[Episode 1.16] Storyboard complete! 🥳

Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet this week, I’ve been working my ass off trying to complete this episode’s storyboard.

It was quite demanding (sorry to everyone who’s waiting for replies from me, I've been frazzled 😩 ), and some parts are still very rough, but 

Plotting vs Pantsing
Some writers argue about whether it’s better to be a plotter (planning the story first) or a pantser (just jumping in and writing it). Personally, I think you need a mix of both approaches to be productive.

I really wanted the last episode to come out fast so I rushed the plotting stage – I made a quick plan in my head, and jumped in my Pantser tank just as fast as I could. But it didn’t work out: by week 7, my Pantser tank was stuck in the mud, and I had to do a rewrite. Trying to speed things up had actually slowed things down. 😔

Lesson learned
This episode, I spent more time planning. Storyboarding is time consuming but having a completed storyboard helps in these ways:

• I can share it with team members and contributors, and get feedback/new ideas earlier in the process. (Often someone brainy has a great idea, but by the time they’re seeing the draft it’s almost ready to release and I don’t get time to include it.)

• Our illustrator lovely Victoria has a clearer idea of what art assets will be needed.

Most importantly it reduces the risk that a rewrite will be needed, because I’ve spent time thinking through the scenes and making sure there’s enough hotness to make it a good player experience. 

I’ve got a good feeling about this episode – I realised that I’m eager to play it (two scenes in particular 😈 ), which must be a good sign.

Next steps
I’m now ready to start work on creating the first scene of the new episode in the game engine. I’ll start this on Monday.

Having the storyboard ready early gives us a chance to make better use of the contributors; I’m going to ask them for targeted ideas and feedback, which will hopefully make the next episode better than usual. 🤞🏻

Okay, that’s it for this week! Have a lovely weekend, guys, and I’ll see you on Discord or back here next week.