The Seven Voyages Of SteveMar 3, 2023

Finally started watching a (long!) video about the UE Gameplay Ability System. I'd tried to get a sense for it from the written docs, but they just don't go into enough detail on how & why you might use it in practice. More like 1 paragraph on each bit & then "go read the Lyra source". Needing to watch a *3h* video has been a blocker on me bothering to dig more before now.

I don't think it's something I'll use on this game, but I can definitely see the utility. Just a lot of moving parts!

Show threadThe Seven Voyages Of SteveMar 3, 2023
Tech industry, please hire more writers. I can happily read docs for 3h and get much more out of them than watching a video for 3h. And while I'm watching the video, I'm making copious notes so that I don't have to watch the video *again* later to refresh my memory. If it was written down in the first place with good indexing I wouldn't have to do that. Video is such a crap way to document things.
Show threadWanderingBeekeeper
@sinbad I'm a former tech writer working as a Major Incident Manager because there's no career path for tech writers. They're the last to be hired, and the first to be cut. They're the lowest paid on the team, and three quarters of the developers regard them as a nuisance at best, a hostile intrusion at worst. If someone wanted to pay me the same amount I'm currently making as a MIM to write doc, I would write doc. I blame capitalism and techbro obsession with interactivity.
Mar 3, 2023 at 10:23pmWeb
Show thread`Da ElfMar 4, 2023

@WanderingBeekeeper @sinbad Ah yeas, and that's a truth. I took three years of Tech Writing in College and University.

I use those skills nearly every day, but it's never been my actual Job.

I'm so happy when my employer has an actual Tech Writer on staff. They're usually not busy ... until I find out about them. Then THE FUN begins and we attach at the shoulder and I guide and they write and we Document!

Last Hired and First Cut is the truth. That's how I lost my last two writers. :(

Show threadeyrea 🇨🇦Apr 7, 2023
@WanderingBeekeeper @sinbad Which is hilarious, because (as I'm sure you already know) watching video is far more passive than the act of reading.