MechWarrior Online Developer Interview #2
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MWO: What does your position on MechWarrior Online entail?
RB: The best way to describe my job with MechWarrior Online is Continuity Editor and Fiction Content Manager.
Continuity Editor means that Piranha passes just about everything through me to make sure we put as much BattleTech polish on everything as possible within the constraints of their electronic game medium.
Now that can be a two-way street. For example Piranha might ask me for a list of BattleMechs that would be most appropriate to start the game with based upon the Era they're looking at. I then generate that list and include a set of criteria for why I chose the list, so they can review and push back if they have in-game reasons for X or Y choice that might not be on my list.
The two-way street part is that instead of me generating content and/or lists completely on my end, they will send documents for me to comment on. For example they might send me a proposal for one of their in-game maps, which includes concept sketches, back-ground details on the specific world/terrain, and so on. I'll then read through the entire document and provide specific feedback on where the details they're developing need to be tweaked into X or Y direction to ensure it feels more like BattleTech.
For the Fiction Content Manager portion, that's about providing the fiction content they need for their site and ultimately the game. This aspect is very much a (living position), meaning it'll be growing and expanding as development continues on the game. Currently I'm writing all the INN tweets they're publishing and I'm just now starting to write (and coordinate the editing) on larger fiction pieces for the website. Heading into next year the demands for how much fictional content will be needed leading up to the launch of the game (and beyond, of course) will increase exponential. What I can't generate directly (simply due to time constraints with all my other commitments), I'll manage the creation of through the author pool of talent that's been working on BattleTech for long years.
