Looking for Love

Social networks, ARGs and virtual worlds (like in World of Warcraft) blur the lines between our virtual and real lives. Yikes! Very Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” era of virtual reality goggles. But seriously, developers still search for the right blend of emotions and technology in their projects. Emotions pull people into the action and connect them to the characters. And with all the personal information found on social networks and blogs, there must be a way to harness all the emotion in a virtual manner.

An article from the San Jose Mercury News and another from the BBC News explain how emotions should be a key factor in developing games. We agree. Storytelling is key. Emotion brings stories to life.

“Not bad. But PUFFY.”

Notes of wisdom from Stephen King’s editor, telling him to cut his draft down by 10%.

Writing is something that frightens us all. Is it enough? Is it too much? Will people understand what I’m saying? Writing isn’t so much a skill as a discipline. It’s the editing that follows that turns good writing to great prose. (Not that I’m saying this is great prose, I’m not). Here are some of the truisms that I’ve learned about writing:

1. People don’t read. OK, they do. But not the things that they should. Like emails. And memos. And other important work documents.
2. You didn’t read my first point, so why should I keep going?
3. If people do read, they are scanning for things of interest. So get to your point.

I write with one goal - “less is more.” Maybe I’ll pick up Stephen King’s book “On Writing” and figure out how to do it better. Highlights from the folks over at Signal vs. Noise.

Gear It to Intermediate Users

Khoi Vinh, design director for the NYTimes.com, puts together a sound argument for paring down features in new online campaigns. Make something to delight the beginner or intermediate user and you will surely entertain the expert. But experts, the feisty group that they are, will always want more. Better features. Esoteric content. Add this and you will likely lose the beginners and intermediate users. So what’s the answer… Well a good balance is always wise advice but err on the side of the non-expert. In my humble non-expert opinion.

“Viral Marketing is the New Black”

Everyone wants viral marketing. Viral this and viral that. Part of the charm of viral is that you can’t predict what will catch on and what won’t.

The folks over at Kruskopf Coontz have pushed it a step further in their video about “The New Viral.”

Towerblaster

Towerblaster is a neat little game. At first blush it seemed like a logic puzzle, but the more I played it the more I realized that it’s really a card game with a different visual metaphor.
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