too.
Morrowind, like Everquest and Doom, may soon be elevated to an official Geek Sacred Cow, I think.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 02:42 am (UTC)Wow, cool, I didn't even realise that was possible with the X-box.
As with all fiction (and I consider good games fiction), characters first. No exceptions.
I've been thinking about this and I realised that, even though I've been playing Morrowind for years shall likely continue to, I kind of hate it. It's the only game I've played that truly creates a world, but sometimes I'll be running around in a city or something and an eerie feeling of being utterly alone comes over me. And I feel curiously mad at Bethesda for stranding me on this world of dead things.
But there were e-mails, too.
Gods . . . wow.
buying your books
Date: 2004-08-10 12:13 am (UTC)Ok - here's the deal...
Date: 2004-08-10 12:19 am (UTC)You keep writing it.
I keep buying it.
PLUS for every one you write I'll turn three people onto you (I won't guarantee you that they can read, but they will have purchasing power). Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's a three for one offer.
Deal?
"The Dream Deal (my dream-your nightmare)"
As for the grammar errors (mentioned in previous posts) Americans aren't taught grammar/punctuation in public school - are they? So, if it's a pride issue with you, send me your ms and I'll proof it for grammar, spelling and punctuation.
For free.
Credentials - PHd candidate at Christ's Church, Ocford - English Literature 13th -14th centuries.
And that's my final offer.
P.S. As for post on Fay Wray - I thought you meant William Wegman's dog, "Fay Ray", started crying, then realized she died years ago, too. I did the King Kong connection - now I'm laughing as well as crying...
Life's a bitch and then we die.
Cheers,
David
Re: Ok - here's the deal...
Date: 2004-08-10 01:07 am (UTC)You keep writing it.
I keep buying it.
PLUS for every one you write I'll turn three people onto you (I won't guarantee you that they can read, but they will have purchasing power). Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's a three for one offer.
Deal?
Deal. Now, if I could get everyone who reads the blogger to do the same thing, I'd actually escape the midlist!
"The Dream Deal (my dream-your nightmare)"
As for the grammar errors (mentioned in previous posts) Americans aren't taught grammar/punctuation in public school - are they? So, if it's a pride issue with you, send me your ms and I'll proof it for grammar, spelling and punctuation.
For free.
Credentials - PHd candidate at Christ's Church, Ocford - English Literature 13th -14th centuries.
E-mail me your snail-mail addy, and I'll see you get an ARC of the next book. I never turn away another qualified proofreader. And you're marvelously overqualified.
Life's a bitch and then we die.
And then...well...I don't want to spoil the surprise.
Re: Ok - here's the deal...
Date: 2004-08-10 02:34 pm (UTC)Re: Ok - here's the deal...
Date: 2004-08-11 03:36 pm (UTC)French/Spanish periods of Geof Chaucer have been my life for the past 3 years. I'd be interested in any "fan club" involving Caitlin.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 12:28 am (UTC)*Crawls back under a rock with the other lurkers* It's toasty under here. ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 03:13 am (UTC)I didn't even know you had a LJ until I saw something in DocBrite's about yours. I didn't even know she had one until I saw something on someone else's about hers. Funny how that works!
I've been a fan of the both of you for years though, and I'm sure will continue to be. Now I'm just waiting for Dry Salvages.
I had a question for you (as I don't really know how these things work) - Should I always buy your works from Subterranean? I mean, I guess what I'm asking is whether there are different percentages involved if I buy from them or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble or wherever? Honestly, I would feel guilty if getting a great deal on one of your books at Amazon meant you got the shaft money-wise. Maybe a stupid question, I dunno.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 03:45 am (UTC)My advice? Buy it where it's cheapest. Just buy it.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-10 11:43 am (UTC)xx
Mella