06-18-2006, 11:47 PM
[1st]A[/1st] recent discussion (elsewhere) got me thinking that raggidman's position of Editor is really the only case of someone in the Silgrad Tower team having a defined, wide field of responsibility outside their personal contributions.
Don't get me wrong. Talented modders like sandor do a sterling job as interior reviewer, and modellers like Caligula Superfly and gundalf certainly have responsibility for Redoran and Velothi architecture respectively, and they excel in those fields. Rodan and DarkAsmodeus certainly do a lot of work on their city projects. And the list goes on.
Neither am I trying to say we have a shortage of responsible people here, because we don't. What I mean is the defined, wide field of responsibility that most teams have positions for. I've made a few inquiries into it earlier, but it hasn't been very fruitful, but I thought it's important enough that it could be worth opening a new discussion on it.
Personally I would love to see modders in our team who have an affinity and interest for -- and preferrably skill and knowledge in -- specific fields showing their interest in spearheading those facets of the mod. It's not a first-come, first-serve kinda suggestion because the core should probably discuss it in parallell with posts in this thread, but I have a personal hope that in the end we'll see a few modders from our team who's great at a particular thing take charge of administrating those departments with the core's thumbs-up. =)
By taking charge, I mean taking charge. Working independently and becoming a pillar of support for the team as a whole, stepping in when matters concerning their field is being discussed and offering their viewpoint, guiding new members interested in working in their field. It's not something that would preclude doing what you would otherwise do, you absolutely doesn't have to give up say modding or modelling or anything else; it just means you become the go-to-guy for special questions and issues. Or go-to-girl, as the case may be.
Though taking charge doesn't mean the core wouldn't still have a say; They always have a say. But I doubt that would be much of a factor.
Here is my suggested list of fields/departments I think would benefit from having leadership, in no specific order of importance. They are all important in my opinion.
? Website Editor.
The articles on the website is in a bit of disarray. I haven't had much time (or interest, to be honest) to work on the articles since last fall, and it's really starting to show now I think. Most of them are outdated or inaccurate, and have been patched here and there to just link to sections on the forum instead. So, what I think we could really need right now is a person willing to take up the responsibility of managing the articles.
Here's a description of what the position entails.
It's done through a content manager system so all you really need is internet access, but of course you absolutely need to fully understand html to be able to do it. Personally I write the articles in Dreamweaver and then copy-paste them into the content manager entry for that article. Working in the content manager is not unlike posting a new thread on the forum (or editing a post, as the case may be) but has a lot of extra options and naturally doesn't use BBCode but raw, hardcore html. At the same time the complexity of html also means there's not many barriers to what you can do.
The articles are what's displayed in the middle of the pages, so you won't have to worry about design components and stuff like that.
The CMS is rather complicated to use, and not very intuitive, and it was made by a German company so the English translations doesn't always make sense... but once you get used to it I'm sure it'll work out. The whole website uses the system. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about how to use it. I wouldn't have understood it myself if I hadn't been able to talk with the person who installed it.
? Marketing and PR. DarkAsmodeus :check:
Something we're not that good at I think is getting the word out there, and as head of the PR department that would be the jist of the job. How do we get people to become interested in Silgrad Tower? What do the rest of us need to do to get attention from players and modders on ESF and other places? Are there big ES sites out there willing to affiliate with silgrad.com? How do we phrase information threads on ESF to highlight why we're the coolest group on the scene? If you think you might have the answer to those questions then I think this job would suit you well.
? Voice Work
There's a lot of interest from voice workers in supplying their talent to the team, but no one to guide them, give them scripts, give creative advice, teach them how to make .lip and .mp3 file pairs if they don't know, and so forth.
? Warden of TES3 Community Models.
As cool as many Oblivion mods are, the TES3 community produced a wealth of modders resource packs and similar, and there are undoubtedly gems no-one here has heard of before. In this position you'd be responsible for the whole process of finding, editing and migrating these types of models into Oblivion .nifs useable in our mod.
? Video editing.
Reich Parkeep might be the only case at the moment, but undoubtedly it won't be the only case for long. As video editor your job would be to capture the needed footage, edit it, add voiceovers or music as needed, add effects as wanted, and package it for distribution. Feel free to add credits at the end so it's clear you made it, if you want, and use it in your portfolio if you're a professional video editor.
? Lead concept artist
This is an area that virtually doesn't exist here, which is a pity because concept art can serve as a great inspiration for modders and modellers alike. By leading the concept art department you'd identify the general needs of the team, recruit or headhunt on ESF as needed, organize fun little challenges or contests and similar at your discretion. If you have a little bit of experience working with nifs it would be really cool if you could also transform the more beautiful artworks into in-game artwork, for instance by reskinning one of the stock paintings or other drawing surface.
? Codemonkey InsanitySorrow :check:
There's always neat ideas floating around here which would need scripting in one form or another, and if you're a real wiz at scripting then giving advice and help on solutions to those neat ideas - or possibly even writing the scripts - your aid would be most helpful.
black[/hr]
While we are on the subject I would like to suggest that ST and the Associated Projects could do with a Lore Meister (and team) too.
These are vital skills, with Lore esp mostly handled by Razorwing atm, but his focus is mainly Administration and ST. He has only so much time and I suspect he and the other team leaders would appreciate some back up to bring essential lore into their forums and bring it to the attention of their teams and co-ordinate shared concepts and required differences...?
It's wonderful when someone like KKA to shares his Argonian passions with Black Marshes, but he is not a Lore Specialist, which means that the time he can devote to this aspect is limited nd creatively oriented.
What we really can use is a data-base focused approach from someone who loves to compile and collate information to provide a centre tailored to our needs where we can go to seek new ideas, check the basis on which we are working and the essential, living response that such a Meister can provide in working with us to keep us aware when there is Old Lore that can be useful to us.
Further this kind of Lore Meister should be acceptable to, and work with all the project leaders liaising between the projects and making the mayors and leaders aware of the events that are going on outside their own domains and esp those that have potential to be linked between the projects.
black[/hr]
Looking forward to your opinions. :yes:
Perhaps you have a suggestion for a new field which you are interested in, and would like to officially spearhead?
Don't get me wrong. Talented modders like sandor do a sterling job as interior reviewer, and modellers like Caligula Superfly and gundalf certainly have responsibility for Redoran and Velothi architecture respectively, and they excel in those fields. Rodan and DarkAsmodeus certainly do a lot of work on their city projects. And the list goes on.
Neither am I trying to say we have a shortage of responsible people here, because we don't. What I mean is the defined, wide field of responsibility that most teams have positions for. I've made a few inquiries into it earlier, but it hasn't been very fruitful, but I thought it's important enough that it could be worth opening a new discussion on it.
Personally I would love to see modders in our team who have an affinity and interest for -- and preferrably skill and knowledge in -- specific fields showing their interest in spearheading those facets of the mod. It's not a first-come, first-serve kinda suggestion because the core should probably discuss it in parallell with posts in this thread, but I have a personal hope that in the end we'll see a few modders from our team who's great at a particular thing take charge of administrating those departments with the core's thumbs-up. =)
By taking charge, I mean taking charge. Working independently and becoming a pillar of support for the team as a whole, stepping in when matters concerning their field is being discussed and offering their viewpoint, guiding new members interested in working in their field. It's not something that would preclude doing what you would otherwise do, you absolutely doesn't have to give up say modding or modelling or anything else; it just means you become the go-to-guy for special questions and issues. Or go-to-girl, as the case may be.
Though taking charge doesn't mean the core wouldn't still have a say; They always have a say. But I doubt that would be much of a factor.
Here is my suggested list of fields/departments I think would benefit from having leadership, in no specific order of importance. They are all important in my opinion.
? Website Editor.
The articles on the website is in a bit of disarray. I haven't had much time (or interest, to be honest) to work on the articles since last fall, and it's really starting to show now I think. Most of them are outdated or inaccurate, and have been patched here and there to just link to sections on the forum instead. So, what I think we could really need right now is a person willing to take up the responsibility of managing the articles.
Here's a description of what the position entails.
It's done through a content manager system so all you really need is internet access, but of course you absolutely need to fully understand html to be able to do it. Personally I write the articles in Dreamweaver and then copy-paste them into the content manager entry for that article. Working in the content manager is not unlike posting a new thread on the forum (or editing a post, as the case may be) but has a lot of extra options and naturally doesn't use BBCode but raw, hardcore html. At the same time the complexity of html also means there's not many barriers to what you can do.
The articles are what's displayed in the middle of the pages, so you won't have to worry about design components and stuff like that.
The CMS is rather complicated to use, and not very intuitive, and it was made by a German company so the English translations doesn't always make sense... but once you get used to it I'm sure it'll work out. The whole website uses the system. I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about how to use it. I wouldn't have understood it myself if I hadn't been able to talk with the person who installed it.
? Marketing and PR. DarkAsmodeus :check:
Something we're not that good at I think is getting the word out there, and as head of the PR department that would be the jist of the job. How do we get people to become interested in Silgrad Tower? What do the rest of us need to do to get attention from players and modders on ESF and other places? Are there big ES sites out there willing to affiliate with silgrad.com? How do we phrase information threads on ESF to highlight why we're the coolest group on the scene? If you think you might have the answer to those questions then I think this job would suit you well.
? Voice Work
There's a lot of interest from voice workers in supplying their talent to the team, but no one to guide them, give them scripts, give creative advice, teach them how to make .lip and .mp3 file pairs if they don't know, and so forth.
? Warden of TES3 Community Models.
As cool as many Oblivion mods are, the TES3 community produced a wealth of modders resource packs and similar, and there are undoubtedly gems no-one here has heard of before. In this position you'd be responsible for the whole process of finding, editing and migrating these types of models into Oblivion .nifs useable in our mod.
? Video editing.
Reich Parkeep might be the only case at the moment, but undoubtedly it won't be the only case for long. As video editor your job would be to capture the needed footage, edit it, add voiceovers or music as needed, add effects as wanted, and package it for distribution. Feel free to add credits at the end so it's clear you made it, if you want, and use it in your portfolio if you're a professional video editor.
? Lead concept artist
This is an area that virtually doesn't exist here, which is a pity because concept art can serve as a great inspiration for modders and modellers alike. By leading the concept art department you'd identify the general needs of the team, recruit or headhunt on ESF as needed, organize fun little challenges or contests and similar at your discretion. If you have a little bit of experience working with nifs it would be really cool if you could also transform the more beautiful artworks into in-game artwork, for instance by reskinning one of the stock paintings or other drawing surface.
? Codemonkey InsanitySorrow :check:
There's always neat ideas floating around here which would need scripting in one form or another, and if you're a real wiz at scripting then giving advice and help on solutions to those neat ideas - or possibly even writing the scripts - your aid would be most helpful.
black[/hr]
The following is written by raggidman
? Lore MeisterWhile we are on the subject I would like to suggest that ST and the Associated Projects could do with a Lore Meister (and team) too.
These are vital skills, with Lore esp mostly handled by Razorwing atm, but his focus is mainly Administration and ST. He has only so much time and I suspect he and the other team leaders would appreciate some back up to bring essential lore into their forums and bring it to the attention of their teams and co-ordinate shared concepts and required differences...?
It's wonderful when someone like KKA to shares his Argonian passions with Black Marshes, but he is not a Lore Specialist, which means that the time he can devote to this aspect is limited nd creatively oriented.
What we really can use is a data-base focused approach from someone who loves to compile and collate information to provide a centre tailored to our needs where we can go to seek new ideas, check the basis on which we are working and the essential, living response that such a Meister can provide in working with us to keep us aware when there is Old Lore that can be useful to us.
Further this kind of Lore Meister should be acceptable to, and work with all the project leaders liaising between the projects and making the mayors and leaders aware of the events that are going on outside their own domains and esp those that have potential to be linked between the projects.
black[/hr]
Looking forward to your opinions. :yes:
Perhaps you have a suggestion for a new field which you are interested in, and would like to officially spearhead?