I am Inanna, a founder of Myss Terrie's bevin, and IRL, a published historian. In the vast reaches of my checkered career I at one time worked as a content writer for a computer fantasy game (a failed dot com -- but my writing was just fine). That was about a decade ago and game technology has marched on. Good storytelling, however, never really changes. If you do not have a story to tell you do not have much upon which to base an age creation.
I know we will have to make small tests of the technology: can we get an avatar to walk? can we get a tree to move in a soft breeze? can we create a puzzle that actually requires effort to crack? But for storytelling there is a lot of research and backstory, all necessary even if it does not directly appear in the age itself. Consider the bahro art we see throughout the ages -- somebody thought it needed to be there and that thought had a genesis. All it tells us is that the bahro are intelligent and capable of expressing themselves in an abstract way, but that is speaking volumes to those who want to understand the nature of the bahro.
I am working with a very small team on a story that has started as a forum-based "fan fic" and is now nearly ready for a web-based graphical presentation. When we are done we will have a mix of static graphics with embedded links that reveal the story in non-linear form. Some links will go to text, others will go to images with further embedded links. I realize that this will seem very like the very earliest form of online story any of us ever saw, but it is one approach that can be accomplished with the skills and tools that many of us have at present. If the GoW can then take the humble first effort and transform it into a viable URU-style age, that will be wonderful. If not, you can still enjoy the story. I will post more on our progress when we have some real progress to report.
Guild of Writers
