William Willing

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition has been released to Xbox Live and of course, I’ve bought and played it. I was actually quite impressed with how well it is designed (something I was less knowledgable of, fifteen years ago). I decided to take some notes on the design of the game, which I have published on my Casual Game Design blog.

After reading a dreadful article on Gamasutra, I just had to write about risk and reward for my Casual Game Design blog. The Gamasutra article was so badly written that I had to read it a couple of times just to be able to say anything against it. I decided not to dispute the article point by point, but rather write an article of my own on the same topic. After a couple of attempts, I had a finished article that was only so-so.

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After having watched a movie on DVD, I like to listen to the director’s commentary. What I’m particularly interested in, is stuff about story and characters in the movie. I recently listened to Michael Mann talk about Collateral and he has really interesting things to say. One of those things is that he and the writers of the movie compiled extensive background information on the main characters, Max and Vincent. Most of it didn’t make it into the movie directly, but it still helped Michael Mann and the actors to create more well-rounded characters. At one point during the commentary, Michael Mann even explains why Vincent is wearing the suit he’s wearing. It’s those details that I’m looking for in these kind of commentaries, that help me better understand how to craft a story.

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