This might sound a bit off the topic. Our current project is sluggish. No one is agreeing on the writing, let alone the game design. Leadership is almost non-existent. Basically it's structured so that: 1. Project leader (has made no lasting decisions, near useless) 2. Writing leader (ignores all of what I suggest) (plus various other programmer leaders/graphics... bleh) 3. Me. (plus other peons) After suggesting a plot outline, 2. doesn't say anything about it. Instead he suggests revising his own ideas and starts again, ignoring whatever I've suggesting or not commenting. 1. simply won't make any decisions in relation to anything. 1. But having bothered to write a rough plot & story, I don't know how to turn this project around so that the shitty leadership stops turning out rubbish and stops arguing. Any ideas? I'm not sure if asking people to release their control would work out... people like having seniority even if they're crap. Even a peasant would never relinquish his position to his lord's slave. 2. Also, can you have too many writers on a team? I'd have thought one would be enough, but we've got 3 (only 2 are active atm). [Edit] and it's been this way this about November [edited by - c-thru on January 23, 2004 6:55:07 PM]

quote:Original post by c-thru
2. Also, can you have too many writers on a team? I''d have thought one would be enough, but we''ve got 3 (only 2 are active atm).

Whether or not you can have too many writers depends on a few different things. If you put two people with totally different interests together and tell them to write a good story, you may have some problems. If you get fifty people with different interests, you won''t get a damn thing done.

Multiple writers can be good at times, though. For instance, I love villains, and I spend my time creating new villains. I also like to write about magical items and weapons. Basically, I can''t write a good, main character hero for the life of me. In this case, I could really use a person who likes to make heroes. Then, once we get the characters established, either we or a third party could sit down and establish what ties the heroes and villains together. After that, you can create the storyline and everything else.

If I was the lead writer, I''d tell person A, B, and C to write as many characters as they can without discussing them with each other. Once they have X many characters, I''d get together with them and find out which ones should be included. If that didn''t work, I''d probably do that step and the storyline myself, based on what I was given.