I thought you might like to know that GameDevHub.com has published an interview with me about game development and Telepath RPG: Servants of God in particular. Here’s an excerpt:

GDH: When you begin development of a game, what area do you start with? For example, with the Telepath games, had you created the Cera Bella setting or was it constructed around the mechanics of the game?

Craig: It honestly depends on the game. It’s just a matter of what ideas I have going into it, and what area those ideas happen to reside in. With the Telepath games, I went in with a rather limited idea of the setting, and sort of built as I went. I come from a creative writing background, and I believe that as an author, it’s important for your understanding of story elements to arise organically. It doesn’t do to start off a game with hard-and-fast preconceptions, then try to shoehorn game elements to fit those preconceptions. That’s the sort of approach that leads to unconvincing plotlines, wooden dialog and flat characters.

For example, take character development. I learn more about my characters as development proceeds by thinking through the sort of conversations they would have with each other. I let the characters’ voices come through, and so I learn about them during the process of writing their dialog. That’s not something I can effectively plan ahead of time: the process is key. Cera Bella has been a lot like that: I learn about the world as I create it.

You can read the full interview here.