Back in the 1990s, I built a system for interactive storytelling; I called it "The Erasmatron". It was actually pretty good for its day, but it proved to be too difficult to use, and ultimately it failed to attract the interest of any authors.
回到1990年，我建立了一个关于互动叙事的系统，我将其取名为“The Erasmatron”。它实际上是相当不错*，但是它被证明是难以被人使用的，所以最终它难以吸引到对它感兴趣的制作人。
I spent the next few years writing books, doing research, and thinking hard about how to take another stab at it. Then, in 2006, I realized that Internet usage had penetrated so deeply that it could provide a basis for a new business model. I worked for three months putting together the entire plan, then set to work in January of 2007. We jumped through all the hoops of setting up a corporation that could receive venture funding, and I recruited Laura Mixon, Dave Walker, and Irene Boczek to serve on the Board of Directors, and we all set to work.
我又花了一些年去写了书，做些研究，努力思考接下来应该做什么尝试。然后，在2006年，我意识到互联网的使用已经如此广泛，以至于它可以为新的商业模式提供基础。我花了三个月的时间来组织起我的计划，然后在2007年的一月份开始执行这个计划。我们经历了公司创建的流程，并接受了风险透支，然后我还招募了Laura Mixon, Dave Walker和Irene Boczek为董事会成员，然后我们都开始工作。
Like any startup, it was an intense effort, with long hours day after day, and no breaks or vacations. We recruited several more people to help with the programming, and they made huge improvements in the rather amateurish code that I had written until then. Kathy and I took out a big mortgage on our house, and we got some "friends and family" money, and we were actually able to pay the employees.
就像任何一个创业公司的开头一样，这是一个长时间的没有任何休息和假期的努力奋斗的过程。我们吸纳更多的人来编写程序，相较于我之前写的那些不专业的代码，他们编程这块取得了较大的起色。Kathy和我用房子抵押取得了一部分贷款，然后我们从家人和朋友那里借了些钱，这样我们才能付得起我们员工的薪水。
The crucial task was the creation of a good demo of our technology. Since we were planning the technology to be used both for entertainment and business training purposes, I decided to create a storyworld that straddled both areas. This was my first big blunder; by trying to meet two divergent sets of goals, I guaranteed that I would meet neither set of goals. Moreover, I allowed my perfectionism to screw up the schedule: the development tool, SWAT, was not ready in time. I had to work frantically on SWAT and a hundred other things that have to be done in a startup. I simply didn't have enough time to do a good job with the demo.
关键的任务是创建一个能展现我们技术的一个好的Demo。从一开始我们就打算将我们的技术用于娱乐和商业目的培训，我打算创建能跨越这两个行业的故事世界。这是我的第一个错误：试图满足两个不同领域的目标，我保证我不会在试图去满足另外一个目标。此外，我让我的完美主义搞砸了开发进度：开发工具，SWAT，都没能准备好。我必须在SWAT工作的更加疯狂，此外还有上百件其他的事情必须在启动前做完。我指示没有足够的时间去做好这个Demo。
Nevertheless, we published it in March of 2009. It stank, which pretty well destroyed our chances. Nevertheless, we tried to rustle up some investment money so that we could build some more demos. Our timing was execrable: we were trying to raise money in the middle of the most serious recession since the Great Depression. Venture capitalists were not exactly eager to invest in us.
尽管如此，我们在2009年3月推出了它。但是它非常糟糕，彻彻底底的摧毁了我们的机会。尽管如此，我们还是试图去弄些投资基金，这样我们可以做出更多Demo。我们刚好处于一个非常恶劣的时机：我们筹钱的时间刚好处于经济大萧条最严重的的时期。风险资本家并不热衷于投资在我们身上。
So we ran out of money. I first attempted to fix up the original demo ("Balance of Power, 21st Century"). That didn't work, because the subject matter was insufficiently dramatic. I made another attempt with a storyworld based on the Arthurian legends. That one actually got pretty far, and was pretty good, but I ran out of creative steam and set it aside. In early 2011, I had a brainstorm for how to build a storyworld more easily, and made goodly progress on that. However, in June of 2011 we set that project aside as well.
因为，我们花光了钱。我第一次尝试修复原有的Demo("Balance of Power, 21st Century")。这没有用，因为题材不够突出。我尝试在亚瑟王的传说的故事世界上做了另一个尝试。这个实际上得到很多，而且做的不错，但是我把我的创意都消耗，所以把它放在一边。2011年初，我为如何更加容易建造一个故事世界进行一次头脑风暴，并在此取得了较大的进展。然而，在2011年6月，我们同样把这项目放在一边。
The fundamental flaw in the design was that I had been insufficiently ruthless in keeping the technology simple. Every time somebody thought of a new improvement, we threw it in. Sometimes I resisted improvements that I thought didn't add enough. But overall, I permitted the thing to become a huge monster. Just look at the tutorials or the author's guide elsewhere on this site; this thing makes Microsoft Word look like "painting program for children".
在这个设计上的致命缺陷是我在保持技术简单化上面不够狠。每次一有人想到个新的改善，我们就把它丢进去。有时候我拒绝这些改善，因为我认为没有地方可以加。但总体而言，我眼睁睁的看着它变成巨大的怪物。就看看这个教程和在本网站的别处的作者指南；这个东西让Microsoft Word看起来像儿童的绘画程序。
There are a zillion people out there who'd love to build storyworlds, if only there were a tool that could let them do it. SWAT was far too complicated to be understood. Indeed, despite the fact that many people worked with SWAT, only four people ever learned it well enough to be able to build something interesting -- and not one of them ever finished their work.
有100万人在那里愿意建故事世界，只要有个工具让他们可以去这样做。SWAT实在太复杂以至于让人难以理解。事实上，尽管有很多人用SWAT，但只有4个人能将学好它，并能用它建一些有趣的事情，除了他们，没人能完成他们的工作。
That's why the old Storytron failed. But fixing it is a matter of simplification, not adding more technology. That's my plan for the future.
这就是为什么老的Storytron失败。应该用简化的方法去修复它，而不是增加更多的技术。
There was one other problem that deserves mention: creative burnout. I've been working on the problem of interactive storytelling since early 1992. That's nearly twenty years. In all that time, I have plunged forward through thickets of difficulties, refusing to accept defeat. Most people thought that I was crazy and would never succeed, but my ego was big enough to keep me going. However, starting about two years ago, when I realized that Balance of Power 21st Century was crap, my morale collapsed. I continued working hard, but only out of pig-headed determination, not artistic inspiration. I had the guts to keep going but not the heart. For another two years I kept staggering forward, trying to get something working. Eventually I had to admit failure and step way back.
这里有另外一个问题值得一提：创意枯竭。从1992年，我在创造互动叙事开始，就一直有这问题。这持续了将近20年时间。在这些时间里，我跳进了困难丛中，拒绝接受失败。许多人认为我疯了并认为我不会成功，但是我自我十分强大使我一直向前走。然而，在开始了两年之后，当我意识到Balance of Power 21st Century 是个废物时，我的士气崩溃了。我继续努力工作，像一只猪一样固执，没有任何艺术灵感。我有勇气继续向前却没了信心。在接下来的两年，我继续挣扎向前，试图让系统工作。最后我不得不承认失败并回到原点。
It has been said that the only people who create progress are those crazy enough to refuse to adapt to reality. I was certainly that crazy, but eventually reality won. I put up a damn good fight, but I lost the second round. Now I'm going into the third round, and recognizing my own frailty I'm planning it more carefully, proceeding more slowly. This is my life's work, and I'm not dead yet.
有人说只有那些疯狂到拒绝承认适应现实才能创造传奇。我肯定是疯了，但是最终现实赢了。我提出了个该死的好的战争，但是我失去的第二轮。现在，我要进入第三轮，我认识到自己的弱点，会更精心策划了，进展的慢些。这是我一生的工作，而我还未死去

原文：http://www.storytron.com/WhatWentWrong.html
作者：Chris Crawford