I haven't talked much with him at all, I just got an email and responded. He said that he's a mapmaker (as am I), and that physics are not one of his strong points. He also said that he had begun concept sketches for monsters in a scenario he had been planning. I'm not planning for Empires of Earth to be a total conversion. One thing I now I'll want is new humans, as the player will fight humans often (and we all know how irritating it is to fight Pistol BoBs). He hasn't responded to my email yet, but he said something about not being able to use his email after today until February, so I'm pretty sure he'll respond. I really don't know much about his skills yet, so I'll get back to you when I do.
: It doubles the chances of finishing the scneario, but also doubles the
: strife!
: Perhaps the best example of a successful Marathon duo is the original M
: Rubicon Team - not to trivialize the efforts of the others who supported
: Rubicon, but this was really a 2 man show. Chris and Scott have different
: talents that, fortunately, are complementary. Chris is a superb mapmaker,
: but his artistic skills are much more modest. Scott is perhaps one of the
: greatest texture designers around - you may think his color palate is
: muted, but you have to admit that his textures are outstanding overall.
: Now consider the plot of Rubicon - it has three planks for a reason.
: Fundamentally, they couldn't agree on what Rubicon could be and ended up
: with a compromise - a stem plank incorporating a unified base story that
: would tie things together, and two disparate planks that conveyed their
: individual plot interests. That they were able to cross-link these planks
: is a testiment to their abilities to work together even as they disagreed
: on key plot elements. There were fireworks to be sure, but they agreed
: from the outset that M Rubicon was greater than the sum of its parts and
: greater than its individual creators.
: The first thing to recognize about having a volunteer on the team is that
: they aren't going to do anything they don't want to. You may be the team
: leader, but if they don't like the direction that you are taking the
: project, they will simply leave. It is therefore essential that you
: recognize each others interests off the bat and that you listen to each
: other's and carefully consider them and be willing to compromise. If your
: partner suggests something that you think will wreck the scenario, you
: have to be able to offer something in return for them to abandon their
: great idea.
: Secondly, you need to identify each of your key areas of strength and
: weakness. Where there are areas where both of you are weak, you can either
: try to find someone else to fill in the gaps or, more appropriately, you
: can agree to split these up so that each of you only has to learn to
: master half as many new things as if you worked separately. You may both
: want to contribute maps to the project, but it should become apparent with
: time who is better at texture design, who at monster layout etc. Most
: importantly, listen and compromise, and accept that there will be
: blow-ups, but that these do not need to endanger the project. In the end,
: the sum will be greater than the parts.
