While drawing this week’s strip panels out, I realized I was struggling with the layout more than usual.  I kept re-reading the script, then looking at the panels at what I had sketched out, then back at the script, back to the panels, etc.

Why was it funny in the script but not when I had it drawn out?  Then it hit me:  this wasn’t a situation where face-to-face communication would break down.  When Travis wrote this, he was writing about situations we’d both experienced more times than we’d like on a game, but neither of us addressed the context of the situation when reading or revising the script.

I realized that this was pretty much every other email/IM conversation I’ve had regarding features on game projects that had gone wrong, so I busted out the Photoshop and made with the current strip.  It’s this very IM phenomenon that makes me get up from my desk and walk over and have face-to-face meetings with programmers, artists, and designers when actually discussing the game.  The amount of time walking over to their office/desk is nothing compared to the amount of time wasted and frustration that mounts from feature discussions via IM.

Save that crap for the Rick Rolling.