ABSTRACT
Before a work of interactive entertainment is ever built-before the interactivity is programmed, or the visuals are produced, or the sound is recorded-a tremendous amount of planning must first take place. This phase of the work is known as the development process or the preproduction period. It is a time of tremendous creative ferment. In its own way, it is not unlike the period described in ancient creation myths, the time at the beginning of the universe when all was nothingness and then, after a series of miraculous events, the earth and its myriad living beings were created.
