Bethesda Softworks - Interview @ ORE

The Bethblog is pointing out an interview in a pdf webzine put out by a modding site called Oblivion Real Estate.  The conversation sees writer Erik Caponi and artist Megan Sawyer (no relation) discussing their positions and work and touches obliquely on Fallout 3.  Here's a sample:

PS: What are the basic steps you take when writing a quest? What kind of work flow tips could you give the novice modder?

Erik: First, I start with an idea and I write it down. No
matter what it is, no matter how bad or how much I hate
it, I write it down. And then I start from there. I change it,
rewrite it, blow it up, rebuild it, play it out in my head, and
construct the basic flow of the quest. It’s important not to
commit to too much on paper, because you want to leave
space for things to evolve in the editor.

After I feel that I have a good core structure and idea, I put it into the editor. The main path goes in first. I focus on that before letting myself get distracted with side branches and details. Once that’s in, I go through and add the big side branches. I get it to a working state and play it. Again, and again. And again and again. This is really the most important part. Every time I play through, I look for ways to make it better, implement them, and play it again. And really, you keep doing that. Get other people to play it and ask them how to make it better. Around here, we have the luxury of big meetings where we play the quest and sit around and talk about it (politely and never with a single raised voice, honest). We play each other’s quests and give notes on it.

You can download the 8-page .pdf here (direct link).