Email: Game designers

Dear Master Malstrom,

 

I attended a fantasy/sci-fi/comic convention this weekend known as Dragon*Con.  I listened to what a variety of game developers had to say, and I wanted to know what your impressions are of what I’m going to convey below.  (You don’t have to reply in your blog if you don’t like, but I would appreciate your feedback whether it is replying to me directly or posting on your blog.)

 

I went to one panel where Tracy Hickman was describing his new tabletop roleplaying game.  Tracy Hickman got his start writing D&D adventures, but he is also a NYT bestselling author.  But during his session, he talked about how to be a good game master, how to design a game to appeal to different types of players, and other things oriented towards gameplay and mechanics.  This struck me kinda weird as his strength is clearly as a writer.

 

A little later I went to a panel where Monte Cook announced his own new tabletop RPG.  Monte Cook co-designed 3rd edition D&D and he was going to be lead designer for 5th edition D&D before he left the company.  I think he has done writing too, but he is much more well known as a game designer.  During his panel he talked about the game world, its background, the types of characters you’d meet in this world, etc….  Basically he talked more about the types of things you’d want a writer to develop.  I found his panel to be quite boring and could only stomach it for 20 minutes before I left.  (It was an hour long panel.)

 

I also went to a panel where Richard Garriott was talking with two other people from modern “AAA” game companies (can’t remember who they were).  I found several things Richard said to be quite interesting.  First he said that overall the quality of games coming out today is much worse than it used to be.  He said this is because companies have a hard time discerning who will be good game designers.  In contrast a good artist will usually show artistic talent before graduating high school, and a talented programmer will show a knack for hacking or coding early on.  These people will then get education to refine their talents before getting a job with a game company.  But most game designers nowadays are people who like games, but can’t draw and can’t program.  Well most of them aren’t good game designers either, but a game company can’t discern the good from the bad before they hire a game designer.

 

Another thing he said was that he thought consoles were dead, and they would be completely replaced by smartphones.  Although he admitted he might be biased, since his background is on the PC.  (I personally think he is partially right.  Smartphones will become the dominant platform for PC style games, but arcade style games need better controls than what a smartphone can offer.)

 

A third thing I found interesting is his response to a questiong about kickstarter.  He said that what were considered his best games (Ultima IV, Ultima Online, and one other I forgot) were the ones that he had the hardest time finding people who would support him in making the game.  He just kind of kept making the games with whatever resources he could muster even though the description sounded nuts to everyone else.  While the other Ultima games were easier to describe they do not stand out as much in hindsight.  I think his point was that the best games would probably not be funded by a kickstarter project.

 

If you could I’d like to know what your thoughts are on what Garriott said, and also about the writer who talked mostly about game design and the game designer who talked mostly about his game world.  Thanks in advance.You don’t give much information about the first two speakers. I don’t make games so what would I know about game design? And since these people were trying to sell their own games (or publicize them), of course each one will sell themselves as BRILLIANT GAME DESIGNER.This memory stays very strong in my head. Back in the 80s, the talk was not about how to be a brilliant game designer but how to be the brilliant gamer. The developers talked AS GAMERS. Back then, I suppose, the difference between designer and gamer was very little. You not only had to be smart to make a game, you had to be smart in order to manipulate the computer in order to play the game. They talk of the ‘game designer’ as if he is some angel floating above the crowds of gamers. Apparently, gamers have all these faults and tendencies but the game designer, angel-like, has none.

The talk of the ‘game designer’ is still confusing to me. Back then, I thought of them as ‘brilliant gamers’ who were doing ‘not fun stuff’ by programming these games. In a similar way, what is a writer? The writer is a reader. The writer HAS to be a reader first and foremost. All the talk of ‘game designer’ gets me uncomfortable because it is as if the ‘game designer’ is saying he is not a gamer, he is an angel called ‘game designer’ and floats in some magical ether. To me, a ‘game designer’ is an overtly passionate gamer who wants to better the gaming experience. An example is Cliff Blezinski who loves 2d platformers (he really does as he has the top score in Super Mario Brothers in the first Nintendo Power magazine). As a gamer, he despised the bottomless pits of 2d platformers so he made a game without them: Jazz Jackrabbit. Another example is Sid Mier playing a game, saying that is not that good and he could make a better one, and so he did. They’re not passionate about DESIGNING, they’re passionate about GAMING. I don’t care what game designers wish to call themselves or what theories they want to chatter, the end result is about gaming. Passionate gamers don’t care about things that aren’t about gaming.

I think you already know what to think about those first two speakers but want me to reinforce your gut instincts. Those speakers sounded more passionate about something else other than gaming. This is why they did not sound credible to you.

I’m curious what Richard Garriot said. He is always fun to listen to. Of course, to me, he is ‘Lord British’.

You mention the three Ultima games and forgot the last one: Ultima 4, Ultima Online, and you forgot the last one. I bet it is Ultima 7.

Ultima 4 was about the gamer making virtuous choices (not lying, not killing innocents, letting monsters run away if they want, etc.). Ultima Online established the MMORPG genre. And Ultima 7 is known for its extremely interactive game world (where everything can be used).

These three Ultimas share something in common: all three leave the game’s content in control of the players. I’d imagine game developers to HATE THIS. Giving players more control means more work for the developers. This development also is not ‘creative’ but ‘process’.

The definition of a game is that the gamer makes decisions (or else there is no game being played). When the player is doing something that is not a decision, it is considered a ‘process’. Innovations in gaming gradually keep removing the ‘processes’ because they are boring and monotonous. The reason why you struggle with the interface in old games is because the difference in modern and old interfaces is that of process. The process of clicking on an icon with a mouse is infinitely easier than tying in the executable command in DOS.

Ultima 4, 7 and Online made an impact because they were more about decisions than about the process. Ironically, the development side must have been hell because more time is spent on the process. Development is a game just like any other. Developers like to ‘play’ and ‘make decisions’ where, most of the time, the game requires process work to be really good. Classic Metroid doesn’t require many decisions from the developer, but it requires a ton of process. But Metroid: Other M requires many decisions from the developer but very little process. I believe so many games today feel like a ‘process’ to the player because developers want to make decisions… because that is what they think developers do. Before people began thinking in terms of ‘game developer, they just thought of the game and what needed to get it done. Andrew Braybrook made the amazing Paradroid which requires MANY decisions from the player. But it was the game he hated making the most because of all the processes he had to undergo in order to make Paradroid to work.

You said Garriot said:

 But most game designers nowadays are people who like games, but can’t draw and can’t program.  Well most of them aren’t good game designers either, but a game company can’t discern the good from the bad before they hire a game designer.

Let me put this in perspective. Let us shatter the novelist into three parts. First, we have the ‘writer’ who only puts words on the paper. Second, we have the ‘researcher’ whose job is to establish or make sure everything fits the novel’s mythos (a World War 2 details fit the historical dimension). And third, we have the ‘storyteller’ who is unable to write, unable to research, but talks a bunch about ‘theories’ about how good stories are made.

Novels are not written this way because the writer and researcher would murder the storyteller.

Game designers, like story tellers, are something everyone believes they can do and are ‘great at’. What keeps story tellers in check is that they have to write and research on their own (and not even this is enough). If someone doesn’t have the discipline to sit down and write out the story, then you’re not a novelist. In the same way, you’re not an Olympic athlete if you can’t bother to show up on time for the event.

The check on game designers has been the programming and art. Richard Garriot became a game designer by learning to program. Shigeru Miyamoto did not just stand up and declare himself a ‘designer’. He knew how to make art, and it was through that path that he became a designer. “Doesn’t that mean all designers are artists or programmers?” It’s a test of passion. If you’re passionate enough, the roadblocks of programming and art will not stop you.

A good designer was measured if they had the discipline to actually learn the crafts of programming and art to make the game (just as a good storyteller is measured if they have the discipline to actually write the novel). This doesn’t mean they are ‘good’ (the market determines that), but it does act as a filter that removes 99% of the people who don’t belong in game making.

Good game design decisions makes the programmers and artists do more work. Bad game design decisions make the programmers and artists do less work. Ultima 4, 7, and Online created much work for the programmers and and artists. This is my guess as to why they didn’t want to work on the game.

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