re: [Fwd: Gamasutra article]

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@3DProgrammer.com>]

> It is a very
> optimistic outlook, but who would have expected in the early 20th
> century that pulp scientifiction and comic-books would become cultural
> icons and survive for generations?

Except that it's the characters that have survived, not the original works
for the most part.  Actually I have rented a CD of the ancient original
Superman cartoons, which are quite astounding for their smoothness and
budget outlay at the time they were made.  But I think these cartoons
survived because Superman the character survived, and then later the
original work was resurrected. [1]  This is quite a different matter than
your original work of authorship surviving, like A Tale Of Two Cities or
something.  And as an author this concerns me, because if I put the effort
into making the greatest story I can, then I want *that* story to be
remembered, and not just a franchise.

To add a pessimistic contrast to your optimism, regardless of art production
values hitting a plateau, we still have the problem of bit rot.  Most titles
aren't playable in 5 years due to OS changes.  To be sure, I'm designing
with a 100 year coding lifespan firmly in mind, but to survive that long a
game is going to need a lot of rewiring under the hood.  It's not like film
where there's basically only one thing that film does, and once you've
digitized it, the archival problem is solved.  It's going to be a long time
before 3D graphics formats stabilize, we'll have strong AI by then.  And
then, if the AI is used to artistic effect, how will *that* be standardized?


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.

[1] It's actually quite interesting to see how the original Superman
differed from our present day conception of him.  Superman wasn't as strong
then as he is now!  He actually had to push and grunt and shove to get
something moving - which of course facilitated the animation drama.
Similarly, he couldn't brake a falling plane until the very last second.
If a pile of steel beams fell on him, he'd actually be out for a bit before
rejoining the fray.  The bad guys could be halfway across town in a motor
car by then.  Of course, Superman can always intervene at the very last
possible instant, just as the bullet is being fired he swoops down to
protect Lois!  Another cool dramatic device, they'd set up the shot to look
like Lois is toast, only to have Superman come from very far away very
quickly to save her.