To all you modders out there!

[rtjhbfvsrry]

Obviously it is the story, and I stand by what I said one hundred percent. A player cannot experience a story in a game without a way to experience it. Your gameplay comes first because you cannot implement the narrative part of a game (a part of what they experience) until the gameplay (how they experience it) is in place. Again, I must stress that gameplay and game mechanics are NOT the same thing. Starting from game mechanics is just as stupid as starting from the story, but it is literally impossible to not start with the gameplay.

As for the book example, you are simply wrong. You cannot translate a book into a game. You can create a game that allows a player to experience this story or as close as you can get to it within the confines of the game's rules and gameplay. You will have the gameplay first before you can implement the story, even if it is the product's core aesthetic and even then it will have huge difference simply by nature of it being a game that a player has to be able to play before it is a story that a player can experience.

I misunderstood you about CoD, however, as I read into your post a kind of "they rush it out the door" point. Believe me, however, they spend agonizing amounts of time designing, testing and redesigning their designs on a fundamental level. How quickly does the character move, how much damage does this gun do, etc., and they are right to do this because they have the time - do you think their designers are just sitting there, waiting for the art team to pump out the assets?

EDIT: Argh, it's so frustrating. That was meant for Robosprog, obviously. I agree with your point though, you have in certain ways a lot more freedom as an indie developer, but you also have different limitations. A dev working for a publisher will likely have the top people breathing down their necks but they will also have more security, and freedom can be crippling while limitations can create creativity. Obviously, my point isn't that working with publishers gives you more freedom, I'm just saying you are not "free to do whatever the balls you want" either.