Modern Sagas Development Log Entry 13
Posted by: Ruel Knudson in Developer Blog, Modern Sagas Development LogSo the graphic design has met with approval so far. That’s good enough for me, and late comers to add their opinions can do so still. As it stands, we’re running with the current design.
The nice thing is that I actually get to see the shape its taking. I don’t actually work on the document in the layout you will see in the final product. The reason is that its very distreacting. As I write, I see layout issues and things not fitting in properly, so I tend to break off from the writing and adjust the type set and layout. This can sometimes take some time. I have been known to take a couple of hours just to refit a table so the text will wrap around it just perfectly (or near enough). So I can be completely swept off track if too much of this occurs. So instead, I will write it out in a blank file (no template formatting). When the text works I will fit a section into the compiled document. I make layout changes then.
Some might say to write an entire chapter or even the full book first, then do the layout. That’s definately a workable alternative for some. It works even better if you have different people doing layout and type setting. For instance, James Arrington did all the writing for Prophecy, but I did the layout and type setting. So it made sense for him to complete the entire thing, in a format that was easy for him, and I did the transfer. However, for myself, I tend to typeset and layout my own writings. Writing, and typeset/layout/design are very monotonous. If you can imagine having to write an almost 200 page book from beginning to end, then having to design, then layout, and finally typeset each at its own pace and sitting, you are looking at the entire book over 4 times. That gets old fast. So I break it up by section. Sure, there is some back tracking here and there. But that would go for any method you use, and this is far more condusive to retaining healthy sanity than the alternative.
So, my current project is to get a few chapters compiled (or those compnents of chapters I dare call complete) into a workable, and reasonably sized, preview. The current draft is at 90 pages and still needs alot of tables and tuning. I am thinking of doing about 3 chapters, probably the first three, but I may scrap that idea and go to the components that we did not see at all in Fantasy Sagas. So I am hoping to scale this down to about half the current compiled size. Then its clean and press and I will upload it. Hopefully it will be up by this Sunday. Its my daughter’s birthday party tomorrow so no promises.
On a somewhat unrelated note, I also squeezed in some time for my play by post campaign. This adventure really took on a life of its own. It looked so small from the begining, but…well, let me add that as a different post.
