Game Writing at a Distance (aka Game Writing under Contract) - Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing - page 61

7.2 Cons of Working Remotely under Contract
You Can Become Out of Touch
Game development is a very slippery slope. By that I mean we have a hard time
predicting such things as delivery dates, schedules, and features. We have all the
difficulties of software development multiplied by the needs of a creative process. We
have no equivalent to the film process of write a script, approve it, send it out for
preproduction, and shoot it. The last two steps of that process are fairly predictable
in terms of both how long the step will take and how close to estimated time and cost
the step will take. The most unpredictable part of making a film is the creation of the
script, and in that step, original estimates of six months can become years without
any trouble at all. In part, that is because it is the part that involves the most pure
creation, moving from a blank page to a dynamic story.
We multiply that by our process where we build the game engine from scratch
almost every time. Thus, we take two uncertain variables and multiply them and
then try to build a schedule. Because of this, schedules change, and products can
change their fundamental core gameplay, genre, and even platform all on their way
to production.
Because words are easy to alter, story can undergo countless changes even beyond
the normal ones associated with our own creative process. For example: It will take
longer than anticipated to animate the number of characters in your story; can you
cut 25% without rewriting the story from scratch? Can you change locations here
because we can't afford to put the scene in the nebula? We know we thought you'd
have ten avatar types to play with, but we're only going to get six because the art
won't fit on the cartridge; what can we do?
Few of these changes are made capriciously; they just happen as a part of the
process. Each requires production, design, and scheduling to react quickly and deci-
sively and choose a new direction. These meetings and discussions happen immedi-
ately after the decision to make the alteration. They often cannot be planned for or
anticipated.
Ifyouwanttobepartofthatprocessinordertomakeyourownconcernsrelated
to the change known, you almost always have to be on-site. But you're a contractor.
You're not there, and you didn't know this was going to happen. And the people
making the decision may not understand how it all impacts you, and you are left to
pick up the pieces.
Because you are not there, it happens.
Projects Can Drift
Besides the dramatic changes noted above, the mindset of a project could drift. This
change can be subtle, and it can be hard to identify exactly what has changed and
when. You'll be on-site one month, everything will seem fine, then you go home for
three weeks, return, and the sequence everybody liked now isn't a favorite any longer.