I miss Infocom.

[dolari]

Right up there with Comico Comics, Infocom is one of the main influences in my work.


I create fictional worlds. I create experiences.

I am exploring a new medium for telling stories.

My readers should become immersed in the story and forget where they are. They should forget about the keyboard and the screen, forget everything but the experience. My goal is to make the computer invisible.

I want as many people as possible to share these experiences. I want a broad range of fictional worlds, and a broad range of "reading levels". I can categorize our past works and discover where the range needs filling in. I should also seek to expand the categories to reach every popular taste.

In each of my works, I share a vision with the reader. Only I know exactly what the vision is, so only I can make the final decisions about content and style. But I must seriously consider comments and suggestions from any source, in the hope that they will make the sharing better.

I know what an artist means by saying, "I hope I can finish this work before I ruin it." Each work-in-progress reaches a point of diminishing returns, where any change is as likely to make it worse as to make it better. My goal is to nurture each work to that point. And to make my best estimate of when it will reach that point.

I can't create quality work by myself. I rely on other implementors to help me both with technical wizardry and with overcoming the limitations of the medium. I rely on testers to tell me both how to communicate my vision better and where the rough edges of the work need polishing. I rely on marketers and salespeople to help me share my vision with more readers. I rely on others to handle administrative details so I can concentrate on the vision.

None of my goals is easy. But all are worth hard work. Let no one doubt my dedication to my art.

Comments

[lisalees.livejournal.com]

I went to Infocom HQ in Boston once, when I was a tech writer working for the company that did the manuals for their Cornerstone database product. It was an intense place. The secretaries were trained in how to answer phone calls asking for inside information and cheat codes for games.

[jenndolari.livejournal.com]

Cornerstone! That's the only Infocom Program I never had (it was EXPENSIVE, and what was a 15 year old going to do with a Database system?).

One day I'm going to visit Boston, and lay a wreath at the old HQ. :D

Much like I wanted to do with Comico.